LOVE THE ENERGY IN THIS TUNE FROM THE FIRST EXTREME FLUTE RELEASE....

Desvio

Dialects

Pianist and composer Bernie Senensky has been a staple of the Canadian jazz scene for more than half a century, working with the likes of Chet Baker, Art Pepper and Elvin Jones along with a nearly 20-year musical partnership with Moe Koffman.

Back in 1989, Senensky recorded an album in a Toronto studio that’s finally been released thanks to Cellar Live. The recording features two fellow Toronto jazz veterans, bassist Neil Swainson and drummer Barry Elmes, along with the talents of alto saxophonist Bob Mover and trumpet player Sam Noto.

Senensky joined us to talk about Don’t Look Back and its discovery all these years later.

Interview: Bernie Senensky (2022)

Flutist, composer and educator Bill McBirnie shares his top five Oscar Peterson recordings, including a beautiful moment playing along with one of his favourites.

In the Land of the Misty Giant - Bill McBirnie

Jaymz Bee digs into his favourite Oscar Peterson tunes, including a song from Night Train, some vocal tunes and a great memory of OP and Charlie Watts.

In the Land of the Misty Giant - Jaymz Bee

PRELUDE LOOP AND FLUTE STUDY NO.13 (part 2)

THERE'S A STAR

Available at CDBaby and iTunes on MARCH 2, 2015.

PERSONNEL & CREDITS:

Bill McBirnie – flute, alto flute (tracks 3 & 14) & piccolo (track 9)
Bruce Jones – guitar, vocal, percussion & synths
Produced by – Bill McBirnie & Bruce Jones
Recorded at – Da Da Music, Toronto, Ontario
Engineered by – Bruce Jones
Edited & Mixed by – Bill McBirnie & Bruce Jones 
Mastered by – Pacy Shulman at Hilo Studio, Toronto, Ontario
Cover Photo by – Gongbass
Layout, Design & Manufacturing by – Staci Patten, Accurate Audio, Toronto, Ontario

Bill plays a Wm. S. Haynes flute, a DynaLance headjoint (made by Guo Musical Instrument Co.), an Armstrong alto flute and a Gemeinhardt piccolo.

LINER NOTES:

Bruce Jones and I first collaborated about 15 years ago on my debut album, Desvio  (which was subsequently nominated for a Toronto Independent Music Award).  This initial recording project came about as a consequence of working regularly with Bruce's Brazilian rock band, Da, and as a further consequence of dressing tracks for Bruce on his various Da, Amazon Dreams and other recording projects.  After a while, I had done so much work with Bruce (whose songwriting I always admired) that I suggested to him, “Maybe we should try and do a flute-oriented project.”  To my surprise, Bruce was more than happy to oblige and that suggestion evolved into our first album, Desvio, which he dubbed “extrema flauta” (and which we anglicized as “Extreme Flute”).

Our musical paths diverged thereafter but, about a year ago, Bruce asked me to do some dressing for a couple of tracks he was working on.  This went really well and, in the course of doing so, I learned that Bruce had a lot of material in various stages of completion on his hard drive.  Once again, I suggested to him, “Maybe we should extend ourselves and do another flute-oriented project.”  Yet again, Bruce was happy to oblige and Grain of Sand is the result.  As fate would have it, this project has evolved into another incarnation of Extreme Flute!

Bruce is—and always has been—enormously talented, on multiple dimensions.  Musically, what he does is ostensibly Brazilian (in no small measure because he was raised in Brazil).  However, he combines that rich musical heritage with many other influences, ranging from rock & roll and hip-hop to new age.  For me, the big draw in working with Bruce has always been both the diversity of his material and his openness to improvisation (which is what I like to do most of all).  These features of his work have always provided us with a solid basis for collaboration—both then and now.

A project of this nature—involving just the two of us—takes considerable time to complete and so it inevitably proceeds in stages.  Each track starts with Bruce writing, playing and recording whatever idea he has in mind.  After Bruce has laid down what is often a fairly complete track, we then overlay any flute melodies he has in mind.  In addition, we conjure up shots and harmony parts and overdub these.  After that, we go back and I improvise over the entire track.  Finally, we take whatever we have (...which is typically far too much...) edit it and mix it down.  Of course, we “subtract” far more than we “add” as the process unfolds until sooner or later (...usually later...) we find what we're after.

The end result of this most recent collaboration, Grain of Sand, is both a fitting theme and title, because there always has been—and there always will be—a lot more from wherever this came.
						
Finally, Bruce and I would like to express our sincere gratitude to Canada's premier jazz station, Jazz.FM91, for including “Tudo Bem” (a track from our first collaboration, Desvio) in their spin cycle for what is now close to 15 years!

Bill McBirnie


03 Quando A Chuva Cai (As The Rain Falls)

Session Notes - Bill McBirnie (2025)

Bill McBirnie is a Canadian jazz and Latin flute specialist.  He has studied with renowned flutists, Samuel Baron, Robert Aitken and charanga ledgend, Richard Egues. Bill's awards include Flutist of the Year—Jazz Report Awards and he is also the only one to be a "triple crown" winner in all three of the USA National Flute Association’s jazz flute (1) Soloist, (2) Masterclass and (3) Big Band competitions.  As a testament to his superior skill, he was solicited personally by Sir James Galway to serve as the resident Jazz Flute Specialist at Sir James' official web site.  He is also a teacher, clinician and woodwind columnist with Canadian Musician magazine.  You can find additional information about Bill at his website (www.extremeflute.com) or you can contact him directly at extremeflute@look.ca 
