Blend of South-Indian percussion with modern guitar tones, harmonica and sousaphone. Features lots of improvisation & intense rhythms, often in odd-meters; we use such cycles as 9/8, 5/4, 11/8, etc.

10 MP3 Songs
WORLD: World Fusion, WORLD: World Traditions



Details:
Alex Cattaneo was born during the 20th century in an undisclosed location. After completing music studies at Vanier College, Alex went to Boston in 2001 to study privately with Mick Goodrick (www.mrgoodchord.com), thanks to a grant from the CALQ (www.calq.gouv.qc.ca) .

Upon his return to Montreal, a collaboration with singer Coral Egan (www.coralegan.com) led to the recording of «The Path of Least Resistance» (Justin Time, 8501-2), released in march 2002. The album was received with much enthousiasm and the duet followed with many shows, including opening up for John Pizarelli at the Théâtre Maisonneuve and a sold-out concert at the Spectrum during the Montreal International Jazz Fest in 2002. The following year, « The Path of Least Resistance » got a Juno nomination for Best vocal jazz album of the year. The duet also made several performances on radio and television: Le plaisir croit avec l'usage, Les choix de Sophie, ArtTV, Bravo, Festival of stars (Global TV), Musimax, Aux arts etc, C'est bien meilleur le matin et Montreal-Express (SRC 95,1 fm).
In the early stages of 2003, Alex simultaneously put together three completely different groups : Asa Nisi Masa, a collaboration with indian percussionist Ganesh Anandan (www.tala.org) which lies at the frontiers of jazz, rock, folk and indian karnatic music; Absinthe, an entirely acoustic project heavily influenced by middle-eastern music and K-Bosch, a post-modern rock band.
As a composer, Alex has written over a hundred pieces for his own ensembles. He was commissioned to compose and orchestrate 2 pieces for Catharsis, a 15-piece orchestra conducted by Charles Papasoff, in which Alex also played guitar. In february 2003, he created a 3-movement suite for cellist Sheila Hannigan.

In the summer of 2003, Alex received another grant from the CALQ, this time to explore and study classical music from North India. This led him to experiment with fretless guitar, which allows him to perform the quarter tones and the idiomatic melodies typical of Hindustani music.

In january 2005 , the canadian magazine « Muzik etc » (www.muziketc.ca) published the first of a series of articles dealing with odd meters, a subject Alex has been studying with enthousiasm for several years. He now divides his time between his numerous bands, the study and composition of various styles of music, writing articles dealing with numerous subject matters and the contemplation of the beauty around and within us.