JUNO award-winning clarinetist Virginia MacDonald has a lot to celebrate, including the release of her debut album, In Search Of…, now available via Cellar Music Group.
In Search Of… is a collection of compositions over the course of a decade, representing key moments in MacDonald’s life as a composer, sidewoman and musicians. The album features Geoffrey Keezer on piano, Ira Coleman on bass and fellow Canadians Curtis Nowosad on drums and JUNO award-winning vocalist Laura Anglade. “I’m really proud of the musicians I’ve been able to collaborate with,” says MacDonald. “These are people who have shaped how I hear music.”
The daughter of Canada’s most celebrated saxophonist Kirk Macdonald, Macdonald started playing the clarinet at age seven and has emerged as one of the leading voices in the next generation of jazz today. GRAMMY award-winning trombonist Michael Dease, who contributed to the liner notes for the album, calls Macdonald “a visionary, an innovator and trailblazer on her instrument, redefining the creative possibilities of jazz clarinet for a new generation.”
Released on May 29, the album was preceded by two singles, “Last Call at Dimitri’s” and “In Search Of.”
