Jean Derome (born June 29, 1955) is a

French Canadian French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to pr ...

flautist The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

, and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

. A prominent figure in the

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

''musique actuelle'' (new music) scene, Derome has been a member of

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

groups, and has appeared on over 30 albums, including seven solo albums. He has written scores for over 30 films and co-founded Ambiances Magnétiques, a Canadian

musical collective Musical collective is a phrase used to describe a group of musicians in which membership is flexible and creative control is shared.Liisa Ladouceur"Collegjthk ctive Souls" ''This Magazine'', November/December 2004. The concept is distinct from th ...

and

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

. In 1992, Derome won the second annual Canadian Freddie Stone Award.

Biography

Jean Derome was born in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

on 29 June 1955. He studied

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

in Montreal at

Cégep de Saint-Laurent Cégep de Saint-Laurent is a public French-language college located in the Saint-Laurent borough in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is a few doors south of the English-language public college Vanier College. History The college traces its origins ...

between 1972 and 1975, and

flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedless ...

Conservatoire de Musique du Quebec A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger ins ...

between 1975 and 1979. He also taught music theory and flute in Montreal colleges between 1974 and 1983. During his studies, he formed his first

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary *Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania *Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, I ...

Nébu in 1973, one of Quebec’s first

jazz groups. A trio with Derome on flute, pianist

Pierre St-Jacques Pierre is a masculine given name. It is a French form of the name Peter. Pierre originally meant "rock" or "stone" in French (derived from the Greek word πέτρος (''petros'') meaning "stone, rock", via Latin "petra"). It is a translation ...

and bassist

Claude Simard Claude Alphonse Simard (July 9, 1943 – September 15, 2014) was a Canadian painter born in Quebec City, Quebec. Simard's works depicted garden scenes, landscapes, still lifes and the human figure in a bright and boldly colored manner. Biogr ...

, Nébu played "classically-informed contemporary jazz". They toured extensively in Quebec, performed at the Festival de Musique Ouverte de Châteauvallon in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in 1977 and at the inaugural

Montreal International Jazz Festival The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal ( en, Montreal International Jazz Festival) is an annual jazz festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Jazz Fest holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world's largest jazz fest ...

in 1980. Nébu made two albums, ''Nébu'' (1978) and ''Motus'' (1980) before disbanding in 1981. In 1978 Derome, St-Jacques and others founded EMIM (Ensemble de Musique Improvisée de Montréal), an informal association of free-improvising and jazz musicians. EMIM produced a number of groups, many with Derome as composer, arranger and flutist. In 1983 Derome began playing alto saxophone with La Grande Aventure, a street band popular at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and later with two groups devoted to the music of

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", "B ...

, Mystérioso and Évidence. In 1983 Derome and Québec guitarist

René Lussier René Lussier (born April 15, 1957) is a jazz guitarist based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He is a composer, guitarist, bass guitarist, percussionist, bass clarinetist, and singer. Lussier has collaborated with Fred Frith, Chris Cutler, Jean De ...

formed Ambiances Magnétiques, a

and

, providing an outlet for the

music of its members. One of the first groups from this collective was Les Granules. It was formed by Derome and Lussier in 1984, and combined traditional songs, free improvisation, musical parody and social commentary. Derome and Lussier also performed at jazz festivals across

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

between 1988 and 1991. In 1989, Derome and Lussier joined

Fred Frith Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock ...

's review band

Keep the Dog Keep the Dog was an American-based experimental rock touring band from New York City formed in 1989 by English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith. The sextet was conceived as a review band for performing selections of Fri ...

, which toured Europe, North America and the former

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

until the band's demise in 1991. Derome has collaborated with a number of other musicians, including

Chris Cutler Chris Cutler (born 4 January 1947) is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of other bands, including Art Bears, Ne ...

, Pierre Tanguay, Myles Boisen,

Louis Sclavis Louis Sclavis (born 2 February 1953) is a French jazz musician. He performs on clarinet, bass clarinet, and soprano saxophone in a variety of contexts, including avant-garde jazz, free jazz, free improvisation and contemporary classical. Life ...

and

Jandek Jandek is the musical alias of Houston, Texas based lo-fi folk singer Sterling Smith. Since 1978, Jandek has independently released over 45 albums without granting interviews or providing any biographical information, releasing on a self-made lab ...

. In 1988, Derome released his first solo album, ''Confitures de Gagaku'', followed by six more over the next 14 years. Derome has composed scores for over 30 films, working with a number of Quebec

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

s, including

Michèle Cournoyer Michèle Cournoyer (born November 14, 1943) is a Canadian animator who on 1 March 2017 received a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts for her body of work. Early life Born in Saint-Joseph-de-Sorel, Quebec, Cournoyer began dra ...

Jacques Leduc Jacques Leduc (born November 25, 1941) is a Canadian film director and cinematographer. Biography Leduc began his career in 1961 working as a film critic for the magazine ''Objectif''. The following year, at the age of 21, he was hired as a ca ...

, Pierre Hébert and Jean Detheux. He also wrote and

choreographed Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

a number of dance and theatre pieces in the early to mid-1980s, including ''Confitures de Gagaku'' (1985) for woodwinds, soprano, double bass, keyboards and percussion. Derome is a member of Nicolas Caloia's Ratchet Orchestra, which ranges in size from 15 to 30 musicians and has performed the music of Caloia, Sun Ra, and Malcolm Goldstein. In celebration of his 60th birthday, Derome is undertaking an extensive schedule of performances and special events which is being called 'L'année Jean Derome' ('The year of Jean Derome). The inaugural event was his performance of 'Resistances' for 20-piece orchestra, presented at the 2015 edition of the Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville (FIMAV). Derome is " neof the most active and eclectic musicians on the Canadian creative music scene." His unique writing style and his compositions have earned him recognition not only in Canada, but across the world.

Discography

Bands

;Conventum *''À l’affût d’un Complot'' (1977, LP, Disques Tamandir) *''Le Bureau Central des Utopies'' (1979, LP, Disques Cadence) ;Nébu *''Nébu'' (1978, LP, Disques Cadence) *''Motus'' (1980, LP, Disques Cadence) ;Les Granules *''Soyez Vigilants, Restez Vivants…'' (1986, LP, Ambiances Magnétiques) *''Le Retour des Granules'' (1988, LP, Ambiances Magnétiques) *''Au Royaume du Silencieux'' (1992, CD, Ambiances Magnétiques) ;Évidence *''Musique de Thelonious Monk'' (1993, CD, Ambiances Jazz) *''Live à la Casa'' (2000, CD, Ambiances Jazz) ;Jean Derome et les Dangereux Zhoms *''Carnets de Voyage'' (1995, CD, Ambiances Magnétiques) *''Navré'' (1996, CD, Ambiances Magnétiques) *''Torticolis'' (1998, CD, Ambiances Magnétiques) *''1994–96'' (1998, 3xCD, Ambiances Magnétiques) ;Nous Perçons les Oreilles *''Nous Perçons les Oreilles'' (1998, CD, Ambiances Magnétiques) *''La Vie, c’est Simple'' (2002, CD, Ambiances Magnétiques) ;

*'' That House We Lived In'' (2003, 2xCD,

Fred Records Fred Records is a British independent record label created in 2002 by the English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith to re-release his own back catalogue of recordings and previously unreleased material. It is an independent company ...

) ;Fanfare Pourpour *''Le Bal'' (2004, CD, Monsieur Fauteux) ;Trio Derome Guilbeault Tanguay *''The Feeling of Jazz'' (2005, CD, Ambiances Jazz) *''10 Compositions'' (2004, CD, Ambiances Jazz)

Collaborations

;With

and

*''

Three Suite Piece ''Three Suite Piece'' is an album of music released by René Lussier, Chris Cutler and Jean Derome. The album was released on Cutler's Recommended Records label in 1996. As per its title, the ''Three Suite Piece'' contains three extended compo ...

'' (1996, CD,

Recommended Records Recommended Records (RēR) is a British independent record label and distribution network founded by Chris Cutler with Nick Hobbs in March 1978. RēR features largely "Rock in Opposition" and related music, but it also distributes selected mus ...

) ;With Pierre Tanguay *''Plinc! Plonc!'' (2001, CD, Ambiances Magnétiques) ;With Myles Boisen,

and Pierre Tanguay *''All is Bright, But it is Not Day'' (2002, CD, Ambiances Magnétiques) ;With

*''Un Moment de Bonheur'' (2003, CD, Victo Records) ;With Abel Hassing and Pierre Tanguay *''Résilience'' (2004, CD, independent)

Solo

*''Confitures de Gagaku'' (1988, CD, Victo Records) *''Je Me Souviens; Hommage à Georges Perec; Tu r’luttes'' (1997, CD, Ambiances Magnétiques) *''La Bête / The Beast Within'' (1997, CD, Ambiances Magnétiques) *''3 Musiques Pour UBU'' (1998, 2xCD, Ambiances Magnétiques) *''Strand, Under the Dark Cloth'' (1999, CD, Ambiances Magnétiques) *''Le Magasin de Tissu'' (2001, CD, Ambiances Magnétiques) *''Canot-Camping, Expédition 4'' (2002, CD, Ambiances Magnétiques)

References

External links

Homepage
*.
Encyclopedia of Music in Canada
''Jean Derome biography''.
ActuelleCD.com
''Jean Derome discography''.

''Nébu''. {{DEFAULTSORT:Derome, Jean 1955 births Living people French Quebecers Musicians from Montreal Canadian jazz composers Male jazz composers Canadian film score composers Male film score composers Canadian jazz saxophonists Male saxophonists Canadian rock musicians Canadian experimental musicians Free improvisation Canadian flautists Canadian music educators Canadian jazz flautists CIMP artists 21st-century saxophonists 21st-century Canadian male musicians 21st-century flautists