Montreal-based bassist RJ LeBlanc has been on the scene since the mid-2000s, performing with jazz artists as diverse as Jean-Michel Pilc and Carol Weisman and finding time to indulge in rock via his membership in the Dears. He also teaches music at McGill University.
Amid all this, LeBlanc has managed to lead on dates with original material and the upcoming Heyday (now out by Multiple Chord Music and Diese Onze Records) is his fourth one. This album shows plenty of indications that LeBlanc soaks in all those styles he gets exposed to from working with others, and then some.
It’s a jazz record, to be sure, but with a contemporary complexion that includes rock, largely due to presence of Nic Ferron’s fusion guitar, modern keyboards and of course LeBlanc’s own electric bass, which reflects the enduring legacy of Jaco Pastorius.
The video debuting above gives us a good cross-section of Heyday as LeBlanc and his core four-piece band play three of the tunes in succession. The first one “Flamme” has a distinctly ’80s fusion flavor to it and is a fantastic feature for drummer Kevin Warren. The understated “Heyday” is keyed by LeBlanc and keyboardist Jérôme Beaulieu introducing the theme together and then the bright, harmonic alliance between Beaulieu and Ferron.
The pace picks up dramatically as the band launches into “Childlike,” a song that Ferron accurately described as one that could have been the love child of Kurt Cobain and Kurt Rosenwinkel: rich, complex chord changes played with the vigor of grunge.
Heyday can be had on vinyl, CD or download on Bandcamp.
