Vancouver International Jazz Festival presents:

pianist Benoit Delbecq  guitarist Gordon Grdina

drummer Kenton Loewen clarinetist François Houle

                                                                     François Houle                 Benoît Delbecq  

                    Kenton Loewen                                                                Gordon Grdina

“Utterly fascinating” (The Telegraph), French pianist Benoit Delbecq has played with Fred Hersch, Gerry Hemingway, and Evan Parker. The Georgia Straight called his 2012 duo album with Vancouver’s François Houle “at once otherworldly and organic.” A fellow master of extended technique and melodic free improv, Houle is “a spectacularly versatile clarinetist who appears to have no limitations stylistically or sonically” (LA Times). Completing this boldly adventurous group are guitarist Gordon Grdina and drummer Kenton Loewen. Regular co-conspirators in the 11-piece avant-Arabic ensemble Haram (which also includes Houle), fiery punk-jazz duo Peregrine Falls, and Dan Mangan + Blacksmith, Grdina and Loewen are cutting edge improvisers.