Profile:
Lester Quitzau
Lester Quitzau's career began in the 1980s with a solid blues apprenticeship that he served in Edmonton's funky, working-class bars,
where he recalls playing energetically but "way too fast." Joining the Edmonton-based
Yard Dogs in 1987, a band that was mellower than any he
had played in before, signalled a change in musical and personal direction for the guitarist. From there, his current sound evolved -
blues-based, ethereal ballads and uptempo numbers with an intense groove.
The turning point in Quitzau's musical and personal journey came when The Yard Dogs' bassist, Farley Scott, became a kind of guru to him. "Farley was sort of like my zen master," Quitzau says. "It wasn't just licks and the business that he taught me. He got me out of the north end drinking scene, got me eating a macrobiotic diet (and) living healthy." After leaving The Yard Dogs in 1993, Quitzau moved to the West Kootenay region of British Columbia, where the hippie tradition of moving back to the land is nearly as old as the 36-year-old Quitzau. He has since returned to Edmonton.
From Keep On Walking (1994) to A Big Love (1996) and his current CD, So Here We Are Now, Quitzau's sound has gradually departed from blues in a purist sense. "The purist thing can be so stagnating," he says. "I'm compelled to evolve on my own as an artist. I wouldn't know if I consider myself a blues artist. I consider myself a creative artist (but) what comes out is still blues and roots oriented."
He has been influenced by a diverse group of other artists, from Muddy Waters, Little Walter, John Lee Hooker, Jimi Hendrix, Leadbelly and Hank Williams to Bill Frisell, Stevie Wonder, Jeff Beck and Tom Waits "What I take from influences is essence, feel," Quitzau says. "I sort of distill it and it comes out my style. The spirit of these players inspires me."
Another one of Quitzau's influences is Madagascar Slim, on whose 2001 Juno Award-winning recording, Tri-Continental, he is featured. Quitzau says that the complex rhythms of Madagascar Slim's Malgasy music is slowly permeating his own style.
Other than two songs by Muddy Waters, the material on So Here We Are Now is written by Quitzau. He also sings and plays guitar and slide guitar; Greg Johnston is on bass, piano, accordion, clavinet, rhodes, hammond organ and synth bass; and Lyle Molzan is on drums and percussion. The music is often hypnotically beautiful, and as James Muretich wrote in the Calgary Herald, uplifting. "Whether it's acoustic or electrified blues," Muretich said, "Quitzau's music lifts you higher, allowing you to see for miles and miles, past all life's trials and confabulations."
Quitzau plays at Ted's Wrecking Yard in Toronto on April 17, followed by dates in Ottawa, Montreal, Quebec City and Halifax.
- Ruth Schweitzer
Toronto Blues Society Copyright _ 2001