Let’s dive into the last weekend of the 24th edition of the OFF Montreal Jazz Festival with the joyful proposal of Quebec composer, conductor and bassist Carl Mayotte. It launches this Friday, October 13 at Studio TD Carnivalhis fourth album, in the form of a tribute to Brazilian music and the interpretation made by great jazzmen Americans of the 1960s and 1970s. And casually, this Carnival was also inspired by video game music and the practice of “ speedrunning », which consists of trying to complete video games in record time. Carl loves that.
Last month, a gamer American nicknamed Niftski managed to complete the famous game Super Mario Bros. (1985) on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 4 minutes, 54 seconds and 631 milliseconds, shattering his own world record set two years ago by 317 milliseconds. The feat, which can be rewatched on YouTube, brings him 0.35 seconds closer to a perfect race carried out by a computer, specifies the site specializing in scientific and technological news ArsTechnica, which reported this news which excited Carl Mayotte.
“I have this particular hobby of watching videos of speedrunning in the evening to relax, assures the musician. This kind of performance is now thoroughly optimized: a new record is a difference of a few pixels on the screen. These people execute their maneuvers with incredible precision. I love seeing their growth process, seeing how they work to become better at what they love. It inspires me in my artistic practice. »
“Basically,” Mayotte continues, “whether you are an athlete, cook, dancer or musician, it is the fact of putting in hours and days of effort to perfect a very small detail. Afterwards, the challenge is to stay focused, to stay fresh without losing motivation. What they do, playing the same game for hours and hours to achieve perfection without losing their concentration and motivation, that appeals to me. »
The anecdote reveals something of Carl Mayotte’s personality, but never as much as his music, joyful, dapper, full of spirit. “Only by reading the titles of my pieces, one recognizes the comedy,” believes the composer of Child’s heart, The Saltimbanque And Histrionics, taken from the new album. “I am a very jovial person in life, it shows in my writing – and especially with Brazilian music, to which I want to pay homage here. Playing that makes me happy, and I hope that the people who listen to my music will be happy too, that’s the goal. »
Revealed with the amazing City Pop vol. 1 (2021), Carl Mayotte also stood out as a passionate jazz fusion, the backbone of his work: “There is something with this music that can be very intellectual, but also very catchy,” believes the graduate with a master’s degree in jazz performance from McGill University. “When people come to see us in concert, it grooves, it feels like we’re having fun on stage, we smile, we look at people and they open up to us. It creates contact with the public. I believe in accessibility in music, it can open the doors to the public to other music that is more difficult to approach. »
Carl admits to having never set foot in Brazil (“It was in my plans, but the pandemic arrived…”), but has soaked up this musical culture by devouring the repertoire and collaborating with musicians from of Brazilian origin, including percussionists Aquiles Melo, Charlos Henrique Feitosa and Sacha Daoud (whose father is Brazilian). “I’m not Brazilian, I wasn’t born into this musical culture, so this album is really a tribute in which I tried to be as authentic as possible by reproducing the subtleties of the different grooves of this music. It’s my perception of Brazilian music, mixed with my own musical identity. »
And a bit like that of the greats of American jazz who, in their own way, were also inspired by the rhythms of Brazil. Listening Carnivalit’s impossible not to have a thought for the Return to Forever project by the late composer and pianist Chick Corea, who died in February 2021, in particular in the classical Light as a Feather (1972) which Carl said he listened to “a thousand times”.
“On this album, Chick really took the public’s perception of Brazilian music elsewhere, notably thanks to the presence in the group of Flora Purim (the singer) and her husband (drummer and percussionist), Airto Moreira, who gave an authentic flavor to the project. And there is this bass playing by Stanley Clarke, this old way of playing the samba, very square! The room Spain, which closes the album, it is a must for any Quebec musician who studied jazz at CEGEP! »
1970s jazz is part of my musical personality; I love it and I accept it
“Jazz from the 1970s is part of my musical personality; I love it and I accept it, but I try to refresh these fusion influences by adapting it to today’s jazz thanks to original orchestrations or different recording techniques”, says Carl Mayotte, who produces his own albums. “I’m not trying to reproduce the sound of Return to Foverver or Weather Report ; in fact, what inspires me the most these days is music for video games, which itself draws its inspiration from jazz fusion of the 1970s.” Okay, back to that! “It’s true, the game music composers Mario Bros. And Zelda [à commencer par le légendaire Koji Kondo] were fans of progressive rock and jazz. You listen to the music of the game Super Mario Kart [paru en 1992, musique composée par Soyo Oka], it’s a current vision of jazz fusion! »