EDMONTON JAZZ SOCIETY 11 TOMMY BANKS WAY - Yardbird Suite

Alain Caron/François BourassaBecoming a professionalmusician at a very early age,Alain Caron is a considerablyaccomplished bass player. Inthe early 1980s, Caron emergedwith Quebecois fusion groupUZEB – an intelligent, musicaland innovative ensemble whichwent on to record a dozenalbums through the 80s and90s. In 1992, he produced thefirst of his numerous soloalbums to date ''Le Band''. As asolo artist and ensemble leaderCaron has garnered countlessaccolades. In 2005, he wasnominated for a Juno forContemporary Jazz Album ofthe Year.Composer and pianistFrançois Bourassa leads one ofCanada’s most active recordingand touring jazz ensembleswhich this year celebrates its20th birthday. Since 1985,when the François Bourassaensemble won the MontrealInternational Jazz Festival’s newtalent competition, they haverecorded regularly and havetoured festivals, clubs andcultural centres acrossCanada as well as Franceand the United Kingdom.They have also performedin Belgium, Korea, Mexico,Russia, Spain and theUnited States. François’work as a composer hasbeen featured on anumber of criticallyacclaimed recordings.from MontrealFrançois Bourassa - pianoAlain Caron - bassGraham Guest/Raoul BhanejaCD ReleaseTwo young Canadian bluesmusicians, Edmonton keyboardace Graham Guest and Torontoharmonica-player Raoul Bhaneja,have made a CD together, andthey will be unveiling it at theYardbird Suite December 8 and9. The two will also celebrate thenew CD the following weekendat the Toronto club The CameronHouse.Graham Guest, a familiarfigure to Edmonton blues fans,now has a CD in his own nameafter playing on the albums ofmany other blues artists,including the two most recent byOttawa guitar-slinger Sue Foley(he has been the bandleader andkeyboard player in her touringband since 1998). In the sameway, he will now be a headlinerat the Yardbird after playing in theback-up bands of many visitingartists, from the late King Ernestin 1996 to Deitra Farr inSeptember, 2006.This is Raoul Bhaneja's thirdCD; his award-winning bluesband Raoul and the Big Time haspreviously released Big TimeBlues (2000) and Cold Outside(2004). He is also a charismaticand sought-after actor on stageand in films and TV; his long listof acting credits includes theone-man tour de force, Hamlet(solo), which he has performed inToronto, Montreal, New York,and Banff during the past year.His Yardbird shows will mark hisfirst appearance in Edmonton.Graham and Raoul, both intheir early thirties now, foundthey meshed together musicallywhen they met some years ago,and they began working on thenew project in 2004, followingFRI & SAT • DEC 8 & 9DOORS 8PM • SHOW 9PM • MEMBERS $16/GUESTS $20NOVEMBER • DECEMBER 2006 • www.yardbirdsuite.comSATURDAY • DEC 2DOORS 8PM • SHOW 9PM • MEMBERS $20/GUESTS $24Graham's performance onRaoul's CD Cold Outside. Sincethen, they have managed to findenough common time in theirbusy schedules to record thenew CD, called The LegendaryMiles Johnson because itcreates a shared musical alteregofor the two of them.The Legendary MilesJohnson contains twelve songscovering the whole spectrum ofblues. Six of the songs arecomposed and sung by Graham,from Edmonton/TorontoGraham Guest - vocals, piano, organRaoul Bhaneja - vocals, harmonica, guitartba - guitarardbird Suite BLUESfive by Raoul, and the one cover,Ray Charles's "Ain't That Fine,"has Raoul on vocals. Thearrangements are spare andfocussed on the lyrics andmusicianship. For the Yardbirdshows, Graham and Raoul planto perform the songs from theCD in the first set each night,playing as a duo, and then in thesecond set they will bring out thebacking band and let things getvery lively.Chris Brzezicki- bassJeff Lisk - drums• 7