Valerie Lacombe’s State of Garden and Shadow Album Release

The garden is a place that embodies life, growth, transformation, a symbol of beauty and fulfillment. It is also a place of work and care, of patience and dedication. This process of cultivation and growth is metaphorical in the case of this project, symbolizing personal development, creativity, and artistic evolution, as it represents a new milestone in Lacombe’s career and holds special significance, showcasing original compositions, the result of her artistic growth during her master’s studies at McGill University under the attentive guidance of Kevin Dean and Darrell Green.

The work focuses on music for a jazz quartet of two horns, bass and drums. This format offers a lot of creative freedom for spontaneous interaction between the members of the ensemble due to the absence of a chordal instrument such as a piano or guitar. Throughout the music’s history, there have been various different approaches to the chord-less quartet, from Gerry Mulligan and Chet Baker, to Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry and more. The particular approach associated most with Elvin Jones, which Lacombe has been heavily inspired by during the compositional process, consists of a strong swing feeling and melodic freedom in the drums, along with harmonically dense and assertive saxophone playing.