Winning a 2012 Juno award for Instrumental Album of the Year is no small feat for three very tall local musicians.
The Stretch Orchestra features Elora guitarist Kevin Breit and Guelph musicians, drummer-percussionist Jesse Stewart and improv cello composer Matt Brubeck.
Their debut album as the Stretch Orchestra came out in 2011 at the urging of their friends and fans, said Brubeck, who added the trio hadn’t really intended to record their music.
Instead, the three artists performed small gigs throughout Guelph and Kitchener-Waterloo since 2005, more for the opportunity to play together at events like the Guelph Jazz Festival.
Brubeck described their sound.
“It’s an eclectic album,” he said. “It reflects the diversity of musical influences of the people in the band.”
Brubeck, a classically trained jazz musician with a diverse repertoire, has shared the stage with Tom Waits, Sheryl Crow and Yo-Yo Ma and is currently working with the improv trio Ugly Beauties, as well as the Juno-nominated duo Brubeck Braid.
Stewart, who now lives in Ottawa after 15 years in Guelph, has performed or recorded with a wide array of musicians, including George Lewis, Roswell Rudd, Bill Dixon, William Parker, Evan Parker, Joe McPhee, Pauline Oliveros, Michael Snow, David Mott and many others. He continues to lead his own group and performs as a soloist at festivals across the country and internationally.
Breit has played and toured with Norah Jones, Hugh Laurie, K.D. Lang and Cassandra Wilson, with many recordings to his credit. He is a member of groups Folkalarm, Supergenerous and Sisters Euclid, with whom he took home Juno honours in 2007, and was twice nominated in roots and blues categories for two recordings with Harry Manx.
As the Stretch Orchestra – aptly named as each member is over 6 feet 3 inches tall – the musicians are pleased to receive recognition for the unique nature of their improvisational music style.
“We were surprised and delighted to have been nominated for Instrumental Album of the Year, particularly given the distinguished list of nominees,” said Stewart. “Actually winning the award was a huge shock and, of course, a great honour.”
Brubeck added, “We are really glad there is a very undefined instrumental music category. This is one of the only albums that has all the elements of music, something for everyone, from heavy metal to blue grass to rock … because it’s not really jazz, not a rock album or bluegrass, but it’s all of those things. It’s stylistically improvisation.”
Recognizing the diversity of the music in their category, Brubeck agrees fellow nominees were an impressive collective of talent.
“We weren’t into it to win anything,” Brubeck said. “We were surprised because there were a lot of really high quality people in the category,” he said adding, “It’s nice to win in a category that makes sense for us.”
The Stretch Orchestra’s debut album is available for download on iTunes or Amazon. Links to these downloads or to purchase a CD copy is available at www.stretchorchestra.com.
