ATLANTIS JAZZ ENSEMBLE

Atlantis rising anew with Celestial Suite 

The Atlantis Jazz Ensemble is on the rise once again with Celestial Suite, a brilliant set of spiritual soul-jazz, with a righteous energy in the mode of some of the best work on independent labels such as Strata East or Tribe back in the day, though updated with a fresh current vibe.  With the blend of electric piano, sax, trumpet, bass and percussion presented here, the quintet has refined the searching, soaring quality of their sound, capturing over the course of two days in the studio an inspired session worthy of the skyward promise of the album’s title. 

The group was first formed by Pierre Chrétien and Zakari Frantz of The Souljazz Orchestra back in 2013, as an outlet for the more modal, esoteric and spiritual compositions they were exploring outside the confines of their original unit.  After the addition of trumpeter Ed Lister, bassist Alex Bilodeau and drummer Mike Essoudry, the Atlantis Jazz Ensemble released their maiden voyage Oceanic Suite in 2016, a bold first outing that became a bit of an underground classic, capturing the number two spot on the Canadian radio jazz charts that year (just behind BadBadNotGood’s IV), and leading Atlantis to open up live for the likes of Kamasi Washington and Anderson Paak.