The loss of Vancouver International Jazz Festival founding artistic director Ken Pickering in 2018 was difficult to process for those who knew him. François Houle Genera Sextet’s new release, In Memoriam, gives cathartic, yet celebratory, closure. Ken would have approved. I had the pleasure of getting to know the exciting work of François Houle and Benoit Delbecq in 2016, after booking them to appear in concerts on Vancouver Island. Since 1994, the duo has collaborated on numerous avant jazz ensembles, repeatedly proving their genius in approaching structure and exploring extended techniques, soundscapes, and colours. A close friend and mentor of Houle, Pickering had previously chosen the rest of the star-studded Genera Sextet after Houle asked him who his dream band would be: Swiss trombonist Samuel Blaser and trumpeter and cornetist Marco von Orelli, and Canadian bassist Michael Bates and drummer Harris Eisenstadt.
The band members, gifted composers and bandleaders themselves, are respectfully united in solemn tribute on Houle’s thoughtful compositions. The dirge-like introduction, “Stand By,” establishes Houle’s serious tone of mourning for his beloved friend. Delbecq contributes elevated and inspired accompaniment on “Requiem for KP,” the music of which came to Houle in a dream after Pickering had passed. Bates, Delbecq, and Eisenstadt are featured with percussive, driving African polyrhythms and fun ostinato on “Scarlet.”
A mysterious and serene French Impressionistic quality describes Houle’s compositions, notably on the re-emergence of the initial melodic theme in his finale, “Chorale.” Houle handles tone and colours on the clarinet with a virtuosic level of control. From the cliché-free melody and extended harmonics to flutter-tonguing and other thoughtful musical ideas, the emotional journey of In Memoriam is a divine, celebratory tribute to Ken Pickering’s cultural legacy.
