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Alex Fournier
Dan Pitt Trio: Stages
by Dan McClenaghan
Shades of Link Ray's “Rumble," from 1958. Shades of Dick Dale's 1963 hit “Miserlou." Shades of every guitar/bass/drum band that has ever set up in someone's garage in an attempt to work on their hard rock and roll chops, trying to become the next heavy metal band to hit the charts. Canadian guitarist Dan Pitt rolls with the guitar trio format on his Stages, though his trio is a good deal more intricate and musically skilled than the ...
read moreTriio: Six-ish Plateaus
by Dan McClenaghan
Canadian bassist Alex Fournier takes inspiration from some of the best, most notably bassist/cellist/composer Andrew Downing and bassist/composer Michael Formanek. Both of these mentors sit outside the mainstream, but not far off, within spitting distance we might say. Six-ish Plateaus, by Fournier's Triio—which is not a trio but rather a sextet--explores the hybrid of written material and energized freedom with two reeds, guitar and vibraphone, drums and bass line-up. Distinction of sound is a key here. The ...
read moreDan Pitt Quintet: Wrongs
by Troy Dostert
Maybe it's a case of false humility, or a stab at irony, but guitarist Dan Pitt seems to prefer self-deprecating album titles. The Toronto-based musician's 2019 trio release, Fundamentally Flawed (Self-Produced), featured bassist Alex Fournier and drummer Nick Fraser, and his current offering, Wrongs, adds saxophonists Naomi McCarroll-Butler and Patrick Smith to the mix. For an artist who actually gets it right most of the time, these releases could have been more accurately named. But we can forgive him that, ...
read moreTriio: Triio
by Anya Wassenberg
Blending composition and free improvisation on their eponymous release, Triio—a sextet led by Toronto-based double bassist/composer Alex Fournier—offer a distinctive sound, whimsical track titles, and a surprise around every corner. “ESD" is a vibrant track that opens with a trippy piano line which uses the darker tones of the lower octaves to moody effect. When the rest of the sextet join in, they weave into a complex mesh of sound. There's a nice sense of momentum through the ...
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