Performers

L’Orkestre des pas perdus (Québec)

L’Orkestre des pas perdus (roughly translated, “The Lost Steps Orchestra”) is a nifty brass band under the leadership of trombonist, composer, and arranger, Claude St. Jean, an exceptional and unsung bandleader responsible also for the impressive pan-stylistic sextet, Les Projectionnistes.

OPP is a veteran of the Canadian jazz festival circuit, and is wholly capable of channeling the dynamic funkiness of the classic jazz brass band tradition. However, St. Jean’s compositions and arrangements – of Frank Zappa, Nino Rota, or Carla Bley, for example – keep the music beyond what is conventional and expected. Still, the vigorous rhythms of the group’s music ensure, foremost, a sense of fun from their festive performances, one that is enhanced by the sense of humour with which St. Jean and his team of crack players imbue them.

In the end, their music is party music – though it’s a party that celebrates the spirit, rigour, intelligence, and invention of the tradition of musique actuelle, the creative foundation from which L’Orkestre des pas perdus works.

Website:

www.oppmusik.com