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Andrew Boudreau is an active member of the creative jazz scene in North America. An adept pianist and composer, Andrew will be presenting music from his 2022 album, NEON, as part of the L’OFF Festival de Jazz. His performance at L’OFF is something of a homecoming for the artist who once studied at McGill’s own Schulich School of Music. We spoke to him about his music, his upcoming performance, and his thoughts on the creative scene.
PAN M 360: Andrew, thanks so much for being with us. I suppose the first thing I’ll ask you is how the hell do you manage to play a 13/8 ostinato while keeping 4/4 in your right hand.
Andrew Boudreau: Haha that’s a good question. I’m not sure I know the answer. If I find out I’ll let you know.
PAN M 360: Thanks for indulging me. So what is your relationship with Montreal? I understand you studied music here.
Andrew Boudreau: I’m originally from Nova Scotia. I moved to Montreal to do my bachelor’s degree in music at McGill. I stayed in the city for three to four years after my studies.
PAN M 360: So you must be familiar with the L’OFF Festival de Jazz?
Andrew Boudreau: Oh yeah. I think the first time I played might have been in 2013, a long time ago, but always as part of other people’s projects. I think one of the cool things about this festival is that the big mission is to celebrate the scene here. I think that involves some kind of collaboration with those outside of the scene with musicians that are from here and that is a really beautiful thing to witness. It’s one of the reasons that October is a great month to be in Montreal.
PAN M 360: Well let me ask you, what exactly is the nature of your quartet and your album NEON?
Andrew Boudreau: It’s a quartet with three of my friends, Neta Raanan on Saxophone, Simón Willson on Bass, and Eviatar Slivnik on Drums. We all met in Boston where I went to do my master’s and now we all live in New York City. They are heading up to meet me here, and for some of them, it will be their first time in Canada, which is really exciting. As far as the nature of the music goes, I definitely wrote these compositions with these three people in mind. There are some parts of it that are really specific in terms of composition and notation, but also parts that are quite open-ended. I think that is because of their strengths as musicians playing stuff you write and stuff you don’t write.
PAN M 360: What sources of inspiration are you drawing from here?
Andrew Boudreau: For the music on the album, I started working on it, in a way a long time ago, but also during 2020 and 2021 which were obviously quite intense for a lot of people … I suppose that left a bit of a mark on the music. Some of the music is connected to geography. One of the compositions on the album is titled “Mile-Ex.” I used to live in the Mile-Ex and when I did, no one would know what you were talking about, and now it’s pretty trendy, now that I’m gone ha. I’ve been inspired by a lot of visual artists. One of my favourite artists is Nova Scotian, Maud Lewis. She lived in a tiny house on the coast and no one really paid attention until she passed away, unfortunately. Musically speaking, I’m pretty omnivorous, I’m always looking to hear new stuff. Some of what I listen to has piano, bass, drums, and saxophone, and some of it doesn’t at all. It changes by the day.
PAN M 360: How would you best describe your presentation at L’OFF this year?
Andrew Boudreau: I would describe it as a collection of individual compositions. It’s not that there is one frame of reference, writing only about one writer, painter, or event. For me, it’s more about piecing together a collage or a narrative through a bunch of pieces or compositions. What we’ll be playing is some assembly of this music that I’ve written. I like to rearrange them in different ways, so they can be somewhat different each time, even if we have recorded these nine pieces a certain way. What we’ll be doing is creating an arc through some arrangement of those pieces, finding new ways to sequence them and present them.
PAN M 360: Modern jazz can be a bit daunting for some, is there anything you would want people to be aware of going into your show or not really.
Andrew Boudreau: I don’t know what I’d tell them to listen for in advance … I would say that for me, it’s less about word painting. It’s almost to me that all the titles are subtitles or something. I think theme and variation apply to all the music here, otherwise, I suppose it’s more about creating a mood or an atmosphere and seeing how that can evolve, devolve, and change. But I suppose rather than giving instructions, I would just be curious to hear what people have to say.
ANDREW BOUDREAU IS PERFORMING THIS THURSDAY OCTOBER 13TH, 10PM AT DIÈZE ONZE
