Yannick Rieu: 100 Years of Coltrane

One hundred years ago, John Coltrane was born — a wise and fiery meteor, an architect of a musical language that transformed jazz and everything orbiting around it. His breath carried across entire generations: Sonny Rollins, Wayne Shorter, Pharoah Sanders, Michael Brecker, Branford Marsalis, Chris Potter… Each, in one way or another, entered into dialogue with this vast voice, at times prayerful, at times incandescent. Born in 1926 in North Carolina, Coltrane played with the orchestras of Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis before becoming one of the most radical explorers of twentieth-century music. His journey, both brief and meteoric, left an indelible mark.

This project marks another crossing. Yannick Rieu, a saxophonist whose inner quest often intersects with that of Coltrane, offers for this centenary not a fixed tribute but a living immersion into the master’s legacy. Rieu shares with him a taste for pushing boundaries, for sonic introspection, and for the spiritual call that a melodic line can become.

Rather than a simple reinterpretation of Coltrane’s major works, he offers an immersion: his own compositions become bridges, resonances, and flashes that extend the Coltranean journey. This program exists where respect meets invention, and where memory does not simply repeat, but chooses instead to move forward toward the vibrant unknown that animated Coltrane himself.

Yannick Rieu has undertaken numerous artistic residencies at Orford Musique to develop various projects, and has also performed several times at the Festival.

This project is a production of Productions Yari.

Artist

Yannick Rieu

Recognized as one of the most talented jazz saxophonists in the world, Yannick Rieu is the recipient of the 18th Oscar Peterson Award, acknowledging his outstanding musicianship and exceptional contribution to the development of Canadian jazz. His music is best defined by its constant evolution.

He has received unanimous praise from jazz critics around the world: “Most likely one of the world’s 20 best jazz saxophone players.” – Journal de Montréal (Canada) – “Canada’s greatest jazz poet.” – Jazzman (France) – In 1988, DownBeat magazine Critic’s Poll ranked him alongside Branford Marsalis and Joe Lovano as one of the 20 most promising saxophonists on the world scene. Jazz writers have compared him to Stan Getz or Lee Konitz (L’Express, Toronto)

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