No other media outlet in Montreal has so many people on hand to provide expert coverage of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal. Many of us are scouring the outdoor site and concert halls: Jacob Langlois-Pelletier, Frédéric Cardin, Stephan Boissonneault, Michel Labrecque, Varun Swarup, Vitta Morales and Alain Brunet bring you their album reviews and concert reports. Happy reading and listening!
Audrey Ochoa enjoys the distinction of being a Western Canadian Music Award winner, a talented composer, and one of Edmonton’s most prolific trombonists. While that last superlative was lifted directly from her website, it’s not likely hyperbolic considering how well she plays. The tromboning on her latest album, The Head Of A Mouse, being no exception.
Immediately, we are treated to a title track of latin jazz with the requisite bass tumbaos, and piano montunos evoking shades of Willie Colón; but with horn lines arranged in a style more reminiscent of someone like Gordon Goodwin; all while the drummer plays something closer to a songo. Ochoa shows off her chops in this tune with a forty-eight bar solo after the head and gives us something which is groovy and melodic enough to satisfy both dancers and stuffy beatniks alike. Perhaps not coincidentally, this sentiment happens to be a good summation for the rest of her album too.
Indeed, in addition to her playing, Ochoa’s range as a composer and arranger is really highlighted. Just when I thought the stage was set, tracks two and three surprised me with their juxtaposition of each other and of track one. “My Mom” is essentially a broken waltz with lush strings that create some very pretty doubling, counter melodies, and backgrounds. “It Never Happened,” on the other hand, is a hard driving straight eighths tune which sounds like a love letter to Nate Smith’s “Bounce pt. 1+2” in the way the melody is written and also the tenor player’s tone and propensity for slipping in licks a semitone away from the chord being laid down by the bass. Even the drum solo seems reminiscent of Smith’s playing on Pocket Change. Funnily enough, the fourth track, “Finger Trap,” sounds like a cross between tracks two and three but with Wullitzer piano thrown in for the fun of it.
In case it wasn’t clear, Ochoa writes some really eclectic stuff; but impressively she does a fantastic job at keeping it all cohesive. I’m definitely here for it. Also appearing on this album is a bit of reggae, salsa, swing, and other styles I’ll let the reader discover for themselves. If you’re in Montreal during the jazz fest, be sure to catch one of Edmonton’s most prolific trombonists for yourself as she leads the Audrey Ochoa Quartet on June 30th at 6pm at Pub Molson.
