Chris Wolf had the chance to talk with Winnipeg Jazz Guitarist Jocelyn Gould about her Juno win that took place this past weekend.
This past weekend, the 50th annual Juno Awards took place, and one of the winners was the young and very talented guitarist Jocelyn Gould. “It feels so exciting and a little bit overwhelming in a positive way… just because everyone watches the Junos…so from just all areas of my life I’m getting messages on all the platforms, and it’s just a pretty amazing feeling.” says Gould.
Pretty amazing is right! The album “Elegant Traveler” is Jocelyn Gould first album as a band leader, and right out of the gate she has earned herself a Juno for this magnificent effort!
For those unfamiliar with Jocelyn Gould, she is a graduate of the University of Manitoba’s Desaultels Faculty of Music, and has also studied at Michigan State University. Since graduating from Michigan State, Jocelyn has performed in Detroit and lived and worked in New York City honing her craft. She is now the head of the guitar department at Humber College in Toronto; Humber having a long history of turning out top notch jazz musicians.
The album consists of ten tracks, seven of which are written by Jocelyn herself. As Jocelyn says, “Some of the tunes on the album date back from when I was living in Winnipeg…when I sat down to program the album I just picked my favorite tunes from what I already had.”
“Elegant Traveler” is an incredibly intimate and collaborative project. None of the soloists showboat; and while listening to the album it becomes clear that Jocelyn put together a band that would work and record successfully. The band plays with an incredible amount of sensitivity to what is going on around them.
The album was recorded in one six hour session in New York, and has a tremendous line up of musicians. “The band consists of several musicians who span a few years of my life.” says Jocelyn. The line-up consists of drummer Quincey Davis, who was actually one of Jocelyn’s professors at the University of Manitoba. There are also musicians from Jocelyn’s Michigan State years. Trombone player Michael Dease, trumpet player Anthony Stanko, and bassist George DeLancey. The band is rounded out by tenor saxophonist Brandon Wright, and pianist Addison Frei, both of which are players that Jocelyn met while she was in New York. The album “Elegant Traveler” is in many ways a retrospective of the past few years Jocelyn’s journey as a jazz guitarist.
Throughout the album, Jocelyn plays with her clear beautiful sound on guitar, whether it is comping with the rhythm section, or while soloing. Her sound throughout the album is very reminiscent of Wes Montgomery, or Canadian guitar legend Ed Bickert.
It is no surprise that “Elegant Traveler” won a Juno for best Jazz album for 2020. If this is Jocelyn’s Gould’s first outing as a band leader, it is super exciting to see where the road takes her on her future travelling.
For more details on how to order “Elegant Traveler” click here:
To see Chris Wolf’s entire conversation with Winnipeg guitarist Jocelyn Gould click here:
Thu, Apr 18, 7:30 PM
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