GUILLAUME MARTINEAU │ PIANO
Honoured as the Revelation Radio-Canada 2015-2016 in jazz, pianist Guillaume Martineau is widely known for his versatility and creativity across many genres and musical styles. He completed his jazz studies at the Berklee College of Music in Boston in 2012 where he received the North American Scholarship and the Zambelli Award. After completing his masters degree in classical piano performance at McGill University, he won the 1st prize at the Canadian Music Competition in 2009, around the same time he had his first experience with Oliver Jones, who inspired Guillaume to transition from classical to jazz as an artist and pianist.
Today, Guillaume’s achievements as a pianist and artist reflect greatly on his versatility. He was the invited soloist of six different symphony orchestras, recorded the piano parts in the feature film Louis Cyr, hosts his own weekly one-hour radio show dedicated to his own musical improvisation on CIBL Radio-Montreal, and not to forget his piano marathons lasting up to 12 hours non-stop. Throughout Guillaume’s career, he has performed internationally in countries including Canada, U.S., Japan, France, Switzerland and Austria. In his first album Par 5 chemins, Guillaume expresses his imagination through his compositions in creating music best described as a Cinematic-Jazz style. His second album Piano Marin was recorded at Radio-Canada’s Studio 12, which reaches the endless possibilities in Guillaume’s creativity, featuring all-entirely improvised works.
Guillaume Martineau’s creative style, artistry and voice as a musician and composer is greatly influenced by his mentors in both classical and jazz styles: Menahem Pressler, Anton Kuerti, Richard Raymond, Gilles Manny, JoAnn Brackeen and Laszlo Gardony, to name a few.
OLIVIER BABAZ │ BASS
As a bass player, Olivier Babaz has been multiplying artistic projects and collaborations for many years. He accompanies numerous artists and take part in various bands.
Born and raised in Paris, he started travelling at a very young age in Europe and worldwide. he lived mainly in France, Netherlands, Reunion Island and now in Montreal since 2010.
After “La Lune de Kala”, Akoz Duo’s disc, “Midnight Cafeine” and “Virages”, Olivier presents its 4th album”Odd Light” in which compositions find their way between modern jazz and acoustic rock, surprisingly incorporating elements of Reunion Island rythms.
For ten years, he has been developping the combination of Kalimba and acoustic bass, opening the possibilities of polyrithmic playing with a unique texture.
ETIENNE MASON │ DRUMS
Having been playing drums for more than 15 years, Etienne Mason is a drummer who’s main objectives are originality, creativity and musicality. He first started studying drums in a pop context at Cegep Lionel-Groulx and then moved on to jazz when arriving at McGill University thus permitting him to mix various styles of music and be able to accompany various bands from jazz to rock to world and electronic music. He has won the title of « Instrumentalist of the Year » in 2013 in the Jazz En Rafale contest for up and coming jazz bands and has par- ticipated in many different Jazz Festivals : International Jazz Festival of Montreal, Festi-Jazz Rimouski, Festi-Jazz de Tremblant ; World Music Festivals : Festival des Traditions du Monde de Sherbrookde, Hamilton World Music Festival ; song festivals : Festival International de la Chanson de Granby, les Francouvertes ; and other various music showcases Canada. At the moment, Etienne is doing creative research in the development of adding guitar effect pedals to the drum kit to open up the sound-scape possibilities.
ZOÉ DUMAIS │ VIOLIN
Zoé studied classical violin at the Music Conservatories of Rimouski and of Montreal, with Mrs. Johanne Pothier. She also studied at the University of Montreal where she obtained her Master’s degree with Mr. Claude Richard and at Concordia University, where she studied jazz violin with Mr. Stephane Allard.
Very interested and stimulated by creative music and improvisation, she is a founding member of the band Sagapool (winner of a Felix for Instrumental Album of the year and “breaking the boundaries” at the Great Canadian Folk Music Awards in 2012, the band tours around the world since 1999).
She very passionately teaches the violin at Uqam, Cégep St-Laurent and the “Conservatoire de Musique de la Montérégie”. She also conducts the string ensemble “Prélude” and is a member of the Montérégie string quartet and the “François Richard New Orchestra” and also plays with several artists. She is solo violin for the Saint-Lambert Symphonic Orchestra, for the Symphonic Rock programs.
She also writes music for films and was nominated at the « Gémeaux 2014 » for best documentary music, for the movie « Le prix des Mots ».