Alto and soprano saxophonist, composer and improviser François Carrier was awarded the Juno Award for “Best Contemporary Jazz Album” in March 2001 for his Compassion album on Naxos Jazz.
François has captivated critics and audiences alike with his intense and original playing all over the world. Carrier is exploring what he calls the “emotional atmosphere” in music. His colorful and vibrant melodies take the listener on a journey into unknown, fertile and boundless territories, and invite us to keep our ears wide open and to live in the present. François is one of Canada's essential musical voices, a saxophonist who has combined commitment and discipline with intuition and inspiration to gradually realize an arresting musical vision, one that is compounded of free-jazz traditions and a compellingly personal melodic invention.
In his 30 years musical career François has played in numerous jazz festivals around the world, including the "Festival de Jazz de Montreux", the "Jazz à Vienne" in France, the North Sea Jazz Festival, the Jazzmandu Festival, the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Vancouver Jazz Festival, to name a few.
In 2002 François stayed six months in the Quebec Studio in Rome, where he composed new works and got acquainted with the Italian musical milieu.
For the last ten years, François has been exclusively concentrating on playing free jazz and improvised music. In 2003, he has founded NoEMI (Nouvel Ensemble de Musique Improvisée), a non-profit organization which goal is, among others, to present a yearly series of concerts called « Happening Musicale » by inviting both local and international jazz musicians and multidisciplinary improvisers. NoEMI also offers workshops of improvised music.
So far, François has released more that 10 CDs widely acclaimed from both sides of the Atlantic, as well as the Far East on labels such as Justin-Time Records, Spool Records, Leo Records (UK), Ayler Records (Sweden), Naxos Jazz, 482 Music (Chicago). He has played and recorded with jazz giants such as Paul Bley, Gary Peacock, Bobo Stenson, Tomasz Stanko, Uri Caine, Jason Moran, Dewey Redman, Mat Maneri, Sonny Greenwich, Jean-Jacques Avenel, Pierre Côté and has been a long time collaborator with drummer Michel Lambert. Together, Michel and François have toured in several occasions in Europe, Asia and Canada.
In November, the British label FMR Records has released the outstanding " Kathmandu " recorded live in Nepal in October 2006.
European and Asian tours will take place in autumn 2008 as well as next year and in 2010.
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