Set list – Spaces Beyond Here –
Maison de la Culture Janine-Sutto - Montreal, QC
February 24th, 7:30pm
1) Intro: Spaces Beyond Here*
2) Perspective
3) Interlude: Not Alone*
4) Streets of Mexico City
5) Tides
6) Interlude: Indifference*
7) Letting Go
8) Interlude: Human Malfunction*
9) Running Out*
10) Ele(ctro)phant
*World Premiere
Beth McKenna Quintet – January 24th, 2020:
Beth McKenna (Composer, Saxophones/Flute)
Guillaume Martineau (Pianist/Keyboard)
François Jalbert (Guitar/Effects)
Olivier Babaz (Electric Bass)
Peter Colantonio (Drums)
Agente Culturelle – Maison de la Culture Janine-Sutto: Caroline Richard
Technical Director – Maison de la Culture Janine-Sutto: Fabien Deschenes
“Spaces Beyond Here” promo design: Josh McKenna
Concert Recording - Mathieu Laplante-Goulet
About the Composer: Born and raised in New Glasgow, NS and living in Montreal since 2008, Beth McKenna has been heralded as “one of the most versatile musicians in the Canadian jazz community”, in addition to being ICI Musique’s “5 Canadian women in jazz to watch”. Having studied with GRAMMY and JUNO-recognized artists including Darcy James Argue, Jim McNeely and Maria Schneider (NYC) as well as Christine Jensen, Chet Doxas and Remi Bolduc (Mtl), Beth has worked with many of the leading jazz composers and performers in the world.
A 2-time finalist for Révélations Radio-Canada (Jazz), Laureate of Prix Opus for “Concert of the Year: Jazz & World Music” for the 2016 premiere her jazz orchestra work “Home: Montreal”, and a finalist for the Grand Prix du Jazz TD 2019, Beth’s approach to her original work is known to break the mold. Her own music is known to bring jazz back towards mainstream audiences by exploring integration of other musical traditions and influences. Beth uses her writing to illustrate experiences in her own life, while also breaking free of jazz traditions, making a statement in her writing, influenced by artists including Radiohead, Pat Metheny, David Binney, Donny McCaslin, Keith Jarrett and Brad Mehldau.
Her big band work “Home: Montreal” illustrates 8 locations within the city of Montreal, from the eyes of a “small-town girl” from NS, pulling history, culture and feeling of the location into her writing. With the daunting task of running a big band, Beth has moved forward with “Spaces Beyond Here” for smaller ensemble, without losing the energy, approach, style and spirit of her writing for quintet. Meant as a departure from Home: Montreal, pulling influence from political events, societal problems, her own travels abroad and observations of how decisions of global leaders and people around the world, can impact so much further than we think.
Program Notes – Inspiration for Compositions:
1. Intro: Spaces Beyond Here*: Spaces Beyond Here starts with a repetitive pattern in the piano and guitar, creating movement musically and space for a new idea to be introduced by the soprano saxophone. The soprano sax enters, as a conversation back and forth with the piano and guitar, leading into summary of themes throughout Spaces Beyond Here, with a sense of optimism and ability to affect change. This intro sets the tone as a direct lead-in to Perspective.
2. Perspective: Switching to Tenor Sax at the beginning of the piece, Perspective has a much darker, complex approach to it, as if discussion between band members influence as sharing perspectives and sides with each other. Every story has two sides, conflicts affecting us here at home and abroad often start through differences in view and perspective, and sometimes something said can change the entire context of actions and decisions. In “Perspective”, Beth wrote this piece which is very much dependent on the soloist to lead through sections of building vamps – leading the band to follow and react to the soloist throughout.
3. Interlude: Not Alone*: A short interlude for Flute and Piano only, this piece was inspired by the fact that we have more influence than we think. When affected by external factors or complete isolation, often communication with others can lead to collaboration, negotiation and positive developments towards improving situations, leading towards resolved conflict, understanding, inspiring cultural fusion, embracing diversity, acceptance of others and more.
Throughout Beth’s travels all over the world, she’s realized that although we have our own lives, and may feel like we don’t have impact on a global level, that our actions can radiate more in influence than we think, yet we also receive influences from other cultures around the world, as well.
Starting alone as the Flute and piano, with a lyrical, flowing and expressive melody, Not Alone goes through light and darker textures, ending with a conversational back and forth and a build in with the gradual joining in of the rhythm section, leading directly into Streets of Mexico City—a place that has pulled a lot of recent inspiration from North American culture while fusing into their own heritage simultaneously.
4. Streets of Mexico City: Beth’s day-job as a university MBA recruiter takes her on annual trips to Latin America, to recruit upcoming talent, to Concordia University’s John Molson School of Business. Throughout her regular visits in Mexico City (due to the booming Latin American economy and thriving middle class over the past years), she notices the fusion of cultures – evidence of Spanish colonialism, Mayan/Aztec culture/influences, and stark, startling differences of extreme poverty mixed with high-class corporations moving in.
Streets of Mexico City starts with a typical Latin-American syncopated groove, with simple melodies, reminiscent of the catchy, repetitive earworm-nature of melodies around Mexico City. During Beth’s visits in Mexico City, she takes time to wander the streets in historical Mexico City, embrace culture, observe local customs and observe influences from developed countries on this melting pot of influences, striving to become a first-world country in urban centers.
The build throughout the form of the head, leads to an open-sounding, broad and rock-anthem riff, that incorporates pop-culture from North America with Latin-American musical culture (syncopated rhythm heard in the opening, radiating in and out of the whole piece), while also representing the fast build from developing country, racing into becoming gradually more and more similar (in parts) to first-world countries.
This piece features a drum solo by Peter Colantonio – the drum solo is meant to represent building, construction, growth and development leading to a big finish at the end of the piece to the thriving cultural, commercial and industrial mega-metropolis that Mexico City is today.
5. Tides: Raised in Nova Scotia (living there until moving to Montreal in 2008), Beth spent her life close to the Atlantic Ocean. Tides reflects on the Northumberland Strait, near Pictou County, and how the tides would bring tall ships, shipping vessels, tourists and more every summer. Ocean was an essential part of growing up and an essential way to live on the east coast and provided many in her community with work and income.
In 2017, Beth’s mother was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Beth’s hometown was also developing the highest per-capita rate of cancer—largely blamed on the pollution dumped into the water from the local pulp mill—poisoning the water, damaging a nearby first nations community, and causing cancer in a larger-than-usual part of the population.
Part of the emotional impact of Tides, is Beth’s feelings of frustration, anger and fear towards a global corporation for putting profit, ahead of lives and well-being of all living in the area, causing humans to develop life-threatening illnesses, so corporations can grow their profits and business. When told of the news that her mother was diagnosed with a very rapidly-growing form of cancer, Beth felt even more pain, alone and emotion being hundreds of kilometers away in Montreal, from a woman who meant so much to her, throughout her whole life, while she was undergoing intensive cancer treatment., Beth illustrates her building strength, confidence and courage to support her family through the building throughout the entire piece, from the Guitar/Piano trades, to her soprano saxophone solo.
(Note: Beth’s mom was declared cancer-free and a breast cancer survivor in 2018 after 2 lumpectomies, a barrage of chemotherapy and an entire month of daily radiation treatments in Halifax, NS. Beth stayed with her for her last week of radiation treatments in Halifax at a Cancer Lodge near the QEII hospital). The polluting pulp mill has since been closed (Jan. 31, 2020) by the Nova Scotian government, and clean-up of the water/remediation with the first nations community in the area, will begin in early-mid 2020.
6. Interlude: Indifference*
Reflecting on the changes in the world – heightened global tensions, threats of war, international crises, viral outbreaks, poverty, discrimination, hate and more against different groups, this piece reflects on the bombardment of media, news, protests, and more – overwhelming and leading to many individuals, including Beth – feeling hopeless and unable to do anything that would lead to change on a global level, indifferent that anything they can do, will help to make the world a better place.
7. Letting Go
An immediate segue from Indifference, Letting Go starts with a piano solo riff in very open intervals, as a moment of contemplation and change of approach needed to try and reach peace and understanding. Letting Go was written in reflection of political organizations all around the world currently working to build bridges over past political, cultural and ethnic hardships/injustices, to start making peace and working together, rather than making a vicious cycle in repeating history.
Letting Go is a piece where the tenor sax melody fights somewhat rhythmically against the repeated piano riff, inspired by the feeling of feeling unsure of whether to be healing and remediating over the past conflicts, or to continue to block new opportunities based on past experiences—focusing on moving onwards from indifference and inaction.
8. Interlude: Human Malfunction*
Inspired by politicians’ decisions based on their own gain, own corruption or own personal goals. This piece pulled influence from national leaders who act without thinking about the health and rights of rest of the planet, our environment, our existence as a human race and potential for maintaining the planet as a home over the long-term—as a race that is able to protect the planet, many global leaders are doing the exact opposite. This piece illustrates a dystopian modern world of chaos and conflict, a technological wasteland and a hope that things will change to save our planet for the future, in time to come.
9. Running Out*
In a direct segue from Human Malfunction, after a chaotic breakdown by the whole band—Running Out begins with a few shreds of hope (piano solo intro), as scientists’ message start to reach and cause global alarm. With the entry of the sax and guitar, the message begins to radiate worldwide—that the planet is dying, resources will run out and there’s a need for sustainability. As the piece progresses after the tenor sax solo, the band sinks into chaos—as the world is on fire, forests are destroyed by fire or forestry, the polar ice caps are melting, species are going extinct, parts of the world are flooding, sea levels are rising, homes are burnt down in forest fires and climate change is threatening human life as we know it.
After the sink into musical chaos, a piano solo begins alone—, building in energy with the band breaking into a high-energy fast rock section together, with the hope that the planet can be saved (but action needs to happen now!), illustrating the hope that working together as a planet – with everyone on board- global leaders as well, that humans can still save the planet. The piece ends with the same beginning with distortion and noise throughout, bringing it back to shreds of hope around the current state of the planet (as it is dying), that we can make change and save Earth before everything runs out, from resources, food, plants, climate change to more--including time.
10.Ele(ctro)phant: Written originally as a bass feature for Simon Pagé as well as for Beth’s “Electric Wind Instrument” (EWI--like a midi-controller saxophone), Ele(ctro)phant brings electronics even more to the front in this funk-rock composition. Inspired by how technology, media and the internet has completely affected the world since its inception –Ele(ctro)phant illustrates technology’s integration into our daily lives—by switching the focus away from traditional approaches to the ensemble’s instruments, and integrating electronics and modern funk/rock as a more focal point of this work. This piece features a funk/groove vibe, pushing away from traditional jazz, and moving more towards modern jazz and fusion practices.
*World premiere
For more information: www.bethmckenna.ca