These eight songs are a walk through the season: we start in November with Les peaux de lièvres, a cover of Tricot Machine’s hit that evokes the “first murmurs of winter”, the excitement and magic of the snowflakes at the beginning of the cold season, and we end with J’aimais l’hiver by Beau Dommage, a beautiful song by Michel Rivard that speaks of the last jolts of winter, when the snow gives way to the spring rain. Between these two songs, we find six different winter themes and atmospheres, each carried by the Jardin d’hiver (Karen Ann Zeidel, Benjamin Biolay), Winter (Tori Amos), Soir d’hiver (Émile Nelligan, Claude Léveillée), Snowbird (Gene MacLellan, a big hit by Anne Murray) and finally C’est l’hiver de Vivaldi (based on 2nd movement of Vivaldi’s Four season’s winter) and Des diamants sur la ville (lyrics by Véronique Bellemare Brière), two original pieces imagined by Sonia and Luc Beaugrand. Let’s add that musically, this album is basically a

piano-vocal project on which some pieces will have more sophisticated textures thanks to the addition of voice, keyboards and melodic percussions.
For this project, Sonia reunites with pianist Luc Beaugrand, a valuable collaborator with whom she won the Juno for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year in 2012 with Le Carré de nos amours. Often described as one of the most beautiful in Canadian jazz, Sonia Johnson’s voice is powerful, flexible and velvety. On this latest album, Luc Beaugrand’s arrangements bring out the best in her, amplifying the interpretive qualities of her partner.

After carrying out a multiyear pilgrimage of experimentation in jazz and pop music, Montreal singer-songwriter Sonia Johnson has emerged from out of the shadows and into the light with Chrysalis, her first English language album. On this new recording, Johnson is accompanied by a fabulous ensemble of 11 musicians and vocalists – featuring singer Elie Haroun – and is supported by an incredible cast of collaborators including Stanley Péan, Stephen Johnston, Mark Alan Haynes, Alex Lefaivre, and Normand Deveault. Chrysalis is an audacious musical flight – poetic, soulful, and delicately woven with silken sounds.

Sonia Johnson: voix, composition
Stephen Johnston: guitares, composition
David Ryshpan: piano – claviers
Mark Alan Haynes: basse électrique, composition
Max Sansalone: batterie et percussions
Jean-Pierre Zanella: flute
Samuel Blais: saxophone alto – clarinette
Frank Lozano: saxophone ténor – clarinette basse
Jean-Nicolas Trottier: trombone
Rémi Cormier: trompette
Judith Little-Daudelin: voix
Elie Haroun: voix et soliste sur Changing my Ways
Réalisation: Sonia Johnson &  Padraig Buttner-Schnirer
Arrangements: Sonia Johnson
Arrangements additionnels: Mark Alan Haynes (1-4-6-7-9-11), Stephen Johnston (7)
Enregistrement: Planet Studio, Montreal – Avril-Mai 2019
Ingénieur son et mixage: Padraig Buttner-Schnirer
Assistants: Jacob Lacroix-Cardinal, Jordan Barillaro
Mastering: Guy Hébert, Studio Karisma

Le Coeur à l’endroit mixes the spontaneity of jazz sung in the French language with compositions that favor the use of specific colors, refined arrangements and a heartfelt and touching interpretation. Sonia Johnson, a prolific lyricist, has written the music and texts of nine of the thirteen compositions of this project. She is surrounded by a plethora of writers and composers, such as Marianne Trudel, Stanley Péan, Anthony Rozankovic, Charly Bouchara, Claude André, Mario Peluso, Nathalie Baroud, Véronique Bellemare Brière, Amandine Paccioni, Luc Beaugrand and Frédéric Alarie. The result is a necklace of luminous pearls carrying humanist themes such as unity, love, beauty, memory, maternity and self – discovery. The singer also surrounded herself with a new trio; Marianne Trudel (pianist), Rémi – Jean Leblanc(bassist), Jim Doxas(drummer), renowned soloists André Leroux, Pierre Côté, Jonathan Stewart including the vocal quartet les Gourmandes, featuring Judith Little Daudelin, Geneviève Racette, Chloé McNeil, Gabrielle Harnois-Blouin.

Design : https://vimeo.com/oraziofantini
Production : Les Productions Sonia Johnson
Photos : http://pascaletherien.com/

Triades, is a creative project conceived by Sonia Johnson, produced and directed by Alain Bédard of Effendi Records. This unusual album puts forward three artists, passionate about jazz and whose reputation precedes them, Sonia Johnson, Annie Poulain and Charles Biddle Jr. These three singers and authors, as well as their collaborators Claude André and Stanley Péan, have united to perform twelve instrumental pieces from the following Canadian jazz composers: Jean-Pierre Zanella, Joel Miller, John Roney, Alexandre Côté, Rémi Bolduc, Yves Léveillé, Steve Amirault, Dave Watts, Sylvain Provost, Norman Lachapelle.
Some of the composers selected for this project inspired the lyricists by sharing their original inspiration or with keywords and reading suggestions. For other pieces, the idea for the story stems from the original title, the personality of the composer or the performer of the new song created. Sometimes sung solo, duo or trio, these singular pieces evoke journeys, friendship, seduction, temptations, wisdom and hope. Pianist Marianne Trudel composed an original piece for the occasion and created sublime arrangements highlighting the singer’s voices. Sonia’s trio is complemented by the superb Morgan Moore on bass and Jim Doxas on drums.

Design : Pascal Milette
Photos : Alexandre Deslauriers
Production: Effendi Records –2012

In the great city, a middle-aged woman walks between the very gentle echo of childhood and the terrible noise of the present. She sleeps, dies, struggles, fragile. Tossed between the truths of love and her tricks, she often experiences the feeling of being alien to life. Words do not come across the threshold of her lips. She walks in search of some certainty. Her gaze sometimes tries to escape to heaven, scrutinizing the horizon, begs him. But far less than the stratosphere, she finds refuge a few steps from her home, at Carré Saint-Louis, where the souls of the poets unite the lonely hearts. She recognizes her dreamy nature, her heart as a rebel, a she-wolf. The woman walks more than ever, with the safety of knowing who she is. She will not hesitate to bare her soul. What she feels, is her profound femininity.
In the big city, a woman advances, fragile and strong at the same time. At the heart of the voice, the contradictions are resolved. The voice releases its anger, rage and the cry of love. The voice gives meaning to the meaning of the word lost. Under the pulse of the musicians from yesterday and today, the voice of this woman now follows the jazz phrasing, making fun of the arpeggios and never falling for the musical traps, light, aerial. This area of freedom where everything is possible has led to the birth of a female – musician. ~Denys Lelièvre
Composers and Collaborators: Luc Beaugrand, Frédéric Alarie, Christian Mistral, Yves Lanthier, Anthony Rozankovic, Charly Bouchara, Claude André, André McNicoll, Marc Chabot, Marie-Chantale Gariépy et Stanley Péan
Musiciens : Luc Beaugrand, Frédéric Alarie, Camil Bélisle, Pierre Côté, André Leroux,
Ron DiLauro, Muhammad Abdul Al-Khabyyr, Mélanie Guay, Stéphanie Boulay, Vincent Potel et James Johnston.
Design: Pascal Milette
Photos: Mathieu Rivard
Production : Les Productions Sonia Johnson 2010

Les oiseaux de nuit qui fréquentent les boîtes de jazz de Montréal connaissent Sonia Johnson. La chanteuse réalise un rêve qu’elle caressait sans doute depuis longtemps. Avec elle, le pianiste Alexandre Grogg et le contrebassiste Daniel Lessard forment un véritable trio. Ils reprennent des classiques dans des arrangements personnels qui mettent en valeur la beauté de la mélodie: All the Things You Are, La Chanson d’Orphée, Don’t Explain. L’interprétation de Johnson témoigne d’une grande compréhension des textes; tout n’est qu’élégance et grâce, la diction est impeccable, les paroles sont mises en évidence, sur Everything-Happens-To-Me par exemple. Dans Tout mais pas ça, de Michel Seunes, le timbre de voix rappelle ceux de Christine Legrand et de Monique Leyrac, et son chant, leurs prouesses vocales.

“And then there is, in my opinion, the best decision of Simoes’ within the Montreal crew that created his Jazz Brésilien album, is the generous presence of Juno award-winning vocalist Sonia Johnson, definitely one of the most accomplished voices in the Canadian jazz scene. She is also a collaborator in several of Simoes’ compositions as a lyricist, demonstrating the extent of her versatility and talent.
Johnson’s magnificently enriched soprano with a velvety roundness to her voice allows her to use her technical prowess and her improvisational musical instincts with infallible tonal insurance. She can flawlessly sing Monk, Miles, UZEB, Jobim, or Moreira. I would have chosen no one else to understand the discourse of Simoes, located at the crossroads of all that and much more.”
Frédéric Cardin, ICI Musique
(Article)

“With a voice as smooth as Michael Bublé, Steven Taetz mines the ghosts of the swing era on his album ‘Drink You In’. “Meet in Montreal” adds a franco flavour to the lounge mix, as Sonia Johnson joins him in a delightful duet.” – Mark Anthony Brennan (Ride the Tempo)

https://www.steventaetz.com/

em> « I do not know how many knots per hour we are going, but certainly, The Vincent Rehel Trio splits the waves. Sonia Johnson joins the trio for Brouillard sur la mer adding something mysterious and beautiful to the ship’s crew. I like my prog-jazz to be melodious, haunting and amazing, and that’s what we get. A real bath.
Article de Sylvain Cormier – Le Devoir

with Vincent Rehel, Jean-Francois Lemieux et Max Sansalone.
https://vincentrehel.bandcamp.com/

With Félix Stüssi, Ray Anderson, Pierre Tanguay, Daniel Lessard, Jacques Kuba Séguin, André Leroux and Jean Derome.
« At the heart of this gentlemen’s crew, the singer Sonia Johnson is rivoting (Bley on!), makes use French jazz that stands out (Debout au bout du Bout-du-Banc), or is definitely bop swing (Don’t You Ever Give Up Playing Be-Bop!) »