François Houle: Insider Listening That Makes You Clever (Part One) - In the Zen

By Kerilie McDowall

As seen first published by All About Jazz, 2023. Part One of Two In the Zen Blog.

Pianist Benoît Delbecq shown left with clarinetist and bandleader François Houle on right. Image by Sheldon Suter.

“...Benoît would just come in and just float on top... to do his magic... Benoît is an integral part of it. But even the compositions were really influenced in some ways, by the way Benoît plays.”
—François Houle

Canadians and local Vancouverites have been in awe at BC, Canada's prestigious regular rising star clarinetist Francois Houle's international ranking status. Houle creates brilliantly fascinating compositions and such clever, innovative work. He has released seven albums as a leader from 2022-2023 and has four more plus on the way. Incredibly he will have released 11 albums as a leader within two years soon, with four additional albums as a sideplayer. Yes, a total of 15 albums or more.

Houle's meditative solo improvisatory project, Aerials, was a fascinating delve into all things mysterious and solitary, evoking a spiritual solitude; and it's become like a timeless favorite to those fond of his work.

As one of the globe's top and most-loved improvising masters of the clarinet, Houle's exploration and concept of timbral colors in a new soon-to-be- released recording based upon the book entitled, The Secret Lives of Colour is so exceptionally impressive. (Houle do not forget has seven recent album releases.) This release concept again reminds of Houle's shockingly advanced timbral and extended approaches. The Secret Lives of Colour is a creation that may be viewed in the future as one of Houle's most adored and signatory works. Some critics are viewing Houle's prolific and fascinating creative work as in the 'special,' category, or genius realm, worthy of praise and celebration.

Many have particularly completely loved and been in admiration of Houle's work with his close friend and collaborator,  Benoît Delbecq, (France), who is a brilliantly unique and inventive piano creative. An outstanding and gifted genius composer globally, Delbecq's work transcends borders.

Delbecq has designed a creatively elite prepared piano syllabus, set by his improvisatory and compositional example, for future generations to come with exceptionally exciting, innovative work. Mysterious, sonorous, percussive hues emerge from various objects inserted in the strings of the piano; mainly from pieces of wood that Delbecq sources globally. The genius of Delbecq is unlike anything you have ever heard. Listening to brilliant artists like Houle's and Delbecq's music and long-term collaboration on such releases as Because She Hoped (Songlines, 2011) is a riveting experience. In fact, if you investigate their duo work, there is never ever any going back. Once you have experienced their exciting work together you will be a forever fan of Houle and this fine duo.

They have just released the François Houle Genera Sextet project entitled In Memoriam, honoring the memory of Vancouver International Jazz Festival Artistic Director, Ken Pickering. Pickering was highly regarded by musicians and his peers, and this tribute helped define closure for the jazz community.

Francois Houle was born in Lachine, Quebec, in Montreal, Canada. He has been residing in British Columbia, Canada, in Vancouver for several decades and was in winter 2022 suggested for Canada's prestigious Polaris Music Prize.

After Houle having released more than seven albums from 2022-2023 as a leader, AAJ was excited to chat. Freelance writer, guitarist, film and past Houle-Delbecq Nanaimo concert producer Kerilie McDowall captured a pleasurable and long conversation about Houle's music projects in summer 2023 in the living room of her Vancouver Island mountain home and was happy to share the album's intricate story and interview with AAJ.

In the Zen: You have been creating numerous albums, your output recently, has been prolific.

Francois Houle: The short story is that if you don't document your work, there are so many missed opportunities to, to disseminate your practice, to get it out into the world.

I mean, I feel that at this point, I'm turning 62 this year. I've done over 100 recordings, most of them as a leader, a lot, as a sideman, whatever. I haven't barely made a ripple on the scene in some ways, you know. But what I did do, I feel was the best that I could do at the time. And I'm at this point now where I look back on all this stuff. And I was like, Okay, how can I do better? That's part of the process of documenting, talking about the music, writing books, writing articles, getting it out there. That becomes the artist's pursuit, you know, not just writing music, but making sure that you take care of your babies. And that's sort of where I am at right now.

ITZ: Yeah, telling the story.

FH:Yeah. People want the story.

ITZ: Agreed. The story needs to be told. So that's good that Lara [your partner,] is helping you get the material together.

FH: Immensely. So, because if it was just for me, I'm so clumsy with all these things. And then there are people like Igor who recorded Benoît and I a number of years ago...

ITZ: He's great.

FH: Igor Juget did a great job, you know. Like this last album that I just did.

ITZ: Because She Hoped, was just fascinating, it drew you right in. It's true, it's very powerful, film you know, you may not realize it, but even those couple of people that you influence, can be very powerfully affected.

FH: Yeah, I believe that. Yeah. But I look back at it I haven't looked at it and I should look at it again.

ITZ: It's really good. You seemed like these really hip, sort of French guys you know you were both here like this, (crosses legs in a relaxed fashion) you know. Just talking really casually, being you. You know, it was fascinating. Because you guys were being so French, speaking the language. It was so nice. You are also very brilliant musicians. Right, but also seeing that French side in your actual language of the two of you made it even more of an interesting dimension, you know?

FH: Yeah, because you don't in Canada, I don't show that. Oh, most of my work is in English. Yeah, but I'm Francophone.

ITZ: And you guys were translating it, but it was so good that way seeing you speak French because you could just speak the way you would normally. It was like how you would really be with your friends.

FH: What I remember from those clips from that film trailer, was that, like we're thinking so like... we're so connected musically, that and this the way we would describe our music is that we were completing each other's sentences.

ITZ: Yeah, like ESP. Right?

FH: Like yeah, totally.

ITZ: You guys were like that on that album too.

FH: Totally connected. Totally.

ITZ: You really were. Yeah, you could hear it.

FH: And it was like that from the get-go, the first time I met Benoît...

ITZ: But he's not like that with everybody. Like he's like that, like, you know what, like you and he can play with anybody. But you guys have this really weird connection. Like, it's just this really interesting thing. Yeah, don't you think it's great?

FH: Yeah, it's an incredible complicity and a huge amount of trust. Yeah. And a deep friendship. I mean, we've known each other for almost three decades.

ITZ: Wow. And how's he [Benoît Delbecq] doing?

FH: He's writing a lot. Yeah. Yeah. I just talked to him. Like, couple days ago, we had a ZOOM call, and a little FaceTime. And, you know, every time we talk, it's like, it's like family. Yeah. Like he's really like a brother. Yeah. Just like Joëlle Léandre is like a sister like a big sister. Yeah. You know, it's not as deep a connection maybe. But it is deep. But with Benoît from France, though, right? Yeah, she's in Paris as well. But with Benoît it's kind of like, we talk about everything. You know, we exchange our thoughts, our frustrations or relationships, we talk about all that stuff. So I have a friend. I know his kids, his kids were born around the same time my kids were born, talk about our kids, we're so proud of what they've become.

ITZ: Really amazing, really.

FH: So we have a lot of connections in so many different ways. Right. And I think it all ultimately manifests itself in our music making.

ITZ: Well, okay, so let's just get talking about your recent album, In Memoriam, so we'll start the interview. Okay. We that's just the back part that's just kind of leading up to it.

Okay, so let's talk about your album. And then the conclusion, which is a stunning track. Oh, wow, phenomenal. And then Ben was being brilliant. Benoît, you know, like, that beginning part when he starts comping. Mindblowing. And then you start doing some of that beautiful, ethereal, mysterious clarinet with the reverb later. So many fans will love that, that you did that. Because it's so spiritual. So maybe you can just talk about what your intent was.

FH: Well, when Ken Pickering passed away, just a few years ago, the band got invited to play at his memorial service. And they all flew in on their own dime to come to Vancouver to play together. Because the band initially was put together. I wanted to put a new band together to do a special project that was really international in nature. And I would get together with Ken every Monday morning to start our week we'd meet and I have a coffee at Milano's. That was our sort of little drinking hole. And it became a thing that was not every Monday, but we would meet on a regular basis, you know, just touch base. Talk about where we're at, talk about our frustrations. You know, things that were coming up that we were excited about. And I told him that I wanted to put a new band together. And I want to write this music and I have a sextet in mind. And definitely with Benoît. Initially it was a quintet plus Benoît [Delbecq], where I would write all the music, and organize the rehearsals and everything. And Benoît would just come in and just float on top of everything, To do his magic. Right. And, of course, as soon as we did, I realized, well, it's a sextet. Benoît is an integral part of it. But even the compositions were really influenced in some ways, by the way Benoît plays.

So Ken picked all the musicians and said, Oh, do you know Harris Eisenstadt? Harris would be a good fit. Michael Bates. Samuel Blaser, I didn't know Sammy at the time. So, I met this trombone player.

ITZ: Those guys everybody knows... all those guys.

FH: You know, and same thing with Taylor Ho Bynum. You know, so I said, Okay, so I contacted all these guys. Taylor he's New York. He's American. Now he teaches at Dartmouth. But he was on the New York scene for quite a while and brilliant player. Yeah. And anyway, so I contacted all of them said, this is the idea. And Ken says, like, put the band together, write the music. We'll program it for the Jazz Festival the year after, you have a year to put things together. So I applied for grants, got the grants, wrote the music, brought the band together, and we recorded in New York. And then we did the premiere in Vancouver. And we did a cross-Canada tour that year, where we did all the jazz festivals from the West Coast to the East Coast. And it was very, it was magical. I mean, it was amazing.

It was a wonderful band. And it grew and grew and grew as the tour unfolded, you know. And that was 2012. And then the next time that we put the band together was at Ken's memorial. Because of, it's so impossible. It's so difficult. It's so complicated and expensive to tour, a six-piece band.

ITZ: Or an international band for that matter. Logistically, that travel is difficult.

FH: So the memorial service was the first time that we could get together again, in like, eight years or something. And we played the old charts, we played three tunes. And it was kind of like, 'Oh, my God, I I'm so inspired, I have to write more music for this band.' So I decided to do that.

And I applied for some grants to do some writing. And I got a grant again, luckily, and I started writing some music in and this was during the pandemic or towards the end of the pandemic. Two summers ago.

So, 2020. Yeah. And I was writing the music. I was in my studio. And the more I wrote, the more I realized that there was like, a narrative that was unfolding in the music, and I couldn't quite put my finger on it. And eventually, it dawned on me, I woke up in the middle of the night with a tune all pre-composed completely figured out from beginning to end. So I woke up that morning, and I worked feverishly for like 16 hours and I wrote it all out. I basically transcribed what I had in my head.

And that was the first piece and I called it "Requiem," because Ken's spirit was so present when I wrote it. When I compose, I work on a whole bunch of tunes at the same time. I don't write one piece at a time. I just work a little bit on this, a little bit of that. Oh, that idea should be in that piece now. I move things around quite a bit. It's like a big puzzle. And it doesn't make any sense. It's convoluted. It's complicated. And it's painful and frustrating. But I've learned to trust the process because that's how I've always composed.

But what I realized this time was that there was a connection between every musical thought and I wrote a chorale, I wrote these really beautiful kind of minimalistic, rhythmic things that evolved and I came up with all these different melodies, almost the whole album is based on the blues. It's also based on motets like, like church hymns and things like that. So very spiritual.

And I was thinking like a requiem, what's a requiem, you know, like to pay homage to a person that moved on to the other world, right. And all the compositions were connected that way somehow. And in the end, I just thought, "I just wrote a requiem for Ken Pickering!"

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