RACHEL THERRIEN

The 46th Annual International Trumpet Guild Conference

Hyatt Regency San Antonio Riverwalk • San Antonio, Texas

Jordi Albert

Concert

Trumpeter, composer and bandleader, Rachel Therrien already boasts an enviable CV. Known for her very personal signature, she has developed a reputation as a very highly-skilled, versatile and creative artist.

Nominee at the 2020 ADISQ and 2021 JUNO awards in the Jazz album of the Year with her 5th album, “VENA” (Label Bonsaï Music, recorded in Paris with her new European Quartet), Winner of the 2015 TD Grand Prize Jazz Award at the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the 2016 Stingray Jazz Rising Star Award, where she presented her second album Home Inspiration, “an emotionally charged show filled with high caliber improvisation and exceptional musical orchestration” -FIJM. After producing 4 records on labels Multiple Chord Music (CA) & Truth Revolution (US) including “Pensamiento”, her Afro-Colombian inspired jazz album recorded with 12 musicians in Bogota, Colombia, Rachel Therrien just recorded her 6th album with her Latin Jazz Project recorded in Montreal, Toronto and New York City with 25 star musicians, planned to be released in fall 2022.

Native of Rimouski (eastern Quebec, Canada), Rachel is considered one of the most promising jazz musicians in the Canadian music scene, playing in a variety of music styles and enriching her talent through experiences from many different cultures. 2021 Grammy Nominee side musician for the album “Virtual Birdland” with the Arturo O’farrill & Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, she has shared stages in concerts halls and jazz clubs all around North and South America as well as the Caribbean and Europe with a wide range of world-class musicians such as Claudio Roditi, Paquito D’Rivera, Lee Konitz, DIVA Jazz Orchestra, the Latin Grammy Nominated Mariachi Flor de Toloache, Ken Peplowski, Dawn Tyler Watson, Yacouba Sissoko, Geraldo Piloto y Klimax, Michel Legrand, Pedrito Martinez, Luques Curtis, Luis Perdomo, John Benitez, ADISQ nominated Remi Bolduc also as Julie Lamontagne, Frédéric Alarie, Tylor Mitchel, Benito Gonzales, David Buchbinder, Vic Vogel, Bryan Lynch, Coral Welsman, Kevin Mark, Angèle Forest, Alex Bellegarde, and great music groups as Beth McKenna Big Band, Nomadic Massive, Wesli Band, The Franklin Electric, Skah Shah, Orquesta Anacaona and so on. She also worked for Canadian Live Music TV Show “Belle et Bum” which lead her to share the stage with very famous French-Canadian artists such as Marie-Josée Lord, Alex Nevsky, Mara Tremblay, Daniel Boucher, Stéphanie Bédard, Lisa Leblanc, Joseph Edgar, and New York based famous folk singer Joseph Arthur.

Therrien holds a bachelor’s degree in jazz performance from University of Montreal, a degree in arts management and a certificate from Instituto Supérior de Arte, in Havana-Cuba, where she studied classical trumpet, latin jazz, percussion and Cuban music history. She was also selected to participate at the 2012 Banff Center Jazz and Creative Music workshop held by Dave Douglas and Vdjay Iyer. She has perfected her knowledge with large number of mentors and teachers including Laurie Frink, John McNeil, Michael Rodriquez, Jonathan Finlayson, Ralph Alessi, Ron DiLauro, Elpidio Chappotin, Yasek Manzano,, Clarence Penn, Aoife O’Donovan, Dave Douglass, Emilio del Monte, George Rubio, and many more.

As a band leader, Rachel runs distinct artistic projects. In 2010, Rachel started her own Quintet with some of the best jazz players from Montreal. (Simon Page on bass, Charles Trudel on Piano, Alain Bourgeois on drums and Benjamin Deschamps on sax.) Her debut album, “On Track” released independently in 2011 got great reviews in the Quebec press, and stood as #1 on “Radio Canada-Espace Musique” chart for more than a week. Since the release of her second album, “Home Inspiration” (2014), on the artist-managed new record label, Multiple Chord Music, she has toured as a bandleader all over Canada, United States and Europe in venues and Festivals such as: Montreal International Jazz Festival, Playboy Jazz Festival at the Hollywood Bowl, Lincoln Center in New York City, the famous Juan les Pins Jazz Festival in France, Polanco Jazz Festival in Mexico City, Chicago’s Andy’s Jazz Club, Waterloo’s Jazz Festival, Kremenchuk Jazz Festival in Ukraine, Santander Jazz Festival in Spain, Calgary Jazz Festival, Coastal Jazz Fest, Victoria Jazz Fest, just to name a few. She played to sold out crowds, and has made many new friends and fans along the way. In 2016, she released her third opus “Pensamiento: Proyecto Colombia”, an Afro-Colombian inspired jazz album recorded live in Bogota, Colombia with 12 local musicians. In 2017, Rachel presented her fourth album “Why Don’t You Try”, the third Opus with her Montreal Quintet, which was released under both record labels Multiple Chord Music and New York’s Truth Revolution Records. This production was possible thanks to the TD Grand Prize Jazz Award and the Canadian production grant Music Action.

This year, she launched her fifth album as a leader, “VENA”, recorded in Paris with her European quartet under the great French Record Label Bonsaï Music. Coming up, she will be touring in Europe, Canada and the United States to present her new European project and will also start the production of her sixth album which this time will be a New York based Latin Jazz Project.

In 2020, Therrien started a new side of her career as a music producer for other artists such as Noé Lira and La Peluda. As well as being recognized as an artist that can’t be ignored, Rachel is also a key player on the Canadian Jazz scene, helping it to grow and expand its frontiers by being an example for emerging musicians and actively working for the jazz community. In 2013, she founded the Montreal Jazz Composers Series, bringing more than 200 musician-composers from Canada and the US to showcase their original music and play together for the first time in front of a crowd of mainly young non-musicians during the Montreal Int’l Jazz Festival. She believes that “Jazz is a philosophy of conversation between musicians from different backgrounds through improvisation, and that we, as musicians, it is our mission to keep jazz alive and to make sure that our generation of non-musicians live the experience and appreciate that unspoken language.”

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