UZEB is a Canadian

jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as jazz rock, jazz-rock fusion, or simply fusion) is a popular music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric gui ...

band from

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

who were active from 1976 to 1992, and reunited in November 2016. The members are Alain Caron (

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

Michel Cusson UZEB is a Canadian jazz fusion band from Montreal, Quebec who were active from 1976 to 1992, and reunited in November 2016. The members are Alain Caron (musician), Alain Caron (bass guitar), Michel Cusson (guitar), and Paul Brochu (drums). The ban ...

(

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

), and Paul Brochu (

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...

s). The band won a number of Canadian awards during the 1980s. By 1989, international sales of UZEB's first eight recordings had exceeded 200,000 units, which the ''Encyclopedia of Music in Canada'' calls "an unprecedented figure for a Canadian jazz group".UZEB
" ''Encyclopedia of Music in Canada''. Web, Nov. 18, 2010.

History

UZEB was formed in 1976 in

Drummondville Drummondville () is a city in the Centre-du-Québec region of Quebec, located east of Montreal on the Saint-François River. The population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 79,258. The mayor of Drummondville is Stéphanie Lacoste. Drummondville ...

, Quebec, when guitarist Michel Cusson and bassist Alain Caron started a jazz duo. The band originally named itself Eusèbe Jazz, their first concert (in Acton Vale, QC) being on the name day of St Eusèbe. This name was later shortened to UZEB. The band soon moved to Montreal. Drummer Paul Brochu joined Cusson and Caron in 1978. Until 1987, the band included a keyboardist: first Jean St-Jacques, followed by Stephan Montanaro (featured on the album ''Live in Bracknell''), Sylvain Coutu, and then Michel Cyr. In the 1980s, UZEB had what was then a very technologically advanced

MIDI Musical Instrument Digital Interface (; MIDI) is an American-Japanese technical standard that describes a communication protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, ...

system for its synthesizers. After 1987, UZEB became a trio consisting of Cusson, Caron, and Brochu. UZEB won Quebec Félix awards as group of the year in 1984 and 1989 (in competition with Quebec pop and rock bands). As well, the band won awards for jazz album of the year in 1983, 1984, 1986, and 1987. UZEB did Quebec-wide and several Canadian tours. In 1991 UZEB received the

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest Jazz piano, jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordin ...

Lifetime Achievement Award Lifetime achievement awards are awarded by various organizations, to recognize contributions over the whole of a career, rather than or in addition to single contributions. Such awards, and organizations presenting them, include: A * A.C. ...

, which was presented at the 1991

Montreal International Jazz Festival The Festival international de Jazz de Montréal is an annual jazz festival held in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The Montreal Jazz Fest holds the 2004 Guinness World Record as the world's largest jazz festival. Every year it features roughly 3,000 ar ...

. UZEB played its first European concert in 1981 at the Bracknell (England) Jazz Festival. In 1983, UZEB appeared at the Festival de Jazz de Paris and recorded at the Olympia in Paris. UZEB also played in other European countries and in Southeast Asia (in 1990). However, UZEB rarely played concerts in the US. UZEB's most popular songs include "Junk Funk", "Smiles and Chuckles", "Mile 'O'", "60 rue des Lombards", "Spider", and "Uzeb Club". In 2017, the band reformed for a series of five concerts in Europe and fourteen in Quebec.

Discography

Studio albums

* ''Fast Emotion'' (1983) * ''You, Be Easy'' (1984) * ''Between the Lines'' (1985) * ''Noisy Nights'' (1988) * ''UZEB Club'' (1989)

Compilations

* ''Entre Ciel Et Terre'' (1996) * ''Best of Uzeb'' (2000)

Live albums

* ''Live in Bracknell'' (1981) * ''Live à l’Olympia'' (1986) * ''Absolutely Live'' (with

Didier Lockwood Didier Lockwood (11 February 1956 – 18 February 2018) was a French violinist. He played in the French rock band Magma in the 1970s, and was known for his use of electric amplification and his experimentation with different sounds on the electri ...

) (1986) * ''Live in Europe'' (1988) * ''World Tour 90'' (1990) * ''Reunion Live'' (2019)

Music DVDs

* ''UZEB - The Last Concert'' (1991)

References

The Canadian Encyclopedia ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' (TCE; ) is the national encyclopedia of Canada, published online by the Toronto-based historical organization Historica Canada, with financial support by the federal Department of Canadian Heritage and Society of Com ...

UZEB page
on

Allmusic.com AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the data ...

{{Authority control Canadian jazz ensembles Jazz fusion ensembles Musical groups from Montreal Musical groups established in 1976