“Perfume no 1”: Jacques Kuba Séguin’s trilogy project

UPGRADE DAY

With Parfum no 1, trumpeter Jacques Kuba Séguin explores the origins of life and its beginnings. This theme will be present and will develop on the next two opuses that will make up his musical trilogy project.

The Quebec musician loves perfume. He is challenged by beautiful smells and this love was the starting point of this trilogy.

“There are, in perfumes, the top notes, which are very ephemeral and which last about fifteen minutes, the heart notes, which remain all day, and the base notes, which are always present at the end of the day. the day”, he explained, during an interview.

He found it amusing to draw a parallel between perfume and life. 

“Youth , like the top notes of a perfume, is ephemeral, and this is the first part of this trilogy,” he said.

The birth of his third daughter, during the pandemic, guided him towards this project. The pieces written by the trumpeter took another direction with the contribution of pianist Jean-Michel Pilc, double bassist Rémi-Jean Leblanc, drummer Kevin Warren and singer Elizabeth Shepherd, present on two tracks, during rehearsals.< /p> Album cover

“It's the first time that I've made an album where all the musicians contribute their two cents. There was a canvas, but nothing imposed. It was very exciting to put it in their hands,” he explained.

Norwegian sound

Jacques Kuba Séguin wanted to rediscover the sound of the EP Mikrokosmos he recorded in Norway. He invited the Norwegian engineer Vidar Lunden to come and work at Studio Piccolo, in Montreal, on this new opus on sale, since yesterday, in digital format. He agreed.

“I had been completely flabbergasted by the sound he had been looking for and by the recording techniques in Oslo. That's what I wanted to sound like and I'm happy with the result. We hear the fjords and the sounds that forged the jazz sound of Northern Europe,” said the trumpeter.

Jacques Kuba Séguin will be accompanied by a big band , for the second part. An opus that will address love, first encounters, disappointments and adulthood with the arrival of children. 

On the third and final part, which will be recorded in 2024, with an ensemble symphonic, the trumpeter of Polish origins will approach old age.