| Member Since | 6/20/2007 | | Band Website | michellegregoire.com | | Band Members | MICHELLE GRÉGOIRE QUINTET: Michelle Grégoire - pianist/composer, Kirk MacDonald - saxophones, Kevin Turcotte - trumpet, Jim Vivian - bass, Ted Warren - drums. WINNIPEG TRIO: Michelle Grégoire - piano, Steve Hamilton - bass, Rob Siwik - drums
View Michelle Grégoire's EPK
 | MICHELLE GRÉGOIRE: REACHING
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| | Influences | Recent mentors and/or influencial people: Bob Brookmeyer, David Restivo, Hugh Fraser, David Braid, Mike Murley, Kirk MacDonald, Mark Applebaum, Joel Smirnoff, Clifford Madsen, Maria Schneider, Kenny Wheeler. Recent and not so recent influences: Maurice Ravel, Béla Bartók, Olivier Messiaen, Claude Debussy, Igor Stravinski, Beethoven, Mozart, Claus Ogerman, Eliane Elias, Thad Jones, Gil Evans, Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Vince Guaraldi, Red Garland, Lyle Mays, Oscar Peterson, Mulgrew Miller, Keith Jarrett, Joe Lovano, Fred Hersch, Brad Mehldau, James Williams, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Quincy Jones, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, Charles Mingus, Modern Art, Literature, Poetry, Philosophy, places, spaces, people and anything that brings greater joy and peace to this world.
"At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us."
Albert Schweitzer
"This will be our reply to violence: to make music more intensely, more beautifully, more devotedly than ever before." Leonard Bernstein
What keeps me writing 'till it's done:
"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." Thomas Edison
"Never quit." Donald Trump
Bob's words: "You have some good music inside!!"
ABOUT MICHELLE GRÉGOIRE:
A talented composer and versatile pianist, Michelle Grégoire holds an undergraduate jazz degree from St. Francis Xavier University and a Master of Music degree in Jazz Studies from the Florida State University. She attended the Hugh Fraser Jazz Orchestra Residency in Banff where she worked with Maria Schneider in 2002 and Kenny Wheeler in 2004. Grégoire has also studied privately with world-renowned composer Bob Brookmeyer. Recently, Grégoire spent four months at the Banff Centre where she spent focused time composing and working with some of the world's most brilliant musicians, composers and conductors. These included Joel Smirnoff, Rodney Sharman, Mark Applebaum, and John Halle.
An active freelance musician in Winnipeg since 1984, Michelle Grégoire maintains a solid reputation as a sideperson and band leader and has worked with the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra since its inception in 1997 where she appeared with artists like Bill Watrous, Phil Nimmons, Guido Basso, Byron Stripling and many others. She has appeared with artists such as Stefan Bauer, Martha Brooks, Brian Hughes, Liberty Silver, Walle Larsson, Peter Appleyard, and VEJI (Vancouver Ensemble of Jazz Improvisation) to name a few. She has been a frequent guest with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and was recently featured with the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra as part of a concert that was recorded by CBC Radio and aired nationally on various CBC Radio programs. The concert featured a world premiere of her new composition, Gratitude Suite for String Orchestra and Jazz Trio, a 15-minute work commissioned by CBC Radio.
Grégoire was the winner of the Project COOL 2004 jazz competition which awarded her a $15 000 recording grant to use towards the production and marketing of her debut CD Reaching. Her quintet features the crème of Canadian Jazz and has completed a Canadian Tour in February 2006 thanks to funding from the Canada Council for the Arts and Manitoba Film and Sound. The group was also featured in some major jazz festivals in 2006 such as the Jazz Winnipeg Festival, The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal and the All Canadian Jazz Festival. The quintet was nominated for the Grand Prix de Jazz and Galaxie Étoile competitions at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal in 2006 and was recorded by CBC for national broadcasts on Espace Musique, After Hours and other programs. Reaching earned a nomination as Outstanding Jazz Recording at the Western Canadian Music Awards and the CD enjoys continued airplay making the top ten lists on jazz radio programs throughout North America.
Grégoire is creator and artistic director of an exciting concert series in Winnipeg featuring touring Canadian jazz artists (The Canadian Jazz Concerts). | | Sounds Like | "Exciting, beautiful, inspired and new while building on the the tradition called Jazz." - Hugh Fraser | | Record Label | Boat House CMC/Fusion III | | Type of Label | None |
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