Interviews Archive - Page 2 of 115

With the arrival of beautiful spring weather, it was the perfect time to meet Alex Paquette, an artist who loves to get crowds dancing to upbeat, sun-inspired rhythms. For residents of the Greater Montreal area, you can purchase tickets for the launch of *Et J’ai pris la route*, his third album, scheduled for this Saturday, May 2, at Le Petit Campus.

Tickets and info here or social media

PAN M 360: In addition to your latest project, you’re also one of the singers in Francbâtards. I’d like to understand, in terms of your songwriting process, how you distinguish between material for Francbâtards and your solo project. Because musically, there is still a similarity in the styles.

Alex Paquette : Actually, there’s a similarity only in ska, and maybe a little bit in the reggae that I bring to Francbâtards, so to speak. It’s about 30% of Francbâtards; in Francbâtards, I bring in reggae-ska elements. The others bring in all the other styles that I’m less familiar with. When it comes to writing with Francbâtards, it’s unique because we often approach it by theme. That means the other singer and I might decide to listen to documentaries on food sovereignty—about Monsanto, for example—we’ll listen to everything being said on the topic, we’ll listen to podcasts, we’ll discuss it, and then we’ll write together. Or sometimes, one of us will come up with a theme and ask, “Hey, do you want to write about that?”

But we might have a song about love, or things like that, since we’re two singers who take turns singing. There are some topics that are harder to tackle, I find, as a group. Then, with my solo project, it actually lets me talk about things that don’t fit with Francbâtards. Sure, there are common themes—it’s pretty political, a lot about the environment, against inequality, all that.

Having my solo project means that the vast majority of the music is mainly me, and the lyrics are mine. My solo project is really a bit like writing poetry. That’s really the big difference—I mostly write while on tour, while traveling, or just for fun when I can’t sleep at night. When it comes time to write songs, maybe 10% of my lyrics end up in them. For some lyrics, I think they could work with Francbâtards, but honestly, that almost never happens.

PAN M 360: Okay, okay, okay. Interesting. Along the same lines, you can sense that there’s still a shift or evolution between Reggae de Verdun, your previous album, and Et J’ai pris La Route by Alex Paquette and Les Insulaires. The melancholic side seems to have disappeared, giving way to introspection about the journey taken. Does that stem from the musicians, Les Insulaires, or has the songwriting evolved in that direction?

Alex Paquette: Yes. You got it right. I wrote “Reggae de Verdun” during the pandemic. I don’t know if you can tell, but I was often all alone. I really wrote everything myself, just with vocals and guitar, without thinking about the band that might join in. It was only later that beatmakers added sounds, and then musicians worked on the finishing touches. It was really a time when I’d go for walks in the evening—it was the pandemic, and I was in my neighborhood.

As for the new album, I approached it as if it were my last. I’m nearing forty, I’ll soon have played 500 shows and done 10 international tours—I’m feeling a bit worn out—so I told myself, “Okay, this time I’m going to make something I’ll be 100% satisfied with.” I stopped thinking, “Oh, for the next album, I’ll do it this way,” and was much more focused on, “I want it to sound exactly the way I want it to sound.” I’ve been touring for 15 years; for the past 2–3 years, I’ve been away from home most of the time because I’m on tour. I needed to reflect on how I felt about all of that, and then put it into music.

With *Reggae de Verdun*, I was more focused on thinking, “If I do this, it’ll work better (commercially).” With this one, I really went with things I love, even though some styles—like French ska, for example—aren’t exactly popular, but I’m doing it more for myself.

PAN M 360: You’re releasing your album this time with Les Insulaires. What matters most to you when you launch a project like this? Is it having that sense of teamwork and community?

Alex Paquette: Actually, with *Reggae de Verdun*, maybe that’s what I was missing a bit. I really did it all on my own, and the collaborators did a lot of the work from home. Whereas for this one, I wanted an island sound, a tropical sound, so I showed up with my lyrics without having any finished songs, strictly speaking.

There are two people who helped me the most: Axel, who’s from Guadeloupe, and Skarkbone 14, who’s from Mauritius. Then there’s the chemistry we have in the studio with these two guys—even though there are eight of us on the album, I really created most of it with them so they could bring their own sound to it. There are musicians who are part of my other project, but I didn’t want to involve them until the songs were well underway or finished. Because I knew exactly what they would offer me; even though I like that, it risked sounding too much like Francbâtards, so I wanted to keep the two projects separate.

PAN M 360: Several languages are featured on this album. Why is that?

Alex Paquette: Actually, since I approached it as if it were my last album, all the singers are people I already know. If I’d thought, “I’m going to make lots of other albums; I’m going to branch out,” I would have invited new people, figuring I’d work with my collaborators again later.

So the two people I’ve enjoyed working with the most in the past—on my first and second albums—are back. Tchoomin Daddy is a guy from southwestern France. I see him every time I go back to Europe; I’ve even visited him as a tourist, and we’ve become really good friends. Even if it was just for a few bars, I wanted him to be there. Maru Tribu—I loved working with her on C’est Pas Normal. Back then, we barely knew each other. Since then, we’ve traveled to Chile together, and we hang out pretty often. My favorite song I’ve made to date was with her. So I wanted to do another one, and actually, the idea came from her too, because she sent me some lyrics. That’s why she’s the one singing most of that song. It was originally a collaboration with a French artist that didn’t pan out, so the song was never released. So we took the theme, changed some chords, and evolved it from a reggae-hip-hop track to a ska/reggae one as a little nod to that style. I tweaked the lyrics a bit to make the song my own again; she’d been dreaming of releasing it, and I just told her, “Well, now’s the time. Let’s do it.”

As for the collaboration with Noé, it was the other way around. Noé came to me, and I was like, “Oh, I want to try something.” Basically, Noé and I would get together to write songs. Then we’d write lyrics while going for walks. We share a file where we edit the lyrics. We’d never done reggae before—I really like Tryo. Eventually, we started from there and made a song. But I’d say that the process… I think I wanted to surround myself with my friends. Noé plays hockey with me; he’s a friend in real life, so it’s important to have an album with as many friends as possible.

PAN M 360: What’s the reasoning behind the artistic decision to title this one Alex Paquette and the Insulaires, when the first two were simply Alex Paquette?

Alex Paquette: Actually, when I started this project, it was really in response to Francbâtards; I thought I was going to perform solo, as a duo, or even with backing tracks. With “Reggae de Verdun,” for example, that could have worked out—I did it a few times on the sound system and stuff like that. It was mostly the thought, “I tour with eight people in Francbâtards; I want the option to tour with just two of us in a car.”

I did that for a bit, then I realized that, actually, I like making music with a group. So over the last 2–3 years, when I tour as a group with the project, people often say, “Oh, okay, that’s Alex Paquette, but who are the others?”

There were several musicians—maybe about fifteen—who would often come and go in groups of four or five. But over the past year, things have become much more stable, and with Axel, the drummer I mentioned earlier, I felt he brought something special to the table. That’s where the idea for the band’s name came from, and since I wrote the songs mainly with the guy from Guadeloupe and the guy from Mauritius, and in one of my old songs I say, “We live on an island, Call us the Insulaires,” referring to Montreal, it was a no-brainer. I said “Call us the Insulaires” on the previous album, so we tossed around several ideas before finally deciding, “Actually, I think that’s it.” It also fits better with what I’m doing. When the show is Alex Paquette and the Insulaires, it’ll be a full-band show. Whereas if I want to go with a smaller lineup, it’ll be Alex Paquette as a duo or solo.

PAN M 360: Where does your love of ska come from, considering it’s been out of fashion for at least 25 years?

Alex Paquette : It’s really weird—I got into it pretty late in the game. I come from the hardcore, metal, and a bit of punk rock scene. Until I was 20, I listened almost exclusively to hardcore, and it wasn’t until I moved to Montreal that I started having roommates from all over the place. Cadet introduced me to music from the islands; he listened to more modern reggae and played Manu Chao songs on the guitar, and I started to really love it.

When I played with other bands, the ones I really liked and the people I got along with were mostly from the ska scene. That led me to listen to other genres, and I realized that European ska is really what I prefer. The bands are more politically charged; there’s sometimes a bit of a Latin vibe in their music. When I discovered the Skarfaces, the 86 Crew, and Skarbone 14, I was like, “Ah, this is totally my thing!” It’s positive music, but still angry. And let’s be honest, the musicians are still bums, they’re still rude boys, whereas the ska in Quebec, I found it more aligned with American ska, with skaters and all that. It’s great live, but for listening, European ska remains my favorite.

PAN M 360: Off the top of your head, are you more of a Pisco Sour in Valparaíso or a Gin and Tonic at La Société Secrète in Gaspésie kind of person?

Alex Paquette : Oh my gosh! Seriously, it’s pretty great—I keep telling everyone—but these are my two favorite spots. The comparison really works because they’re the two places where I feel most at home. Taste-wise, I prefer the gin, but for relaxing, I’d say Valparaiso because the water’s easier to swim in. The scenery is beautiful at both places, but I have to admit that swimming in Valparaiso with the waves is pretty cool. But the gin from La Société Secrète is pretty much unbeatable. Big up to La Société Secrète—the best gin in Quebec.

PAN M 360: Is there a movie you would have liked to compose the soundtrack for?

Alex Paquette: Good question… I have a bachelor’s degree in film! It’s just that my favorite movies are darker; I don’t see ska or rocksteady in a Spike Lee film or in La Haine. It would have to be a happier movie. When I think of my favorite movies, they’re mostly films about revolution, rebellion, and stuff like that. Recently, I know I couldn’t have done better, but Steve Rodney McQueen’s film series, Small Axe? He made four or five films about the arrival of calypso and reggae in England from different perspectives; it came out in 2020. I recommend it to everyone—it’s about immigration to London, in particular, and its musical contribution.

The words that keep coming up during my interview with Soul of Zoo are “natural encounters,” “spontaneous,” “collaborations,” and, of course, “Connection,” the name he chose for his debut album. A French DJ and producer based in Canada since 2016, his sound blends organic textures and electronic sounds, with a sensitive and immersive approach that goes beyond the dance floor. While he will officially release his album on May 1, a listening session is scheduled for the following day, May 2, in downtown Montreal, to which all the artists who collaborated on this project are invited, as well as close collaborators. An intimate setting to savor this album. Among the artists are Matéo and Djely Tapa, each with three tracks on the album, as well as Zal Sissokho, Walid Ben Selim, and Snow Owl. Our reporter Sandra Gasana spoke with Soul of Zoo a few days before the launch.

La Fiammata, duo of Linda Ruan and Charissa Vandikas seeks and explores the repertoire for piano four hands. For this concert presented in Montreal on Wednesday April 28 at Wilfrid-Pelletier’s Piano Nobile, 12:15 PM. they will perform pieces from Rachmaninov, Schubert, Saint-Saëns, and Cécile Chaminade. La Fiammata won Second Prize and the Henle Urtext Prize, in addition to being the youngest piano duo finalist at the 70th ARD International Music Competition in Munich. La Fiammata also wan first prizes at the Lancaster International Chamber Music Competition (2021), the Suzana Szörenyi International Piano Duo Competition (2019) and the Northwest International Piano Ensemble Competition (2018). Linda Ruan and Charissa Vandikas first met in piano competitions when they were tenagers, they after studied together and became close friends before playing together the piano four hands repertoire and also transcriptions from other pieces. PAN M 360 brought them together in this video interview before their MTL performance.

La Fiammata, duo composé de Linda Ruan et Charissa Vandikas, explore et met en valeur le répertoire pour piano à quatre mains. Lors de ce concert présenté à Montréal le mercredi 28 avril au Piano Nobile de Wilfrid-Pelletier, à 12 h 15, elles interpréteront des œuvres de Rachmaninov, Schubert, Saint-Saëns et Cécile Chaminade. La Fiammata a remporté le deuxième prix et le prix Henle Urtext, en plus d’être le plus jeune duo de pianistes finaliste du 70e Concours international de musique ARD à Munich. La Fiammata a également remporté le premier prix au Concours international de musique de chambre de Lancaster (2021), au Concours international de duos de pianistes Suzana Szörenyi (2019) et au Concours international d’ensembles de pianistes du Nord-Ouest (2018). Linda Ruan et Charissa Vandikas se sont rencontrées pour la première fois lors de concours de piano alors qu’elles étaient adolescentes ; elles ont ensuite étudié ensemble et sont devenues des amies proches avant de jouer ensemble le répertoire pour piano à quatre mains ainsi que des transcriptions d’autres pièces. PAN M 360 les a réunies dans cette interview vidéo avant leur concert à Montréal.

Watch this interview !

Publicité panam

Works

Cécile Chaminade, Op. 55, 6 Romantic Pieces

Sergueï Rachmaninov, 6 Pieces (Selections), Op. 11

Franz Schubert, Fantasy in F Minor, D. 940

Camille Saint-Saëns, Danse Macabre, Op. 40 (arr. Ernest Guiraud)

Artists

Piano: Linda Ruan, Charissa Vandikas

ProductionProduction / PresentationPro Musica

Grace Ives has just set off on her mammoth North American tour of Girlfriend. The tour left the unbelievably down-to-earth artist packing until 8:30 the night before she left because she was preoccupied with putting cute stickers on her guitar case. “Our Philly show was good,” she says, recounting the first night of the tour, “but I regret wearing high heels on the stage because I couldn’t move around properly.” She’s considering going barefoot for the remainder of the tour.

We sat down with Grace to discuss what she’s been up to over the past three years, how her creative processes have evolved, and her feelings about being on her biggest tour to date.

PAN M 360: So, you took a little break since your last album, Janky Star. Do you feel like your approach to songwriting changed much in that time?

Ives: Yes, it definitely changed, I guess just because I got older? It’s funny, I didn’t “take a break,” I just was working on this. It just took forever. I started well, and then I went at it too hard and destroyed all the songs and had to go backwards a little bit. But yeah, my writing approach is more like a diary style, and a bit less vague. More direct, I think. And I would set myself up properly at a desk as opposed to just writing in my notes app.

PAN M 360: You spent a lot of time in LA during the making of the album. What was your experience like there, being from New York?

Ives: I was meeting with different producers in LA. John and I had two days working together, and we just really hit it off, and then I made almost all of the album in LA and finished it off near Buffalo. I went back and forth a lot, which was good for me because I had noticed in my writing a common theme of being stuck, so living in all of these different neighbourhoods in LA was cool, because now I know LA. New York is home, and it’s nice to be reminded of that and taken back in a very comforting way by my boyfriend, my house and my cats. It’s a touchstone of the love in my life, and then I got to be away and figure out how to love life on my own. I mean my boyfriend and I have been side by side for almost 11 years.

PAN M 360: Wow, you’ve been together ages. What’s the story behind naming the album Girlfriend?

Ives: I guess it’s just a sweet, charming word and a way of describing myself that I don’t fully relate to. It’s a temporary word. It’s young and cozy; it sounds like a phase or a chapter that wont last forever, which is cool.

PAN M 360: I felt the same with Janky Star, but I feel like there’s a very cohesive soundscape and texture across both albums. Do you think about the concept of “world-building” when you’re writing?

Ives: Honestly, I think I just gravitate towards the same things that I like through experimenting and having access to so many instruments. I think that this album makes me feel very at home. But, I can tell that it’s just the beginning of getting closer and closer to my sound and my world and being more comfortable in myself. This album is definitely more dramatic. It’s hard to be dramatic on just a 505, which is what I was working on almost solely before. It was a lot simpler, whereas this one I kind of had access to almost whatever I wanted, which was really cool.

PAN M 360: Your music explores a lot of emotional and personal themes, whereas the production is very fun and pop-esque. How do you find a balance there so that it doesn’t get too heavy?

Ives: Well, the vocal performance determines a lot of the drama. I was trying not to over-enunciate, pop-girl style, but finding the sweet spot between that and mumbling. I think I’m just less shy now. And I have more people in the room who can gas me up or keep me very humble. It’s nice to have people be so honest and helpful.

PAN M 360: Were there any albums or artists (or other media forms) that you had on repeat while making the album?

Ives: I was reading a lot, and I was watching some good movies in LA, too. I watched this movie Wake and Fright. Have you seen it?

PAN M 360: No I haven’t.

Ives: It’s a niche, indie Australian movie. It’s so fucking good. It’s about a teacher who goes on a bender weekend and gets stuck in the town called Yabba, where the thing to do is bet on coin tossing. It’s awesome. I also listened to Tusk by Fleetwood Mac a lot. It’s just really, really good songwriting. Really simple, I love Christie McVie’s songs. I have a lot of playlists, but I want to move away from that being my main way of listening to music. I could be a little more invested in albums as a complete art form.

PAN M 360: Have you watched any performances recently that you took something away from that influenced how you perform?

Ives: I really like the punkness of someone like Kathleen Hanna, who’s just so in love with performing. I love seeing genuine passion. I just saw Mitski, who’s amazing. She’s gotten a bit more stoic, which adds to the emotion, and I remember thinking, “I wanna do that.” I wanna put less pressure on myself to be like dancing or overextending myself if the song is kind of more emotional. You know, like, stop trying to milk it.

PAN M 360: I feel like we could easily talk about all the ways it’s a struggle to be an artist in 2026, but what do you feel is really great about being an artist today?

Ives: I feel like music is still one of the main cultural topics today. Gatekeeping is really big because people love discovering artists that they can actually align themselves with, and there’s kind of something for everyone. We all have phones, and teenagers are always scouring the internet for new stuff. It’s a bit more ‘hubs’ now, rather than like weird websites, but I think people want to find you. It’s really rare that no one cares.

There are some interviews that really leave a lasting impression. Not only because the artist shares their inspiring journey with you, but also because you feel like you would have answered exactly the same way if the questions had been asked of you. After a rich career spanning nearly 20 years as a coach, host, speaker, performer, actress, and writer, KLO—whose real name is Claudyne Hilaire—is finally ready to embrace her career as a singer. Although this project first took shape nearly 30 years ago, it is only now that KLO feels ready to fully embrace this passion that has always been a part of her. And the timing couldn’t be better: with the spotlight firmly on konpa for several years now, the single “Benito” is already making waves, especially among those nostalgic for konpa as it used to be. Our reporter Sandra Gasana had a wonderful conversation with KLO for PAN M 360, a few days after the release of “Benito.”

On Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at 5 p.m., OpéraM3F and the Festival de la Voix will present a jazz program at the 9th Grand Hall in the Eaton Centre in downtown Montreal. Jazz pianist Chad Linsley and his quartet (Devon Gillingham on bass, Rich Irwin on drums, and Michael Cartile on trumpet) will share the stage with soprano Kerry-Anne Kutz and mezzo-soprano Kristin Hoff, who is also the artistic director of OpéraM3F. This inspiring collaboration between multi-talented singers (opera, jazz, Broadway, and pop) and jazz musicians is explained here by Chad and Kristin.

INFOS & TICKETS HERE

Questions for Chad Linsley :

PAN M 360 : London Jazz News UK describes your style as discrete and delicate. You are certainly deeply rooted in the modern jazz piano tradition. How would you describe the main influences on your playing?

Chad Linsley : Like many jazz pianists, Oscar Peterson is a huge hero who shows so many possibilities at the keyboard. My father took me to see him play when I was 11 years old at the jazz festival in Saskatoon, SK along with Dave Brubeck, George Shearing, Jay McShann, and Jaki Byard. While attending a high school summer jazz workshop in Regina, I was given an excellent short list of recordings to check out from Herbie Hancock and McCoy Tyner. With so much great music to explore, it was easy to feel overwhelmed by all the recommendations and so more personal and unexpected encounters began to emerge and impact – hearing Bud Powell playing his composition Celia, Bill Evans backing up Tony Bennett, anything by Shirley Horn, Errol Garner playing “The Way You Look Tonight”, Horace Silver’s funky comping with the Jazz Messengers etc.

PAN M 360: Your approach is deeply rooted in New York jazz piano culture. Since Montreal is close to New York City and that New York aesthetic resonates with us, we’ve been familiar with it and appreciated it ever since Oscar Peterson was a young lion in the late 1940s.

Chad Linsley: Absolutely! I was very fortunate to visit there for the first time in 1999 thanks to Iwan Edwards, my large ensemble choral professor at McGill who invited me and some classmates to sing with the St Lawrence Choir at Carnegie Hall with the MSO. For a kid from small town Saskatchewan, this was the adventure of a lifetime! While I was there, I also got to hear and meet Chick Corea at the Blue Note. Though I’ve seen many musicals in London’s West End, I hope to experience a classic Broadway show in NYC someday! My great aunt would dub her vinyl albums of musicals onto cassettes for me so naturally I learned a lot of lyrics to show tunes that way.

PAN M 360 : You’ve performed with jazz singers; I’m familiar with your work with Renee Yoxon, among others. Can you tell us what inspires you when you perform in a piano-and-voice format?

Chad Linsley: Ever since I heard Shirley Horn and the Tony Bennett and Bill Evans albums, I’ve craved this level of feeling or immersion in a song with everything I do. The duo recordings of Alan Broadbent and Irene Kral also come to mind along with great arrangers like Nelson Riddle, Marty Paich, Henry Mancini, Robert Farnon, Clare Fischer, and Vince Mendoza.

PAN M 360 : This time, you’re working with classically trained opera singers. What’s the challenge this time? How will those voices blend with a jazz ensemble?

Chad Linsley: I’ve worked with Kerry-Anne for many years (a fellow Saskatchewanian!) She has such incredible versatility in a variety of musical genres which she shares in common with her husband, Michael Cartile who truly makes the trumpet sing! I’m looking forward to the release of their album next month. Working with Kristin Hoff will be a new experience for me but from what I hear from recordings, her instrument is rich, flexible and she certainly knows how to bring lyrics to life!

PAN M 360 : Is the group performing at this concert your regular ensemble? Do you plan to include improvisations between the vocal pieces? Do you encourage the opera singers to improvise?

Chad Linsley: I regularly collaborate with drummer Rich Irwin and we played a show with bassist Devon Gillingham backing up Jennifer Gasoi, a fabulous singer-songwriter. The fun and flexibility of this group feels like home. As a trio we will definitely be improvising but you’ll have to come check out this unique combination of musical worlds!

Questions for Kristin Hoff:

PAN M 360 : What inspired you to create this dialogue between opera singing and modern jazz?

Kristin Hoff: When Kerry-Anne and I discussed a collaboration between Festival de la voix and 9e Musique@17h, she was quick to suggest programming Chad Linsley and his band for a jazz show. Selfishly, I was thrilled – I’ve always loved singing jazz. In my early 20s, I was studying vocal jazz more seriously than classical singing, and although my path shifted, I never fully left it behind.

I incorporate jazz repertoire here and there in my programming, and there’s always a bit of nostalgia for me in coming back to it… perhaps feelings about what could have been. It always feels like reconnecting with an earlier part of myself, and it’s such a joy to get to do that alongside some of Montreal’s incredible jazz musicians.

PAN M 360 : There have been some collaborations between jazz and opera singers, such as Brad Mehldau and Renee Fleming. I’m sure you’ve looked into this. What are some examples?

Kristin Hoff: Singers like Eileen Farrell and Anne Sofie von Otter have made beautiful jazz recordings. Both Anne Sofie and Renée Fleming have collaborated with Brad Mehldau. I think those projects work best when there’s a real understanding of both worlds. Someone like Mehldau, who started out as a classical musician, moves so naturally between classical and jazz. You can feel that depth and understanding in those collaborations – it never sounds forced.

PAN M 360 : How operatic voices can fit with a jazz ensemble? What are the challenges?

Kristin Hoff: I can’t really speak for others, but when I sing jazz, I’m not approaching it as an “opera” singer. That may be because, even within classical music, I’ve always been especially drawn to new work and creation. In my work with my opera creation company, Musique 3 Femmes, I’m interested in developing opera that feels current and connected to how we experience music today. Contemporary opera already invites more flexibility than traditional repertoire – it asks for a different vocal approach, and a greater sense of freedom. That’s something I really respond to. Whether I’m singing contemporary opera, musical theatre, or jazz, I’m always looking for that sense of immediacy – something that feels alive in the moment and genuinely connected to the audience.

PAN M 360 : The phrasing, the rhythm, and the melodic scales (often modal) are quite different, so how can you and Kerry-Anne Kutz adapt to those jazz characteristics without compromising your own training and cultural background?

Kristin Hoff: Kerry-Anne and I both come to this with a lot of experience in pop, Broadway, and jazz, alongside our classical work. For me, there’s never felt like a compromise in moving between those worlds. If anything, it feels really natural. I’ve found that my voice responds to that kind of exploration – to following instinct, to letting the palette expand a bit. Singing other styles has only ever served my classical work, and at the same time, my classical training gives me a kind of flexibility and colour that I bring into jazz. It all feeds each other in a way that feels very honest to me.

PAN M 360 : In 2026, there are countless opportunities to experience jazz and classical music—far more than ever before, even when you consider the past century (Gershwin, Ellington, Ravel, Varèse, etc.). What are your thoughts on this?

Kristin Hoff: Love it! Love it! So much stunning music we can share !

Performing Artists

Chad Linsley, pianist, is “discreet and delicate” with “layers of poignance.” – London Jazz News UK & JazzTimes
Devon Gillingham, bassist
Rich Irwin, percussionist
Michael Cartile, trumpet
Kerry-Anne Kutz, soprano
Kristin Hoff, mezzo-soprano and Artistic Director of OpéraM3F at the 9th Grand Hall, has “an appealing clarity and emotional weight.” – New York Times

Program
Juicy Lucy (Horace Silver)
Windmills of Your Mind (Michel Legrand)
Angel Eyes (Matt Dennis/Earl K. Brent)
Wheatland (Oscar Peterson)
Polka Dots and Moonbeams (Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke)
We Are One Again (Kerry-Anne Kutz)
Et, si tu n’existais pas (Joe Dassin)
Nigerian Marketplace (Oscar Peterson)
On the Sunny Side of the Street (Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields)

The drummer Valérie Lacombe has just released an album titled State of Garden and Shadow (which I discuss more specifically in this review HERE). On April 29, 2026, at the Lion d’Or in Montreal, she will launch this first album, coincidentally, on International Jazz Day. I spoke with the young artist in the following interview.

PanM360: Hello Valérie. What is your musical background?

Valérie Lacombe: I was introduced to music in elementary school, in an arts-education program in music in Laval, specifically at Des Cèdres school.

PanM360: That’s very funny! My wife teaches at that school!

Valérie Lacombe: Oh really? I was there at the end of the 1990s.

PanM360: She arrived a little later.

Valérie Lacombe: I really enjoyed this journey. I learned a lot there. It’s a solid training program. There were excellent professors, including one named Frédéric Brunel. He also played the piano. I took a few private lessons with him, and he introduced me to jazz a bit. At school, I was learning the violin. I played it for a long time, but I stopped because I didn’t see myself having a career as a professional violinist. I went to University, studying anthropology, and at some point, I missed music, so I decided to enrol in a CEGEP course (at Vanier), on the side, telling myself I would do it for fun.

PanM360: And you chose the drums?

Valérie Lacombe: Yes. It attracted me, maybe because my father had one at home. He had played it in his youth, for fun, with friends. It was kept stored in boxes. I wasn’t really allowed to touch them when I was young. They said it made noise. But my curiosity had always been there.

PanM360: But you didn’t know how to play?

Valérie Lacombe: No! 10 days before entering college, I learned that I had to prepare for an audition! I thought they were going to teach me how to play! Eventually, I succeeded, and then I fell in love with the instrument and with jazz. I dropped anthropology, completed my college studies, and got into McGill.

PanM360: A beautiful and unusual journey! Was it intimidating for you to feel that you were starting on an instrument while most others had already mastered theirs for a longer time?

Valérie Lacombe: I put a lot of pressure on myself to succeed, but the feeling I had was to reconnect with the world I knew, the world of music that I had known at École Des Cèdres. I couldn’t believe that music could be my life, that people studied it at school like I had done in elementary school, full-time. I wanted to work hard even if I started later.

I believed a lot in my potential and above all, I was so in love with music that I didn’t feel I had any other choice. I had the feeling that I had been looking for a long time to get involved in a project that resonated with me to this extent. I considered myself really lucky even though it was certainly not easy to prepare for an audition at McGill when I had only been playing for a year and a half.

PanM360: Who did you study with?

Valérie Lacombe: With Jim Doxas.

PanM360: Great musician. Very, very solid.

Valérie Lacombe: Yes, indeed! Then I also studied with André White, Kevin Dean, Dave Lang, Darryl Green. I have now completed my master’s degree.

PanM360: How did you become familiar with the jazz repertoire? Who were your first role models?

Valérie Lacombe: When I started at Vanier, I knew nothing about jazz. An example I often mention when I talk about my first year there is that I wasn’t sure if John Coltrane played the trumpet or the saxophone! Lol. Then someone I met made me a mixtape with their favourite drummers. A playlist that I listened to quite a bit. On that list, there was Soul Station by Hank Mobley. Then, a friend made me listen to Night Train by Oscar Peterson. With Elvin Jones on drums. There, I started copying what the drummers were doing. I was in my rehearsal room and I was trying to “play along.” I was listening to the album and paying attention to what the drummer was playing and trying to reproduce it. I did it a lot with Ed Thigpen. Then with Jimmy Cobb. I feel that they are really the ones who taught me how to find a good feel on the cymbal.

I spent hours and hours and hours and hours on it. There is also Max Roach, whom I studied a lot. More for the language, in his case. He is a drummer who has spent a lot of time crafting a discourse to make all the parts of the drum kit speak.

The hi-hat, the bass drum, the snare, the toms. There is an extremely melodic language when he improvises. I spent a lot of time transcribing his solos.

PanM360: And finally, the album?

Valérie Lacombe: It’s my Master’s project. We have to record an hour of original music.

PanM360: And the musical universe is one without a piano. Why?

Valérie Lacombe: I would say that my main source of inspiration for composition is the one I associate with Elvin Jones’ band. I must also mention André White, who has an influence on the world he creates in his compositions, in this way.

PanM360: Do you feel as much like an accompanist as a composer, or has composing made you want to delve into it even more?

Valérie Lacombe: Mainly, I feel like a musician. I love playing, accompanying musicians who present their own original music because it’s personal. You enter their world. You discover other facets of their musical personality. Then, it was the same feeling I had with myself of sitting down and listening to the sounds I heard, and then creating pieces from that.

PanM360: The album has a common thread, an extra-musical inspiration…

Valérie Lacombe: Yes, I went to pick from an author named Clarice Lispector, in a short novel she wrote called Àgua Viva. More specifically, a quote in there, State of Garden and Shadow.

PanM360: What does it mean?

Valérie Lacombe: When I read this book, it was a significant period of transformation for me because I was about to finish my studies, and I had grown immensely as a musician, but also as a composer.

It’s a book I had read just before starting the composition process, and this quote had really struck me. She is an author who writes in a very vivid manner. Sometimes a sentence will make me think and then travel a lot, and then this sentence, State of Garden and Shadow, it makes me connect with the feeling of taking the time, of taking care of a garden. It takes patience, it takes a lot of work, but there is so much beauty that comes out of it.

It’s just an image that really resonated with what I was experiencing at McGill. From an aesthetic point of view, there is also what attracts me in the sounds I hear, the balance of darkness and beauty.

PanM360: And the three members who complete your quartet, they are all from McGill. Good connections?

Valérie Lacombe: Yes, very good. Musicians that I really like. Camille Thurman, Caoilainn Power, and Ira Coleman. Caoilainn, I’ve been playing with her for a long time. I already had a sextet in the years 2016-2017, and she was part of it. She plays the alto saxophone, and I love her way of playing. Camille Thurman and then Ira Coleman, musicians I admire. For me, it was the ideal band, even when I was writing before I even knew if they would agree to record with me, it was their sound that I imagined.

PanM360: How do you feel about having them with you on your first album?

Valérie Lacombe: It’s a great privilege. I really felt while recording that I was with professionals, and I was touched to know that they wanted to support me in this project. They really understood the aesthetic of the album, the kind of music I was referring to.

PanM360: I find that you do a lot with finesse. I find that you do a lot with finesse. You are capable of power, but there is never any bluster. And you like to draw fine lines, don’t you? Do the classical years, the violin, have an influence?

Valérie Lacombe: I think it indeed forged something very solid.

PanM360: The launch will take place on April 29, the eve of International Jazz Day.

Valérie Lacombe: Yes, I am very happy. Since 2015, we have been celebrating this day in Montreal (it had started a few years earlier elsewhere in the world). It’s a very beautiful occasion.

PanM360: What’s next?

Valérie Lacombe: A bit of a crazy project that will start on May 11 and run until June 5. I will present my project, State of Garden in Shadow, across Canada.

I’ve booked concerts all over Canada. Then, I hire local musicians. I will leave Montreal by car. I will drive to Vancouver.

I would also like to book a tour in Eastern Canada. Then, well, slowly, I’m thinking about the next album.

INFO AND TICKETS FOR THE ALBUM LAUNCH ON APRIL 29, 2026

This Sunday, April 26, at the Sala Rossa, the organization Codes d’accès presents *Constellations corporelles*, a program featuring emerging composers from Quebec who explore “the body and the unusual aspects of staging.”

Gabo Champagne and Rebecca Gray have collaborated on a musical theater piece that pushes the emotional boundaries of the audience and the physical limits of the singer, blending classical singing with performance art.

“Assembly Line Apparitions,” by Nicholas Ma, is a work for cello and electronics. All electronic elements are created from cello recordings, edited to appear as ghostly apparitions during the live performance. This piece is presented in collaboration with the Vivier Interuniversitaire (ViU).

The duo Gabriela Tomé and Christophe Lengelé present Caos Celestial by Archivos for electronics, guitar, and voice, 2024 (25 min), a performance blending electronic music, guitar, visuals, and voice, inspired by the theory of black holes and cosmic forces.

Alexis Blais presents Crowdwork, for violin, viola, and speakers placed on the audience’s laps, inspired by the interactions observed between a performer and their audience.

Alexis explains the ins and outs to us.

PAN M 360: Tell us about your background!

Alexis Blais : After training as a classical pianist, I earned a bachelor’s degree in electroacoustics at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal under Louis Dufort. There, I learned the fundamentals of acousmatics and developed my own edgy, raw compositional style, with pieces such as *Skand* (2021) and *animal_farm* (2022). I then completed a master’s degree in composition and sound design at the University of Montreal with Ana Dall’Ara-Majek. There, I conducted research on types of collaboration in electroacoustic music and began composing mixed-media music, a practice I had not previously pursued. Crowdwork is one of the pieces I composed during this period. I also compose for the stage, creating music for dance and theater productions.

PAN M 360: What are your aesthetic preferences in music?

Alexis Blais : In electroacoustic music, I appreciate works that emphasize the malleability and abstraction of the material, using an organic approach.

PAN M 360: You’ve composed a piece for viola and speakers placed on the audience’s laps, and you say you drew inspiration from the interactions between a comedian and their audience. Can you explain the reasoning behind these choices? What kind of speakers are they? How does the interaction between a comedian and their audience inspire you?

Alexis Blais : Crowdwork was conceived as a reimagining of a classic comedy routine, alternating between moments of monologue and moments of interaction with the audience. Hélios, on the violin, plays the role of the comedian on stage and cracks jokes at his instrument, to which the eight speakers in the audience—which I operate live—respond.

These speakers are old living room speakers I found for a few dollars at a thrift store. They play electroacoustic transformations of studio recordings of Hélios’s instrument, serving as reactions to his jokes. The inspiration for the piece came to me while I was thinking about the audience’s role in contemporary music. I wanted to find a way to integrate the audience into the piece’s narrative. The parallel with stand-up comedy came quite naturally.

In this type of performance, audience participation and their reactions are almost as important as the performer’s role on stage. The audience chuckles, is surprised, takes offense, or walks out, sometimes even influencing the course of the act. I felt there was something truly musical about these interactions, which is why I wanted to set them entirely to music.

PAN M 360: What are your upcoming projects?

Alexis Blais : I am currently working on the presentation of a collaborative acousmatic work titled *Les brasiers mobiles*. It is a semi-narrative piece featuring Amaryllis Tremblay reading texts by Hannah Arendt, drawn from her book *The Nature of Totalitarianism*. I am also working on the composition of a new semi-narrative long-form piece in the same vein, which can be experienced in a concert hall like a film without images.

Publicité panam

PROGRAM

Nicholas Ma, Assembly Line Apparitions, for solo cello and electronics (6’30”). 2025.

Jaeyoung Chong, cello

Gabo Champagne/Rebecca Gray “Funnelleries,” 2025 (25’)

Gabo Champagne, composition

Rebecca Gray, composition and vocals

INTERMISSION

Alexis Blais “Crowdwork” for violin and electronics, 2025 (10’)

Alexis Blais, composition

Hélios Paradis, violin

Gabriela Tomé and Christophe Lengelé “Caos Celestial de Archivos” for electronics, guitar, and voice, 2024 (25’)

Gabriela Tomé, composition and guitar

Christophe Lengelé, composition and electronics

Next Sunday April 26 at Sala Rossa, Codes d’accès promotes Constellations corporelles, this program gathers emerging composers from Quebec who explore « the body and unusual aspects of staging ».

Alexis Blais presents a piece for violin viola and speakers placed on the audience’s lap, inspired by the interactions observed between a comedian and his audience. Gabo Champagne and Rebecca Gray have composed together a piece of musical theater that pushes the emotional limits of the audience, and the physical limits of the singer, by fusing classical singing with performance art.The duo Gabriela Tomé and Christophe Lengelé offer a performance of electronic music, guitar, visuals and voice, inspired by the theory of black holes and cosmic forces.

Nicholas Ma’s “Assembly Line Apparitions” is a work for cello and electronics. All the electronic elements are created from cello recordings, edited to appear as ghostly apparitions beneath the live performance. This piece is presented in collaboration with the Vivier Interuniversitaire (ViU).

Publicité panam

Here is our PAN M 360 conversation with Nicholas Ma, who explains briefly and clearly his creative process for his piece, and tells us about his emerging career.

PAN M 360: Please tell us about your academic and professional background.

Nicholas Ma : I am a composer and pianist currently completing a Master’s degree in Composition at McGill University, where I also completed my undergraduate studies as a double major in Piano Performance and Composition with a minor in Music Theory. My work has been performed by ensembles such as Esprit Orchestra, and I have received multiple Young Composer Awards from the SOCAN Foundation. Alongside my compositional practice, I serve as President of the McGill Association of Student Composers and am on the Board of Directors for the Canadian Composers Orchestra. I have also previously served on the Vivier InterUniversitaire Committee, the NextGen Advisory Council, as Composition Area Representative for the McGill Music Graduate Students’ Society, and as co-founder of the Off-Topic Ensemble.

PAN M 360: What are your aesthetic preferences in composition?

Nicholas Ma : My music often explores the interaction between rhythmic vitality, playfulness, and contemplative rigor. I am particularly interested in situations where energetic or humorous surface materials coexist with deeper structural or expressive foundations. This layering between immediacy and reflection is a fascinating area to engage listeners quickly while sustaining longer-range musical meaning beneath the surface.

PAN M 360: How do you view the interplay between electronic and acoustic instruments in your works?

Nicholas Ma : In my work, electronics can function in several different relationships to acoustic instruments such as mirroring instrumental gestures, blending closely enough to create perceptual illusions about what the live performer is producing, or contrasting sharply with the acoustic sound world. In Assembly Line Apparitions, the electronics consist of a fixed track created entirely from recordings of cellist Jaeyoung Chong, for whom the piece was written, so that he performs alongside transformed versions of his own earlier sounds. This effectively creates an interaction with a recorded “ghost” version of his instrumental past, which is what the “apparitions” in the title refers to.

PAN M 360: Please explain the structure of the piece on the program.

Structurally, this piece mimics a late-night factory shift. The music moves between tightly looped rhythmic cells and more abstract textures. The middle section breaks away from the groove into sustained tones and metallic effects, before returning to a denser, more distorted version of the opening material. The “assembly line” in the title refers to two things: the repetitive, mechanical groove that drives the piece, and the step-by-step process of transforming acoustic recordings into electronic material and then back to acoustic. In this way, the piece itself was constructed like an assembly line: from performance, to editing and transformation, then finally back into performance again.

PAN M 360: What are the challenges of performing this piece?

Nicholas Ma : The piece includes several free-time sections in which the cellist listens to the transformed electronic material and responds to it via improvisation. These passages require the performer to make interpretive decisions about how closely to blend with the electronic track or strongly to differentiate themselves from it. While these passages can be demanding in terms of responsiveness and improvisational judgment, they allow the live performer to participate further in the assembly-line feedback loop that shapes the work.

PAN M 360: What are your upcoming projects?

Nicholas Ma : One of my upcoming projects is a work for saxophone quartet and multimedia electronics on the theme of doomscrolling, combining the fragmentation of attention spans, algorithmic gratification, and cat memes together in order to examine how platform-mediated listening environments are reshaping contemporary attention and musical perception.

7ième Ciel Records has just released Misstape II, an EP featuring singer/rapper Zach Zoya and his fellow producer, beatmaker, and DJ High Klassified. HK’s R&B repertoire provided more than enough solid material to support Zach Zoya’s smooth melodies, sultry lyrics, and sensual voice across seven heartfelt, infectious, and feverish tracks. This is a dish that will soon be served on stage, notably at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Until then, let’s chat with the two friends and colleagues before they fly off abroad.

Watch this interview!

The finales of the Sylis d’Or 2026, organised annually by Nuits d’Afrique Productions, will take place on Thursday, April 23, at the National, in Montreal, of course. PanM360 met with each of the three competing groups to introduce them to you. In this interview, Zalam Kao.

INFO AND TICKETS FOR THE SYLIS D’OR FINAL

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