Our Story
Inspired by the music of John Zorn, the AACM, Ornette Coleman, Dave Douglas, Sex Mob, and Duke Ellington, the band plays original music and not-so-standards that will keep you listening, thinking and on your toes.
Formed in 2010, the Craig Pedersen Quartet features four of the hardest working creative musicians in Ottawa and Montreal. All working musicians, and individually fluent in a variety of styles, we come together under Craig Pedersens leadership to make music that walks the distance between approachable and challenging music.
2011 has been a busy year for the band, beginning with the recording and release of the EP Early Winter, which was featured in its entirety on both CITR Vancouvers The Rib Podcast and CISM Montreals 12 Dans le Jazz Podcast, along with having the title track included nationally on CBC radio 2s The Signal podcast with Laurie Brown in February.
Most recently, the Quartet was chosen by the Ottawa Jazz Festival to open for Jerry Granelli in October. We performed this summer at the 2011 TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival and with upcoming performances in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Quebec City, the band is slowly gaining recognition and popularity.
We are:
Craig Pedersen - trumpet/compositions
Linsey Wellman - saxophone
Joel Kerr - double bass
Mike Essoudry - drums
The Impact
We love sharing our music with you. The more we perform and share, the better the band gets, and thus the more opportunities to perform and share we have. It is our hope that with this release will come more performance and recording opportunities. With your support, this release will help us apply for festivals, shows and grants across the country, and will foster our continued growth thus creating more opportunities to make live and recorded music for YOU.
Our Budget:
Records are costly affairs. They're also big investments. The challenge for independent artists like ourselves is the investment. When a record costs $2500 to make (which, is on the exceptionally cheap side), an artist is expected that can pay that out of pocket until they can recoup costs in sales, which can take quite a while. It's our hope that with your help, we can offset the time-line a little bit, and recoup some of the costs before the record officially goes on sale. Please notice that we are not asking for our supporters to cover all our costs. We're hoping that through album pre-sales and sponsorships we can cover the cost of manufacturing. We know the rest is our responsibility.
So, here's the deal. I don't think that it's reasonable or fair to ask for to fund the CD without an understanding of my business plan and budget. Here is my basic budget:
Recording/mixing with Matt Ouimet at Resonator Studios: $600
Mastering with Phil Bova at Bova Sound: $600
Manufacturing Costs: $1000
Liner notes, buttons and promotion: $300
Total: $2500
The Perks!
As you can see in the video, we're really pouring our ideas into making this CD available at a variety of income levels.
Jewel Case CD:
We know that for many of us, $20 seems out of our budget for a CD. That's why we're offering a bare-bones, liner-note free, $10 CD only package. It saves on our costs to be able to offer a CD this way, and helps us get our music into your hands affordably. The album art will be done by David Bosschaart.
One-inch Buttons:
Designed by Morel McMaster, we've got wonderful one-inch buttons, featuring Craig's iconic glasses and moustache! $15 for the CD + 2 buttons
The Mini-booklet liner notes:
We're very excited about the mini-booklet. Craig has hand-written all-new special edition versions of the sheet music from the record, which look beautiful when shrunken down to a quarter of the size, and made into a booklet. On each facing page you'll find hand written liner notes about the compositions, and in the back a section dedicated to thank-you's for the supporters. $20 for the CD + the mini-booklet
CD release tickets:
The CD release is slated to happen on November 29th at Club Saw in Ottawa. Add $10 to any of the packages and get 1 ticket to the concert. You can pick your CDs up at the release.
Become a friend, supporter or sponsor:
Become a friend, supporter or sponsor of the Craig Pedersen Quartet and receive a CD, the booklet, the buttons, a CD release ticket and see your name listed along with others in the liner notes, and a digital download of the album and booklet.
