| Guitarist, composer and improviser on the modern jazz scene, Antoine Berthiaume was born in Montreal in 1977. Berthiaume has studied with a vast array of teachers: at home with Neil Smolar and Benoît Charest, in Toronto with Lorne Lofsky and in New York with Mordy Ferber, saxophonist Dave Binney and pianist Charlie Banacos. He is pursuing a Masters degree in contemporary composition at the Université de Montréal, under the supervision of Denis Gougeon.
On his first disc, “Soshin,” on Ambiances Magnétiques, Antoine Berthiaume’s duos with Fred Frith and Derek Bailey continue his exploration of the full range of improvisation and the thousand-and-one facets of the guitar. A first meeting with Bailey, in London in February 2001, opened the doors to a new conception of improvisation and allowed him to discover a musical scene that was incredibly diverse and open. During a second trip to London, in August 2001, he recorded with Bailey and appeared in a solo performance at an Instant Music Meeting show organised by Paul Hood through the London Musicians’ Collective. Eight months later, Bailey and Berthiaume would release their session concurrently: part of it on Bailey’s compilation, “Visitors Book,” (on Incus, a label Bailey and Evan Parker founded in 1970), and part on “Soshin” (on the Ambiances Magnétiques label). Then it was back to Montreal, where a visit by Frith was the occasion for a recording session with Bernard Grenon at Studio 270.
By turns bruitiste and traditional, Soshin is a meeting of the masters, a pilgrimage to the abode of the reinventors of improvisation in which Berthiaume is imbued with the presence of two great guitarists. |