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12.01.2022 #jazz #residency

A brief retrospective on Claire Parsons residency at Paris’ Canadian Cultural Centre

© Cyrille Clément

Kultur | lx, the Canadian cultural centre, and the Istituto italiano di cultural in Paris organised a joint jazz creation residency gathering musicians from Canada, Italy, and Luxembourg. A virtual residency first took place in November before the artists met at the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris to finalise the compositions and design the band’s stage set. At the end of this residency, a concert was organised on December 2nd, 2021, at the Canadian Cultural Centre to present the collaborative work and introduce the artists to a Parisian audience.

Claire Parsons represented Luxembourg for the first edition of this programme with, at her side, the Canadian pianist Jad Salameh, and the Italian trio HackOut! (Manuel Caliumi – saxophone, alto, Luca Zennare – guitar, Riccardo Cocetti – drums). She kindly answered our questions about the residency feedback.

How did the residency go?
The residency was so much fun and the connection between the musicians was incredible. I personally love to spend a concentrated amount of time with different musicians on the creation of a musical piece and during this specific musical encounter it was really an exceptional connection between us musicians. Living the moment at its fullest and being inspired by the human and musical abilities of these incredible musicians was really inspiring.

What was the contribution of the residency programme on your musical practice?
Having to work in such a short amount of time, learning new songs, create an entire set and getting to know the musicians and their musical universe is always a challenge. It makes you get out of your comfort zone and work efficiently and make choices in the service of the music only.

Which objectives did you fix between musicians?
We wanted to have a diverse program by taking various compositions from all the musicians into the set and giving every musician the space to express themselves. Also, we wanted the concert to feel like one big creation without any breaks in between by linking the songs with solos from each of the band members.

How did you perceive the presentation of your work during the concert, and by the way, how did this concert go?
The concert went well considering the very short amount of time we had to put it into place. All in all, I was very happy about the result and the feedback of the public was positive and supportive. I can’t wait to play with those musicians again and we are definitely keeping in touch to continue the work we have started together.