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Happening For the past fifteen years, alto saxophonist François Carrier has played live all over Canada and the World; presenting his music to diehard fans of new and improvised music varieties. With at least a half a dozen records under his belt, his new live double CD « Happening » has earned his way into the Leo Records stable of artists that include the likes of luminaries such as Antony Braxton, Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Phil Minton and Sainko Namchylak. This time around, he chose to use a number of players from previous collaborations: bassist Pierre Côté and drummer Michel Lambert; and supplement the line-up with new musicians: violist Mat Maneri and multi-instrumentalist Uwe Neumann. The results are a mash-up between jazz, improvised, world and new musics. The first disc resembles a machination of styles that work well. Along with a few blasting alto solos, the session turns out to have quite a smooth and pleasant flow. Nothing dangerous in these waters is found until we arrive at the second disc. Here, Mat Maneri gets into some free-wheeling duels head-to-head with bassist Pierre Côté and with Carrier himself. Michel Lambert tends to stay in the background more or less, with his light percussive work, while Uwe Neumann works out on a few tender anandolohori (Indian talking drum) solos. Personally, it’s the second part of this recording that attracts. It seems to take more chances by allowing all players a democratic say in the music making process. It’s enriching to hear just how much give-and-take interplay there is between all players of Carrier’s ensemble. One drawback of the recording is the hollowed-out mix, which oftentimes doesn’t allow for some of the instruments to come clearly into focus. Regardless, “Happening” shines as a beacon for François Carrier: a Canadian voice on the world jazz/new music scene to watch closely. Tom Sekowski
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