Jacques Kuba Seguin discusses his latest album, musical passions and Polish roots with Jan Wiktor Soroko

        “The last time I was there was two years ago, and I traveled extensively through that part of the world, which is so different from the perspective of Montreal. Although I had visited Poland on several other occasions, I decided to spend more time there on my most recent trip. My first stop was to Bialystok, where my mom is from, and then I spent some time in Warsaw and Cracow. I also visited Prague and Budapest, and you can find the influence of those cities on my album; I brought home many musical inspirations from that amazing journey. There is a piece on the CD which was written in a Prague hotel just as I woke up. It’s actually entitled ‘Prague.’ I woke up suddenly, jotted it down on a piece of paper, and… went back to sleep. What struck me most about the Slavs?” he wonders in retrospect: “the architecture, people, food, and the fact that they are very proud of their history which extends back for centuries. It’s a great honor to share in part of that tradition, while being a Quebec Canadian. There is so much diversity in Eastern Europe concentrated into such a small space. Warsaw, Cracow, Prague, and Budapest: they are relatively close compared to Canadian geography. You leave Montreal, and for a long, long time encounter nothing, and finally after six hours arrive in Toronto. Then again for a long, long time, there is nothing until Vancouver. In fact a plane ticket from Montreal to Poland costs nearly as much as a flight to Vancouver. That’s our Canada. But it has great vistas and freedom.”

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Let’s talk a bit about your excellent album. I would even say odlotowy, totally cool! The song “Balkan” turns into a mad czardas at the end. There is a great trumpet solo in “Tsunami.” When I realized that you explored the secrets of the trumpet with the master Dave Douglas — one of the most progressive trumpeters and the most expressive jazzmen of our time — all I could say was Wow!

Kuba Seguin: It’s a small world. I got to know Douglas more as a man than as a musician. He speaks fluent French and German. He is a remarkable person who used to run workshops at my school. My favorite of his albums is Charms of the Night Sky. It’s between tango, klezmer, and a Balkan band: he manages to combine these autonomous worlds and find himself in each of them. He is a true virtuoso. I am very happy to have met him.

What led to the recording of your album?

K.S.: I was very lucky and was surrounded by a number of good people. It wasn’t easy to win over so many musicians, plus secure the money for the production. You know that well since you have put out albums in Poland. I owe a great deal to the Polish consulate in Montreal which donated a room for three days. And the first two thousand dollars came from the Liliana Komorowska Foundation For the Arts. Komorowska is the former wife of Michal Urbaniak, a jazz legend, who emigrated from Poland with Urszula Dudziak in the 1980s to start a brilliant career in New York. I am starting in a much more humble way, with Oddlot, and I am very happy to have been able to complete this project.

What is like for a musician to live in Montreal?

K.S.: Montreal is a great place. It is very cosmopolitan, multicultural, and European in its own way. You don’t find that in the States. You know what it’s like when you’re a musician: you won’t find stable employment as my wife has—she works at the Botanical Garden as a biologist. And I am just starting out. I have been active on the local scene for a few years now, something I detail on my web page. I was thrilled to get the engagement with Cirque du Soleil, on their new project Delirium. This is the second year I have been traveling with them: for a young musician it’s important to have something stable. It’s not a cushy job, but an exhausting compromise because, to be honest, I can’t earn my living by doing this. I co-arrange the music for the latest show and am entirely free during the performances which are complete improvisations on the trumpet. This gives me a lot of space to spread out in a multi-piece band. I am having a lot fun with it, because in Cirque du Soleil the music is an organic part of the performance, and integral to it, as extraordinary acrobatics unfold on the stage. It’s a feast for the eye and for the ear.

It’s good to be a musician in Montreal, because there is much happening here. There is a vibrant electronic scene, and I am fond of this sound, so you will find elements of drum’n’bass on my album. One is always cruising around the music scene in Montreal, especially in winter, when you get new ideas for the busy summer. I never really get bored, and now I am constantly on the road. Soon, we will take off for Europe, where we will be performing in thirteen countries, although unfortunately not in Poland. Not this time, at least. Too bad.

Your Polish is great for a Canadian!

K.S.: Mom always did her best to make me aware of my Polish roots, so remote from the Canadian world view. Canada, as a country, does not have a very long history. My odlotowy band is, one could say, a true multicultural mix. At the recording studio we were: Alexandro, from Mexico; Sean Craig, saxophone, a Canadian; Zack Lober, with some Jewish and Polish heritage; and Jean-François Ouellet and Jean-Olivier Bégin who are true Québécois.

“Indeed, my Montreal friends who settled in Chicago often said that the Québécois have something special,” I added, and Kuba nodded with a sense of pride.

What attracts you to Polish music? Is there anything in particular that attracted your ear?

K.S.: Leszek Mozdzer primarily. He’s an incredible pianist. I attended his concert in Cracow. A full room. He is an amazing musician. I also liked Golec uOrkiestra, for their original way of presenting folk tunes with a healthy dose of humor and with professionalism, because these are trained musicians.

We spoke for a good two hours.

    We discussed the infinite internet which has become a great resource for a musician and an excellent way to gain visibility, promote, distribute, sell music and, above all, to communicate with other kindred souls. The internet is a truly free community, as you can see at Kuba’s myspace.com page.

    We conversed about the Canadian school system which assures higher education for a few thousand, instead of a few tens of thousands a semester, as is often the situation in American schools. Education is, according to Jacques Kuba Seguin, next to culture, the best investment in social development.

    We discussed citizenship, comparing life in the States, Canada, and Poland. I mentioned a certain musical tradition among the Eskimos who, on long winter nights, organized musical games when one sing directly into one’s partner’s open mouth, using it as a resonance box. That’s how they have fun in Canada.