LE QUATUOR DE JAZZ LIBRE DU QUEBEC

Montreal-based ensemble active 1967-74 in the then avant-garde style of jazz known as 'free music' and also, in the late 1960s, in pop music contexts. It numbered among its original members Jean Préfontaine (tenor saxophone), Yves Charbonneau (trumpet), Maurice C. Richard (bass), and Guy Thouin (percussion). Richard was spelled briefly (1972-3) by Yves Bouliane; Thouin was replaced ca 1973 by Jean-Guy Poirier, and Poirier soon after by Mathieu Léger. The pianist Pierre Nadeau joined the quartet for its sole recording, Le Quatuor de jazz libre du Québec (1968, RCI 271/Lon NAS-131515). Jazz libre worked in Montreal bars (the Casa Espagnol, the Barrel, etc) and Quebec colleges and universities, assisted Robert Charlebois, Yvon Deschamps, and Mouffe in the revues Peuple à genoux (1968), L'Osstidcho (1968), and L'Osstidchomeurt (1969), and took part 1968-70 in Walter Boudreau's Infonie. It toured in France with Charlebois and Louise Forestier in 1969, and appeared on read more...