Home » Jazz Articles » Live Review » Marc Copland Trio: Cafe Paradiso, Ottawa, Canada
Marc Copland Trio: Cafe Paradiso, Ottawa, Canada
Marc Copland Trio Café Paradiso
Ottawa, Canada
February 27, 2010
Running a jazz club in a town where the scene is, in relative terms, marginal at best is a constantly risky proposition, but over the past several years Alex Demianenko's Café Paradiso has become an institution in Ottawa, where fine dining meets jazz on a local, national and international level. On Saturday, February 27, Demianbenko hosted a trio that was supposed to be a quartet, and originally headlined by the bassist, but ultimately cashing in on the cachet of its pianist. No matter how you slice it, New York pianist Marc Copland, and Montrealers Adrian Vedady (bass) and John Fraboni (drums) put on a memorable show high on subtlety and nuance, but with no shortage of challenges.
Paradiso's design is inherently problematic, a room that seats approximately 75 people but divided down the middle by a wall that blocks half the patrons from seeing the stage. Still, that's not necessarily a deterrent, as was proven back in 2008, when veteran saxophonist 
Dave Liebman
saxophoneb.1946
The noise had to make it nearly impossible for Copland to concentrate, forcing him to play a little harder than usual. It also pushed both Vedady and Fraboni towards a far busier approach that was less inclusive of the space so prevalent in Copland's music. In a set that mixed originals and standards, including a bright but still dark-hued reading of 
Miles Davis
trumpet1926 - 1991
Fortunately, a combination of raising the level of the sound system, and a polite but forceful request from the affable Copland—asking those who wanted the audience members who were making so much noise to yell "Yes" to ask them to quiet down so the trio could make some music—paid big dividends for the second set, and those who stuck around finally got to hear what makes Copland so special. The room was so quiet, in fact, that the opening number lasted nearly half an hour, with a closing vamp that seemed to go on forever but in the best possible way, as the three musicians were finally given the opportunity to connect on a deeper level and explore wherever their muse took them.
Fraboni and Vedady are both busy players on the Montreal scene; nor are they strangers to Ottawa, Fraboni having performed with local bassist 
John Geggie
bass
b.1960
Vic Juris
guitar
1953 - 2019
For a trio that came together only this past week—playing dates in Montreal and Quebec City before hitting Ottawa—the interaction was surprisingly strong, albeit not on as deep a level as when Copland is with some of his usual suspects, including 
John Abercrombie
guitar
1944 - 2017
Drew Gress
bass
b.1959
Billy Hart
drums
b.1940
Bill Stewart
drums
b.1966
Copland's last visit to Canada was in 2006, when he played a sublime two-night solo run at Montreal's Upstairs Club. It was great to finally get the opportunity to hear him in a trio setting. And, when the audience at Café Paradiso finally quieted down and gave Copland, Vedady and Fraboni the attention they were capable of commanding, their Ottawa performance dovetailed beautifully with the unseasonably temperate Ottawa weather to create a memorable evening of soft warmth, subtle elegance—and, occasionally, even simmering heat.
Photo Credits
John R. Fowler
Tags
Comments
PREVIOUS / NEXT
Support All About Jazz
All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.
Buy Now
