Hitting the high notes

by Debra Hornsby and Christine Elmgren

It is spring at The Banff Centre and the air bristles with creative energy. Insistent melodies and rhythms spill from every window in the Music and & Sound Building. The mountains ring with jazz.

Inside Rolston Recital Hall, Montreal pianist and composer Marianne Trudel is a woman on a mission, leading the 26 participants in the 2006 Banff Jazz Orchestra through an intense rehearsal of her new work, Parcours. Pushing her dark hair behind her ears, Trudel moves briskly between podium and piano, demonstrating the cadence and intonation she is looking for. Tomorrow, Trudel and the orchestra move to the Centre’s Luscar Studio to record Parcours– and nine other new works by participants in the Jazz Composers Residency.

The opportunity to compose and to have the orchestra workshop, perform, and record under her direction is invaluable for Trudel. “It’s a real privilege to be able to work with players at this level,” says Trudel. “This has been one of the most intense periods of my life, the musicians and composers have worked really hard to make all this happen.”

At 28 years old, Montreal-based Trudel is one of Canada’s few female jazz composers. A promising new talent as both a pianist and composer, she has attended the Centre’s Hugh Fraser Jazz Orchestra Workshop for the past three years. “I love the fact that I can come here and just focus on music,” she says about her repeat visits. “It’s interesting to come back each year because of the different visiting composers,” she continues, referring to jazz greats Kenny Wheeler (2004), Muhal Richard Abrams (2005), John Korsrud (2005, 2006), and Cuban legend Chucho Valdés (2006).

Trudel is this year’s recipient of the Denis Jackson Memorial Endowment Scholarship. The scholarship – dedicated to the memory of a Calgary jazz saxophonist, composer, and educator – allows a young Canadian composer to attend the annual Jazz Orchestra Workshop.

Two days later, Trudel is glowing, following a sold-out performance featuring Valdés and the orchestra. “It was simply an amazing experience,” she says. “To play with a great musician and master virtuoso like Valdés, is a privilege and an honour, and sets new goals for me as an artist.” Asked to pinpoint the greatest impact the Banff jazz program has had on her professional career, Trudel is quick to respond “It’s the connections I’ve made. For example, after the workshop, I’m going to Vancouver to do a concert with [saxophonist] Steve Bagnell, who I met here two years ago.”

In less than 25 years, the Centre’s jazz programs have grown from a daring, all-Canadian experiment in jazz education to a mature, internationally-acclaimed program. What started as an idea after a chance meeting in 1972 between David Leighton, then president of the Centre, and jazz musicians Oscar Peterson and Phil Nimmons, is now one of the most important training grounds in the world for jazz musicians and composers.

Since 1974, when the inaugural workshop took place, many of jazz’s brightest and best have passed through Banff, including Peterson and Nimmons, Dave Holland, Anthony Braxton, Cecil Taylor, Kenny Werner, Steve Coleman, Dave Liebman, Maria Schneider, Bill Frisell, and many others. Now, in May and June of every year over 100 of the next generation of jazz stars come to the Centre for inspiration, to connect with a larger community, and to work with leading artists and composers like program directors Hugh Fraser and Dave Douglas.

Even years after their Banff program, jazz alumni still attest to its power to shape careers. Stich Wynston, a jazz alumnus from the early ‘80s recently wrote to say that attending the program with his ensemble – saxophonist Mike Murley and double-bassist Jim Vivian – “changed our lives and was paramount in our development as musicians and artists.” Wynston, along with numerous other Banff jazz alumni, was nominated for a 2006 National Jazz Award. Centre alumni dominated this year’s honours, garnering a total of 13 awards – a testament to the program’s enduring impact.

For musicians like Trudel, Banff provides a welcome oasis from a busy schedule. “At The Banff Centre, I feel like I’m away from my daily reality. I can just think about music and the quintessence of what I want to do in life,” says Trudel.