The Conseil is pleased to announce the two winners of the Jazz Creation Grants for 2022. Funded from a private donation, these grants support the professional development of an artist, artists’ collective or non-profit arts organization by providing funding for the creation, production, recording or presentation of an artistic project in the field of jazz.
Get to know our two remarkable winners!
Olivier Salazar for the Razalaz collective
As leader and composer for his project Razalaz, Olivier Salazar is at once a vibraphonist, pianist-keyboardist, composer and arranger. A Montréal native, he has worked with many famous artists, including La Bottine Souriante, The Brooks, Jacques Kuba Séguin, Guillaume Martineau, Petula Clark and Dave Holland. He is a recognized composer in the corporate and institutional arenas and is credited with The Happiness Symphony, written for Coca-Cola, and a musical composition that pays tribute to Québec’s far north landscapes, written for the 150th anniversary of confederation.
Following the release of the first album from his group Razalaz, Océan Sucré, Olivier will start creation work on his second album, Jungle Givré. The Jazz Creation Grant will enable him to complete all the phases of the project, from recording to mastering. His talent, his musical maturity and his solid compositions with their interesting textures all caught the jury’s attention.
The organization Musique Rayonnante for the H ii Regions project
Made up of Aaron Leaney, Jahsun Promesse and Nicolas Caloia
H ii Regions is an ensemble with jazz roots born just as Montréal’s health restrictions were being relaxed for the first time. Never knowing which session would be their last, the trio’s music emerged spontaneously with raw passion and fury and incredible emotional release. Their music evokes the past and combines jazz, Afro-Caribbean influences and improvised music. Their goal is clear: transforming pre-COVID musical forms into music that reflects our “new realities.”
Thanks to the Jazz Creation Grant, H ii Regions will create, document and publish a series of new, collectively composed works that are slated to evolve as the bi-weekly jam sessions are recorded and reworked. Their ambitious plans include 96 hours of studio time, the production and social media posting of session highlight videos, a live concert at Ausgang Plaza, the recording and mixing of new works at Studio Crawford, and finally the production and release of a vinyl single accompanied by a digital version of the entire session on Calgary label Bug Incision. The jury especially appreciated the subjects chosen by the collective and the fact that it was an improvisation-based project.
Bandcamp – H ii Regions / N E B U L A
