HELIOTROPE
RECENT PERFORMANCES
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RECENT PERFORMANCES •
November 19 — HELIOTROPE with Andrea Grossi — Avant-Guarde Underground, Milano, Italy
November 22-24 — Jazztopad Festival, Wrocław, Poland
June 14, 2024 — Sile Jazz Festival, Roncade, Italy
FRANÇOIS HOULE • BASSET CLARINET GORDON GRDINA • ACOUSTIC GUITAR / OUD
Long time collaborators François Houle and Gordon Grdina bring together a mesmerizing range of musical experience that transcend boundaries and styles. The two virtuosos tap seamlessly into world traditions, avant-jazz, western classical music and free improvisation to weave together a dynamic and highly original musical tapestry.
Live @ SILE Jazz Festival 06.2024
HELIOTROPE
Byzantium is Heliotrope’s first planned album, to be released in the new year. It will feature a series of entirely acoustic compositions and improvisations by Houle and Grdina.
“Another fine duo Canadian clarinetist François Houle and American guitarist-oudist Gordon Grdina makes music that has a wide textural and emotional range, from lamentation to jubilation, exemplified by a piece such as ‘Soro’, a dedication to an Ivoirian musician who benefitted from community solidarity following an accident. The duo creates an interesting form of’ ‘art song;’ full of melodies that are elegantly pared down and also elaborately latticed, with the deeply haunting oud quarter tones providing both a sense of solace and gravitas.”
“Associates for a couple of decades, Houle and Grdina exhibited similar risk-taking and restraint at the Mleczarnia on the festival’s penultimate night. Creating unison chamber improvising, the guitarist’s clean finger-picking and slides fastened onto the clarinetist’s slivery elaborations and glowing trills, while Houle’s occasional reed whoops and squalls prevented any turn towards smooth sameness.”
Live at Jazztopad, Poland 11.2024