For a first album in his name, it’s a winner! Homesteaders is the creation of Dave Mossing, a Montreal trumpeter originally from Saskatchewan. In eleven melodically and technically well-crafted tracks, he pays tribute to his ancestors, European immigrants with a mix of Scandinavian and Irish roots, who started by working very hard to earn a respectable place in Canadian society.
A good portion of the album is taken up by the seven-movement Homesteaders suite, which evokes ghost-like images of the iconic places inhabited and visited by the Mossing generations, the family farm, the local Lutheran church, and the cemetery. I speak of ghosts because both the farm and the church are now ruins, and the cemetery is abandoned. A story that fades in the air of passing time. It was during a “back to the roots” trip with his wife that Mossing had the intuition for this music.
You will spontaneously think that the tone is melancholic, even somewhat gloomy. That is not at all the case. It seems that Mossing evokes the energy, happiness, vastness of the sky, and generosity of the sun that inhabit his memories. Result: elaborate but attractive pieces, imbued with optimism and beauty, without any self-pity. The melodies are ample and smiling, the harmonies open and airy.
Mossing concludes the program with a few other pieces also related to this emotional journey, such as Day Trip, or Grace, a hat tip to a beloved grandmother.
Mossing surrounded himself with exceptional performers who truly bring the trumpeter’s inner journey to life: Jean-Michel Pilc on piano, Ira Coleman on bass, Jim Doxas on drums. Here, we have the elite of Montreal jazz.
Homesteaders is a very personally inspired album that knows how to charm any ears in love with beautiful and good music.
LAUNCH OF HOMESTEADERS ON OCTOBER 31, 2025 AT DIÈSE ONZE JAZZ CLUB
