music
Hear more music from the Megan Jerome Trio at: radio3.cbc.ca or myspace.com
When Queens University booted Megan Jerome out of its mining engineering program a few years back, it did the music world a favour. Seems Jerome was spending too much time at the piano for Queens' liking, so she transferred to Carleton's music performance program and, with fellow-Ottawa musicians Petr Cancura and Mike Essoudry, formed a dandy little trio. Call Unlonely, the group's debut album, jazz if you like, but Jerome blends in enough folk and even country that the album eschews easy classification. What can be said without hesitation is that it bubbles over with interesting melodies and accents, humour to leaven the reflective pieces, and Jerome's intriguing, occasionally saucy, voice. The one disappointment is that there are only eight tracks to enjoy.
—Patrick Langston, The Ottawa Citizen
Megan Jerome Trio
Unlonely
MP3 SAMPLES
3cars (768 KB)
unlonely (1.1MB)
last waltz (1.1MB)
Well, we’ll call it jazz, but the sophomore release by this often-quirky Ottawa trio has enough folk and cabaret and country bubbling through it that labels are even more pointless than usual. What’s relevant is that, as with their debut album Unlonely, lead singer and pianist Jerome, percussionist Mike Essoudry, and all-around instrumentalist Petr Cancura know how to have fun while creating evocative moods and vignettes peopled by mining engineers, campfire fans and blissful lovers. There’s room for everyone and everything in these songs, a happy fact underscored by Jerome’s beguiling, open-hearted vocals. With winter creeping in, the crystalline, melodica-accompanied track Skating deserves a special listen: sweet and whimsical and crisp, it’s everything that’s best about the trio.
—Patrick Langston, The Ottawa Citizen
Megan Jerome Trio
This Uneven Pace
MP3 SAMPLES
skating (1.1MB)
copper and stars (720 KB)
up she walks (1.1MB)
"minimalist, folk-flavoured songs
...simple, quirky and modern"
—Peter Hum, The Ottawa Citizen
"a nice new direction...for jazz"
—Bill Stunt, CBC radio