Jean Fréchette

Canadian baritone saxophonist Jean Fréchette is certainly an experienced arranger and multi-instrumentalist whose versatility has enabled him to utilize artists of various persuasions, including jazz, folk, pop, and chamber classical. He and his sibling, pianist/trumpeter Denis Fréchette (1952-2008), emerged up in the town of Joliette, which straddles the river L’Assomption in the Lanaudiere area northeast of Montreal. Jean’s first recorded actions as soloist and section guy include Collection Mingus, provided in 1986 by trumpeter Denny Christianson’s orchestra, and a high-profile program in 1990 with Vic Vogel’s Big Music group starring visitor saxophone legends Zoot Sims and Phil Woods. Also in 1990, Fréchette documented as an associate of Quatuor Alexandre with saxophonists Marc Solis, André Leroux, and Daniel Gautier. Their record Reminiscence featured functions by four composers including Alexander Glazunov. Fréchette’s following collaborations included Quebec pop vocalist Mitsou, Montreal’s innovative functionality ensemble Cirque du Soleil, vocalist Boule Noire, and Quebec rocker Robert Charlebois. Fréchette could very well be most widely known for his use La Bottine Souriante (The Smiling Shoe), a Quebecois root base music troupe constructed largely of music artists from circular about Lanaudiere. Jean participated along with his sibling Denis, who acquired joined up with the group in 1988. It had been Denis who added jazz towards the ensemble’s intensifying folk combine. Jean was suitable towards the collective imagination that characterizes La Bottine, and sensed comfortable more than enough to expand his collection of instruments to add flute, clarinet, flageolet, recorder, and pennywhistle. In 1998 La Bottine Souriante guested with Paddy Moloney as well as the Chieftains on the all-star Canadian Celtic collaborative record Fire in your kitchen, sharing the costs with internationally acclaimed Cape Breton fiddlers Natalie MacMaster and Ashley MacIsaac. Jean Fréchette shut out the 10 years by dealing with Spanish diatonic accordionist Kepa Junkera. He provides since progressed into a reliable, rock-solid presence in the Canadian jazz picture. The entire year 2006 noticed him documenting with Montreal-based trumpeter Joe Sullivan’s Big Music group, with accordionist and La Bottine Souriante founder Yves Lambert, and with saxophonist François Theberge. Fréchette documented with pianist Vic Vogel in 2007 and blew bass clarinet furthermore to tenor and baritone saxes with Cirque du Soleil on the 2008 discharge Kooza. In ’09 2009 he was a highlighted soloist using the big music group led by pianist Lorraine Desmarais, and documented with saxophonists David Bellemare, André Leroux, and Janis Steprans as Quatuor du Nord — their record in the Elephant Information label features functions by Steprans, Thelonious Monk, and Béla Bartók. This year 2010 Fréchette brought baritone and bass clarinet into play behind Montreal jazz vocalist Nikki Yanofsky on her behalf Decca record Nikki. He could be noticed in the reed portion of the big music group support her during “It’s a little World” in the Hal Willner-inspired 2011 Disney jazz compilation Everybody Really wants to Be a Kitty.