One of Quinn Bachand’s goals is to play at the Oak Bay Recreation Centre swimming pool. An ambient music show for the midnight swim.
“I’ve thought about it many times,” said Bachand.
Bachand is a Victoria native with a penchant for 1950s and 60s pop and country music.
“Since I was 12 I’ve played with fiddlers and singers,” he said via email. “The musicians that I really admired and got the most from would probably be Ashley MacIsaac and Daniel Lapp. One of the styles that really attracts me is early swing and pop music. I always was pulled in by the vibe of it. It’s not the type of music that alienates people or asks too much of the listener. I think you can read as much into it as you want and it really feels as good to the body as it does to the mind.”
By the age of 17 Bachand was playing over a dozen instruments, recording and producing albums with his sister Qristina, all the while collecting multiple nominations and awards up to, and including their latest release Little Hinges.
Ever the bold musical voyageur, Bachand has invested his love of swing jazz in particular with the 2013 release of his band and same-named debut CD, Brishen (Romany for “bringer of the storm”). Think Django Reinhardt, gypsy jazz, 1930s Paris and smoke filled bistros. Brishen is a spirited storm, fluid and ever changing.
Bachand brings his band Brishen to Victoria for the Victoria Jazz Festival on June 24 at the Dave Dunnet Community Theatre. Brishen includes Victoria residents Reuben Wier and Matt Pease as well as Toronto bassist Alan Mackie and New York saxophonist/flautist Peyton Plenenger.
Brishen will be touring the release of the band’s latest CD Blue Verdun across the country.
“We’re playing the Toronto, Montreal and Halifax jazz festivals with many shows in between, as well as the Islands Folk Fest and Vancouver Island Music Fest at the end of July,” he said.
He has many awards for his music but the best has to be the four-year bursary (worth over $250,000) to Boston’s Berklee College of Music.
The west coast constantly calls to Bachand but he is immersed in finishing his degree at Berklee and divides his time between Boston and Montreal. “It’s a good east coast base for the touring I do with my projects and the Jeremy Kittel band in New York.”
He said he misses the west coast and wants to eventually end up in British Columbia, Victoria in particular.
At 21-years-of-age, Bachand has it figured out. He wants to own a home and continue working on writing and recording music and playing shows.
Brishen performs June 24 at 8 p.m. in the Dave Dunnet Community Theatre at Oak Bay High. Tickets are $28 available through the Victoria Jazz Society Office, 202 - 345 Quebec Street, Harbour Towers Hotel, Lyle’s Place, 770 Yates St. and the Royal McPherson box office online at www.rmts.bc.ca
