Duane Andrews

Newfoundlanders hit right note
By Doug Fischer, The Ottawa Citizen - Sunday, June 22, 2008
The jazz festival's afternoon series at Library and Archives Canada got started yesterday with a spirited performance by a quartet of Newfoundlanders led by guitarist Duane Andrews.
One bar of notes is all it takes to identify Andrews as a disciple of French gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt's strut and swing. But the story only begins there.
Andrews and his mates mix it up with hearty doses of traditional Newfoundland fiddle and accordion music, and occasionally with flashes of cutting edge jazz. Trumpeter Patrick Doyle was particularly adept at moving effortlessly from Tin Pan Alley to bits of bop and spacey playing that seemed inspired by American trumpet innovator Dave Douglas.
Not surprisingly, it was the group's infectious versions of well-known Reinhardt tunes like Minor Swing and Oriental Shuffle that drew the biggest applause. But it was the group's bubbling stew of styles on Newfoundland classics like Hound's Tune and Bees and Flowers that still echoed after the last notes faded.

- © The Ottawa Citizen 2008

Duane Andrews's new instrumental release opens with a tribute to Newfoundland's beautiful Bell Island. Just picture this wonderful musician weaving his smokey, swinging seaport set at a dockside pub.

Andrews is a formidable guitarist with the good taste to surround himself with first-rate accompaniment. That includes Steve Hussey's rhythm guitar chopping steady and subtle like brushes on a snare; Patrick Boyle's haunting, muted trumpet, Bill Brennan's vital vibes; Dave Rowe's essential bass; and, last but not least, the gorgeous, subtle sounds of the Atlantic String Quartet.

Andrews's five stand-out original compositions blend seamlessly with Django Reinhardt's Blue Drag, Charlie Mingus's Fables of Faubus, reels from Emile Benoit and Rufus Guinchard, and Portuguese accordion melodies interpreted with outstanding acoustic guitar work and the production values to match.

A day's heavy rotation left this listener not only wanting to hear what Andrews might do next but also his entire back catalogue. A long, lingering listen to Raindrops is definitely in order.

by Dennis O'Toole - Penguin Eggs Dec/08

Crocus, the latest recording from guitarist-composer-producer Duane Andrews, has won the jazz album category in the US-based sixth Annual Independent Music Awards.

The IMAs are co-sponsored by Music Resource Group (publishers of The Musician’s Atlas) and international music retail chain, Borders Books & Music. IMA judges included jazz giants McCoy Tyner, Bill Frisell and folk legend David Grisman among others.

According to a news release, Andrews’ album was selected from the largest number of entries the program has received to date.

The IMA win will see one of Andrews’ compositions from Crocus included on a compilation disc distributed to 10,000 music industry professionals around the world.

His own Crocus CD will now be carried by Borders Books & Music retail chain (1,200 stores worldwide) and will be included in a year-long IMA marketing campaign.

On Tuesday, Andrews was nominated for jazz recording of the year at the East Coast Music Awards.

Born and based in Newfoundland, Andrews plays a Django Reinhardt-inspired mélange of jazz, folk and original music. Crocus features his signature Gypsy jazz meets Newfoundland trad style, with performances from Patrick Boyle (trumpet/guitar), Steve Hussey (guitar), Dave Rowe (upright bass), Daniel Banoub (guitar) and special guest, jazz legend Skip Beckwith (upright bass).

Crocus was produced by Andrews, recorded by John Rowe at Great Big Studios in St. John’s, mixed by Dave Hillier at The Sonic Temple in Halifax, and mastered by Bret Zilah at Joao Carvalho Studios in Toronto.

Last month Andrews won the jazz artist of the year award from Music Newfoundland.

Andrews’ self-titled debut disc garnered East Coast Music Awards for instrumental recording of the year (’06) and jazz recording of the year (’05), three nominations for Canadian Folk Music Awards (’05), and the award for instrumental artist of the year (’04) from MusicNL.

He’s worked with jazz musicians Mike Murley and Doug Riley, folk icon Ken Whiteley, Afro-Newfoundland group Mopaya, Irish fiddle master Seamus Creagh and The Chieftains, among others.



- ANDREA NEMETZ - Halifax Chronicle Herald

I first became familiar with Newfoundlander Duane Andrews, upon hearing him perform as part of Kate Schutt's quartet during the Partis Gras weekend in July, 2007 at the Distillery District. His mastery of the guitar was as impressive then as it is on this collection. This 11-song album of instrumentals is a medley of juxtapositions and surprises. On the surface, the strumming is feather-light and playful, masking the depth of each offering. Also, the lightning-quick tempo at which each song is delivered belies the intricacy and complexity of the pieces played.

Although the performance is playful and lighthearted, the tracks are full, multi-layered and unfrivolous. Stephane Grapelli's ghost was definitely tapping his toes throughout this album. These skilled musicians make everything sound easy, yet, with each intimate listen their dexterity and talent shines successively brighter.

On the liner notes, the gracious personal references from Andrews noting how and why each piece was chosen add a heartwarming flavour to this wonderfully uplifting collection. Of the 11-song trip, Andrews penned "Adrianna", "Rosa", and "Jamo's Blues".

These beautifully calming and soothing melodies incorporating flavourings of jazz, Spanish, klezmer, country, bluegrass and tango blend effortlessly well together. There is so much creativity oozing through these pieces. For example, their version of Duke Ellington's "Caravan" is more light-hearted than the original with Patrick Boyle's up-the-staircase trumpeting lending the piece an original New Orleans flavour. Conversely, "Just Another Dream" hints at an upcoming flamenco flourish, then suddenly makes an unexpected seamless u-turn into an ode to bluegrass. Also surprising is "The Portuguese Waltzes" with its ever-so-slight nod to Mason Williams's "Classical Gas".

Although the majority of selections are played only with strings, the texture and creativity of the arrangements provide an unexpected fullness. This fullness fools the ears into believing there is an accordion, banjo and violin popping in every so often to spice up this musical gathering. Yet, solely the virtuosity of this quartet, using only guitars, bass and trumpet can be credited with producing these lush sounds.

Throughout, the teasing interplay between Andrews on guitar, Steve Hussey on rhythm guitar and Frank Fusani on acoustic bass calls to mind a race through a maze, with each musician competing to be the first to reach the exit. A bonus for all the musicians listening to this wonderful collection: transcriptions, a chord primer and chord charts for selected tracks are included on this enhanced disc.

Final thoughts: If everyone driving around only listened to this soothing and uplifting selection of marvelously arranged songs, road rage would be non-existant.

reviewed by Laila Boulos — December 2007 - Laila Boulos - thelivemusicreport.com

When you’re talking to Duane Andrews, you just have to smile. He smiled easily and often as we talked about his career and upcoming release, and I detected that he was understating everything about himself. Modesty aside, he did appreciate Jean Hewson’s introduction of him at folk club last year as “the almighty Jesus Christ of the guitar from Carbonear.”

Duane is a cornerstone of the St. John’s indie music scene, and is a skillful improviser, at ease with many musical styles: traditional, jazz, country and classical. He is a member of several local bands (MOPAYA, THE DISCOUNTS, JENNY GEAR AND THE WHISKEY KITTENS) and has performed with Denis Parker, Fergus O’Byrne and THE CHIEFTANS.

His bio says that he “began playing his mother’s guitar at age 10,” and then has him graduating from St. Francis Xavier University with a BA in Music in 1994. I asked him what happened in between. “Well, I pretty much just kept playing
my mother’s guitar,” he replied with a shrug. I asked him to dig a little deeper, please. Who were his influences? What were the milestones?

When he was in Grade 5, his mother, who “has an ear for music and can pick out a tune on just about any instrument,” started taking guitar lessons. That same year, Duane joined the school guitar group, which played mostly country music. There were strummers and pickers, he explained and he strummed his way through grade 5. There was “always lots of encouragement” at home and in the community, and he was influenced by musical relatives on both sides of his family: His Aunt Maime was a local country music diva who had played accordion for the dances when she was younger, and his Uncle Ern “played guitar, but seemed to have one of every instrument.”

He learned his first bar chord from Jenny Gear’s uncle, Pat Palmer who also lived in the
community. While in grade 8, he travelled back and forth from Carbonear to St. John’s to take guitar lessons and in grade 11, since there was no music program at the school in Carbonear, Duane obtained permission to study music theory
independently for credit.

While at university, Duane says he was one of a group of “classical rebels in the Jazz program:” students who weren't excited by their classes so they we went off and studied classical music together. Since graduating, he has continued to add to his repertoire, rediscovering Newfoundland traditional music and studying music composition in Marseilles, France on an intermittent basis. Oh yes, and so that he’ll “have something to fall back on,” he has also completed studies in Mathematics at the university level.

Duane’s debut CD , released July 5th, “honours the legacy of the great French Gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.” His bio says that this project is “fusing the stylings of Reinhardt with Newfoundland traditional music and his own compositions.” I wanted clarification of that statement, so towards the end of June, on a cool summer evening at the Ship Inn, I spoke with Duane Andrews about this, his first solo project.

Duane’s eyes twinkled, as he told me about a time about two years ago when, on a cold winter evening in a café in Paris, he heard a guitarist named Moreno playing renditions of Django Reinhardt’s compositions. Duane was impressed, and listening to this music he says, “took everything I’d done to a new dimension.” Duane had pursued Jazz studies at St. FXU, so he was familiar with Reinhardt’s music, but he says of that particular night, “I got it; I got a sense of what Django was actually doing.” For the first time in many years, he found himself challenged, both technically on the guitar itself and conceptually with new ideas about jazz. He came to understand that it was the most natural style of jazz for guitar because it utilized the instrument for its own properties and strengths, rather than having the guitar mimic another instrument.

He went on to explain that at 12 years of age, Django had backed-up Musette musicians, information which sent me on a web excursion to learn more about both Django Reinhardt and Musette-style music. When Duane returned from that winter in Marseilles, he began to explore Musette-style music with Steve Hussey, Frank Fusari and Patrick Boyle. They applied the style to traditional tunes from Newfoundland, Ireland, and Italy, and to Duane’s original compositions. Thus began the “fusing.”

They started with The Portugues Waltzes, which Duane recognized as a “sort of Portuguese dialect of Musette.” Steve Hussey explained, “Duane’s band is the first to meld Newfoundland music with Manouche in the same way that Django Reinhardt infused American Jazz with Gypsy melody.” The recording offers eleven selections, including some familiar traditional tunes such as the Breakwater Boys and Doherty’s in addition to The Portuguese Waltzes and three of Duane’s original compositions. The CD is enhanced: it contains transcriptions, a chord primer and chord charts for selected tracks. - the Sunday Independent

Guitarist Duane Andrews comes from Newfoundland, but his sound is not one you'd call distinctively "East Coast."More like a Parisian bistro, or perhaps what Django Reinhardt might have soundedlike if he'd missed the ferry en route to a colonial gig in St. Pierre et Miquelon.

Duane Andrews (independent) is a vigorous display of gypsy jazz, simply presented with only Steve Hussey's driving rhythm guitar and Frank Fusari's acoustic bass on the bottom end. Patrick Boyle's trumpet guests on a frantic Caravan -do camels move that fast?- and the sultry finale Jamo's Blues, for an added dose of brassy flair.

You can hear Andrews's whirlwind fingers play tonight at his CD launch at the Planet,
with High Plains Drifter, but also take note of his more soulful numbers, like the seductive Rosa, or the playful Portuguese, Italian and French accordion tunes transcribed for six-string. This is a sound that gets around.
- the Chronicle Herald

Remote and embattled by the elements, St. John's Newfoundland has one of the country's least heralded music scenes, and yet for a city of it's size it boasts Canada's most eclectic and creative collection of talent. As chronicled in the new documentary WATER ST. (www.giantsquidfilms.com), the diversity, enthousiasm and qualityof the acts will delight --from hip-hop to punk, ska to jazz, the Rock should become known for more than it's emblematic traditional music that blends Irish and English folk and Celtic with a more down-homey country and western tone. An example: the recent release by one of the leading lights of the St. John's music scene, Duane Andrews.

Guitarist Duane Andrews is a St. John's fixture, putting his hat in with any number of acts around town and rare is the night when you won't find him playing somewhere, competent as he is in almost any genre. For his self-titled debut Andrews puts his true love front and centre, Django Reinhardt inspired gypsy-jazz, and it's a gorgeously swinging and sophisticated affair. The perfect record to watch the summer fade away to.
- Outpost Magazine

December 7, 2007 For Immediate Release
Duane Andrews Wins 2007 USA Songwriting Competition Jazz Category
(St. John’s, NL Canada) – Jazz/folk guitarist Duane Andrews has won first prize in the jazz category of the 2007 USA Songwriting Competition. The award-winning song, Isaac’s Blues is an original instrumental composition from Duane Andrews’ highly lauded sophomore CD “Crocus”. The annual USA Songwriting Competition is positioned as one of the world’s leading international songwriting events. Winners are selected by a “blue ribbon” committee of music industry judges including record label publishers, producers, A&R representatives from Universal Music, Warner, EMI, Sony/BMG Music and other distinguished professionals. His “Crocus” CD, released in 2006, has generated a bevy of awards and accolades for Duane Andrews including top Jazz Album designation from the international Independent Music Awards, the 2007 East Coast Music Award for Jazz Recording of the Year, the MusicNL Award for Jazz Artist of the Year (’06), nomination for Best World Solo Recording from the 2007 Canadian Folk Music Awards and earlier this year, an Honorable Mention from the International Songwriting Competition for his song “A Birch Broom In The Fits”. A virtuosic guitarist, Duane Andrews plays a mélange of jazz, folk and original music. Heavily influenced by the brilliance of early twentieth century French Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt, Andrews melds traditional Newfoundland music, with its mix of French, Irish, Portuguese and English influences, with Manouche (Gypsy Jazz) in the same way that Django Reinhardt infused Jazz with Gypsy melody. In the words of Germany’s Folkworld Magazine, “the music might be best described as Folk music played by a top Jazz guitarist and the result is refreshing and stunning. Highly recommended.” A multi-instrumentalist, composer and record producer, Duane Andrews has worked with Canadian jazz legends such as Mike Murley and Doug Riley, folk icon Ken Whiteley, Icelandic guitarist Bjorn Thoroddsen, Afro-Newfoundland group Mopaya, Irish fiddle master Seamus Creagh and The Chieftains among others. From his home in Newfoundland, Andrews has literally toured around the globe with stops at Ten Days On The Island Festival in Tasmania, world renowned Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, Montreal International Jazz Festival, Centre Culturel in St. Pierre FR and most recently, Domo in Reykjavik Iceland. On “Crocus”, he delivers a brilliant collection of tunes in his signature “Gypsy jazz meets Newfoundland trad” style, enhanced by performances from Patrick Boyle (trumpet/guitar), Steve Hussey (guitar), Dave Rowe (upright bass), Daniel Banoub (guitar) and special guest, Canadian jazz legend Skip Beckwith (upright bass). “Crocus” was produced by Duane Andrews, recorded by John Rowe at Great Big Studios in St. John’s, mixed by Dave Hillier at The Sonic Temple in Halifax and mastered by Bret Zilahi at Joao Carvalho Studios in Toronto. “Crocus” is distributed in Canada through Festival Distribution www.festival.bc.ca Duane Andrews’ self-titled, debut disc garnered East Coast Music Awards for Instrumental Recording Of The Year (’06) and Jazz Recording Of The Year (’05), three nominations for Canadian Folk Music Awards (’05), and the award for Instrumental Artist Of The Year (’04) from MusicNL. He also received the Emerging Artist Award honouring “new and undisputed talent”, from the Newfoundland & Labrador Arts Council. Recently signed by manager/agent Marilyn Gilbert of Marilyn Gilbert Artist Management www.mgam.com, Duane Andrews is currently at work on a new recording scheduled for release in June. Upcoming appearances include showcases at the International Association of Jazz Educators Conference (Jan.10, Toronto), the ECMA Concert Series (Feb. 7, Fredericton) and performances at International Jazz Festivals in Ottawa (June 21), Edmonton (June 24), Calgary (June 26) and Vancouver (June 28). For a complete tour schedule, photos, music and more info please visit Duane Andrews on line at: http://www.duaneandrews.ca http://www.sonicbids.com/duaneandrews http://www.myspace.com/duaneandrews 2007 USA Songwriting Competition winners: http://www.songwriting.net/winners.html “Crocus” was made possible with support from MusicNL, Newfoundland & Labrador Arts Council and Canada Council For The Arts. For interviews/ high res photos please contact: Lynn Horne Lynn Horne Marketing & Media Relations 902-465-3763 lynnhorne@ns.sympatico.ca
- All About Jazz

August 27, 2008

You can take someone out of Newfoundland, but Newfoundland can never be removed from the heart of a native. I heard someone use a much more scatological version of that saying on a trip to the University of Western Ontario in the early 1990's, but after meeting a few residents of that island I tend to agree. Duane Andrews seemingly proves the point on his third album, Raindrops. Andrews left Newfoundland to study jazz at St. Francis Xavier University, and went on to study composition in Paris and Marseilles, but some part of his heart has always stayed true to the music of his home. Raindrops offers us a glimpse of Newfoundland's musical traditions interpreted in the style of the great Django Reinhardt with some help from the Atlantic String Quartet.

Andrews is incredibly inventive in both song construction and in performance. If you want to know how Jigs and Reels sound with jazz treatments, check out the sublime Bees and Flowers / Joe Smallwood's Reef. Andrews covers all of the influences in the patois that makes up Newfoundland's musical language, including Celtic, English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. Highlights include Bell Island, Indifference, DD's Blues and Raindrops.

Raindrops is an album for Jazz enthusiasts, Newfoundland folk music fans, and fans of great music in general. I know there are some great guitar players out there, but I would put Andrews up against any of them. Raindrops is a must-hear.
- Wildy's World. Amherst, NY

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAM’S 20 QUESTIONS: DUANE ANDREWS

By Bradley Bouzane
The Telegram

A lot has changed for Duane Andrews in the last year. He has received acclaim and awards for his solo work, has a busy summer of touring and festivals to look forward to, and it seems more then two decades of hard work is finally coming to fruition.

Andrews, 32, started playing guitar, like many children, in elementary school with school programs and extracurricular teachers, whom he has since surpassed- and then some- with his talents.

After highschool, the multi-talented musician began studying at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, N.S., where he graduated in 1994 with a jazz studies degree. But the start if his current path began three years later.

While honing his skills in musical composition, Andrews traveled to France five times between 1997-2003 to study in conservatories in Paris and Maceille.

In Paris, he stumbled into a small café, where a group of musicians, led by guitar player Moreno, were gathered in a tiny corner. That moment was the start of Andrews’ passion for the French gypsy style he now fuses, as he was introduced to the early 20th century style of French musician Django Reinhardt, which strongly influences his material today.

“ Moreno is the one that got me interested in Django,” Andrews said from his downtown apartment looking out on the harbour. “It was unbelievable guitar playing, and after hearing him, I went back (to Newfoundland) and started digging and finding out what this style is all about. Through that, I traced it back to Django, and then I started mixing that in with Newfoundland music for this style.”

Last summer, Andrews released his first solo album, which is filled with Reinhardt inspired tracks and it has been non-stop since.
The change has been a lot to adapt to for Andrews, who has worked constantly with other musicians in the province for years on various projects, as both a player and producer in some cases.

“ One of the biggest turning points for me was really hearing Django’s music, but also releasing my own CD,” he said. “After making a lot of music with other people as a sideman or behind the scenes, finally having my own project really changed things.”

“ So many more opportunities come up when you have your own album-plus it’s a little more simple in a way, because there’s not a whole group of five to eight people to take on the road. It’s been a good response in general.

“For one, when the people here hear the music and enjoy it, it’s nice, but also it’s been a very encouraging response from people who might not have any bias to liking it- total strangers.”

The album has landed Andrews a Music Industry Association of Newfoundland and Labrador (MIA) award, and at the 2005 East Coast Music Awards in Sydney, N.S., Andrews took home the award for jazz recording of the year for his solo work.

He said recent funding initiatives from the province to the MIA have been largely responsible for his current success. Last year, the province pumped $200,000 to the MIA to help promote the province’s musical talent nationally and internationally.

Both those markets are now taking a lot of Andrews’ focus.

He has six shows scheduled in a number of areas in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia for early June, and is in negotiations with the Montreal Jazz Festival for the end of June.

In July, he travels to London, Ont. For the international Sun Festival and plans to play the St. John’s and Halifax jazz festivals later in the month, and there’s talk of performance at this year’s Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival in Bannerman Park.

“Getting into the festival circuit is a nice way (to get heard),” said Andrews, who also holds a combined math degree from Memorial, Dalhousie and McGill universities. “With the bar scene, there is always a nice spirit, but it’s not always the nicest place to go and listen to music. There’s a lot of people who don’t like going to bars, which is understandable, so we’re starting to do more festivals and theatres to bring the music to people who wouldn’t hear it in bars. It’s a nice way to expand.”

He said for a musician to get his or her feet wet starting in the bar scene in bigger centres can be difficult at best, because a lot of the audience either knows you personally, or just happens to wander into the bar.
With festivals, Andrews said, promotion is better, the right people are around and, even for a relatively unknown artist, the audience is already there and taking in the entire event.

“ If you can get into the festivals, you get a lot more reward for that you put into it. I’m doing a few festivals this year, which will help a lot for next year in the festival circuit. My two main targets now are to get into the Canadian festival scene, and as well the European festivals because they’re huge.”

Planning for larger events, such as festivals, is a much longer and drawn-out process than booking bar gigs, Andrews said, but he believes long-term direction is one of the keys to making a living in music.

Since going solo, Andrews has let a few responsibilities he used to handle slip by the wayside. In the business side of things, people more experienced in the fields of promotion and management now assist Andrews. He said there’s no way to have your hand in too many pies in the industry and maintain sanity.

“I’m realizing that you can’t do it all yourself and there’s an infinite number of opportunities out there, but you’ve got to focus in on what you want to do, because otherwise you’d go mad trying to do it all at once,” he said.

Andrews, who hopes to release a second album in early 2006, said the talent has always been present but in recent years, the development if the industry itself has picked up, although it is still lacking upper-level positions, such as publicity and management.

No matter what part of the country or the world you look in, though Andrews said the public often has major misconceptions about people in the music business and that those who are in it had better have drive and a love for the art, or else it could be a heart- and wallet- breaker.

“You’d be surprised to know that people who are even on big record labels and doing cross-Canada tours, because they’re in the media so much and playing so much, people think they make a lot of money,” he said. “The reality is usually if you’re that big, you might be making a lot of money, but a lot of it goes back into making you that big.

“Maybe it’s only glamour, but it’s certainly not money. In downtown St. John’s, maybe the cover bands are making a lot of money, but others are making enough to barely get by. So it really is the passion for it, but there are exceptions, of course.”

What is your full name?
Virgil Gerald Duane Andrews. My father would say Virgil was the Greek poet, but my mother would say it was a character on some soap opera around 1972 (laughs). Gerald is my father, and Duane, where did that come from? I believe it means singing in Latin, which is funny because I don’t sing.

Where were you born?
I was born in November 1972 and that was at the old hospital down in Carbonear.

Where is home today?
Home today is downtown St. John’s.

What are you reading at the moment?
To be honest I don’t read a lot. I’ve been freshening up my French, so I have some French books around. I’ve got some Jean Cocteau, Marcel Proust’s L’Indifference. I’m also reading a Charlie Chaplin biography.

Who would play you in a movie about your life?
I’m not really into actors. I was thinking it might be cool to do it the way they did Yoda (from Star Wars). I’m into the high tech stuff, so maybe they could get a team of animators to pull something off. Is that acceptable? (Laughs)

What was your most vivid/recurring dream?
I had a dream once where we were in downtown St. John’s and these giraffes were somehow in the city, but they were distressed because they kept getting caught up in the telephone wires that are all around the city. They were trying to run around in the streets, but they were having a struggle with electrical and telephone wires.

What do you do to relieve stress?
I like to listen to music- just lie down, close my eyes and listen to music. I’ve been listening a lot to this album made back in the 1970’s by Paul Brady and Andy Irvine, a couple of Irish folk musicians. I also have a concert recorded in Paris that a friend gave me of oud music, which is sort of like Mediterranean guitar. I find that very soothing.

What is your personal motto?
Be honest, work hard, but have fun. Or maybe be honest, work hard and enjoy it, or work hard, be honest and enjoy it- any variation (laughs).

What bugs you or gets under your skin?
I think people who talk about doing stuff, but never actually do it. People who make big plans, but never act on them. It’s so easy to do. If you’ve got good ideas and motivation, why don’t you just do it? I also don’t like being too hot.

What is your hidden talent?
I’m told I’m a good cook. Rice pudding is one of my specialties. I like a variety of things- I was into curry for a while, actually going down and getting your own seeds and crushing them up and making you own flavours that way, and I was into marinades for a while.

Who is one person- living or deceased- you’d love to have dinner with?
That would be Django Reinhardt. Hopefully we’d jam. They say it was just the vibe that would come off him. He was a fairly quiet individual, but just to be in his presence would be pretty cool.

What scares you?
I find horror movies and psychological thrillers extremely disturbing. I’m very sensitive to that style of filmmaking. It’s definitely something that scares me. I haven’t seen one in a while, but I remember seeing that movie Necro Romantics in Montreal years ago and it disturbed me for weeks. It was a German film and it was all about sensory overload and how it could mess with you, I guess.

What is your most treasured possession?
I do have a couple of nice guitars. I have a Dell Arte. It was hand-made in California, but it’s modeled after the style of guitar Django would use. I think that’s my most treasured. Although I have been using my Mac Powerbook G4 a lot lately, so that has become quite valuable as well.

What event in your life has affected you most?
I would say hearing a guitar player named Moreno at a café in Paris. It was like when you have one of those life-changing moments that are surprises. But looking back, a lot has changed in my life since hearing him play. It’s what got me really into Django’s music and it’s a strong influence on what I’m doing now.

What are five CDs/records in your stereo right now?
Paul Brady and Andy Irvine, Joel Plaskett’s La De Da, his latest, a CD of Iranian oud music, Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 13 and a couple of Django compilations.

What is your greatest indulgence?
That would be food, anything. I just like to eat a lot sometimes, especially when it’s something good, but also maybe Winky’s on a night coming home from downtown. It could range from marinated asparagus with smoked salmon to Winky’s (laughs).

Who do you admire most?
That would be Django Reinhardt again, and that’s for many reasons. Looking back to his music, his left hand, which is what he does all his melodic playing with, he only had two fingers that functioned because he had a tragic accident when he was young. They said he’d never play guitar again. Not only did he master the instrument, but he also created this whole new style. Someone with 10 fingers on their hands would have a lot of trouble doing what he did with two.

If you could come back in another life, who or what would you come back as?
I’ve been having a good time being myself, a human. But maybe I could come back as a jungle cat- a jaguar, a lion or maybe a leopard. They seem to hang pretty good (laughs).

What are your best and worst qualities?
I like to work hard, and when I’m doing something, I put a lot into it. That could also be one of my worst qualities, because maybe I work too hard on things sometimes, if that makes sense.

What would you do if you won the lottery?
I’d make a really, really, really good record. When you’re making an album, you’re always cutting corners and compromising on different parts, but I’d make my dream album. I’d record it in all the ideal ways, you know? Maybe I could find one of Django’s old guitars, find the ideal spot to record in, get the ideal musicians and use the highest-end gear you can find. Then there’s everything that goes along with it- get deluxe artwork and manufacturing and the whole marketing campaign. Just to remove all the obstacles that money creates when you make music, to let it go as far as it could.
- the Evening Telegram