Can You Hear the Birds?
Gentiane MG, Levi Dover; Mark Nelson
Effendi FND 178 (gentianemg.com/music)
Can You Hear the Birds is Montreal-based pianist Gentiane MG’s fourth album as a leader and features an exciting set of original trio music. The album has a unique design aesthetic, which Gentiane and her team have made ample use of in its promotion, but the musical performance speaks for itself as well.
The trio features bassist Levi Dover and drummer Mark Nelson. They act as creative partners in this endeavour, while simultaneously laying down the accompaniment and groove listeners expect from a traditional piano trio format. The music pleasantly obscures what is improvised and what is composed, adding to the suite-like flow of the album’s programming. There are open and sparse moments throughout Can You Hear the Birds, alongside tightly arranged sections, notably intricate basslines doubled in the piano’s low register on tracks like Standing on a Cloud.
I try to avoid direct musical comparisons, for their tendency to cheapen a review, but an overarching sensibility present on this album is that of the finest European jazz. To me Quebec has always felt simultaneously more European, and more American, than other provinces in Canada. How does that relate to Can You Hear the Birds? There is both a stylishness, and an element of visceral grit present, that I don’t hear articulated on the average Canadian jazz album. In some ways this is inevitable, as Gentiane MG and her trio are in a league of their own far above “average.”
