The Romance of Improvisation - The Romance of Improvisation in Canada: The Genius of Eldon Rathburn (2018)

Canadian composer Eldon Rathburn (1916-2008) wrote more than 250 film scores, most of them during his thirty-year career as a staff composer for the National Film Board of Canada. Arguably Canada’s most prolific composer of film music, Rathburn experimented with a wide range of styles and instrumental configurations throughout his career, with influences ranging from classical, bluegrass, country, blues, electronic, avant-garde, church and dance music genres, to popular music and jazz. The core musical materials for this project are drawn from three timeless NFB short films: an Oscar-nominated animated romp through transportation history titled The Romance of Transportation in Canada (Colin Low, Wolf Koenig, Robert Verrall, 1952), Fish Spoilage Control (Wolf Koenig, Gerald Potterton, 1956), a deliciously zany animated film commissioned by Fisheries Canada, and Police (Terence Macartney-Filgate, 1958), a behind-the-scenes look at the daily challenges faced by the Toronto police force. Working with themes from Rathburn's scores for these films, producers/arrangers Adrian Matte and Allyson Rogers created a series of brilliant arrangements that were designed as a springboard for the improvisatory skills and imagination of the five leading Canadian jazz artists who enthusiastically endorsed the project and accepted the challenge.
The Romance of Improvisation in Canada was recorded in February 2018 at the NFB’s historic studio in Montreal, the very studio where Rathburn had worked and collaborated so frequently during his career. This versatile all-star takes the listener on a voyage through lively bebop to free jazz, tango and mambo, and brings the recording to a touching conclusion with a sentimental ballade. There is something here for all tastes and interests! The Romance of Improvisation in Canada is a uniquely inspiring and ground-breaking Canadian creative project, one that plays between a tender nostalgia and the best of forward-looking 21st-century jazz.
Musicians: Petr Cancura – saxophones, Kevin Turcotte – trumpet, flugelhorn, Marianne Trudel – piano, Adrian Vedady – double bass, Jim Doxas – drums

Tracklist:

01. The Romance of Improvisation in Canada (From "The Romance of Transportation in Canada")
02. Fish Spoilage Control (From "Fish Spoilage Control")
03. Conveyance by Canoe (From "The Romance of Transportation in Canada")
04. Club Café Tango (From "Fish Spoilage Control")
05. The Industrial Revolution Comes to Canada (From "The Romance of Transportation in Canada")
06. Ox Driver's Blues I (From "The Romance of Transportation in Canada")
07. Ox Driver's Blues II (From "The Romance of Transportation in Canada")
08. Ox Driver's Blues III (From "The Romance of Transportation in Canada")
09. Police (From "Police")
10. Fresh Fish Delish! Le Poisson se mange frais! (From "Fish Spoilage Control")
11. Rathburn Mambo (From "Fish Spoilage Control")
12. The Rockies (From "The Romance of Transportation in Canada")