Seule ce soir - Album Credits

Empress Music Group
Jun 28, 2021
4 min read

Updated: Oct 21, 2022

French immersion

Artist: Emilie-Claire Barlow

Album: Seule ce soir

Release date: October 16, 2012

Fun facts:

- I won my first Juno Award, and only Felix Award with this release - in the Vocal Jazz category.

- This is my most streamed album overall, with over 143 million streams on Pandora, and 57 million streams and counting on Spotify.

Click for Listening Links

the band

Voice: Emilie-Claire Barlow

Guitar: Reg Schwager

Piano: Mark Kieswetter

Bass: Ross MacIntyre

Drums, percussion: Davide DiRenzo

Tenor saxophone: Kelly Jefferson

Flute: Bill McBirnie

Flugelhorn, trumpet: William Sperandei

additional guests

Lou Pomanti plays piano on Track 4, "Des croissants de soleil"

Julie Lamontagne plays piano on Track 13 "Comme je crie, comme je chante"

production

Produced by Emilie-Claire Barlow

Arrangements by Emilie-Claire Barlow, except Track 4, "Des croissants de soleil" by Lou Pomanti

Recorded by John "Beetle" Bailey and Taylor Kernohan at The Drive Shed Recording Studios, Toronto, except Track 13 "Comme je crie, comme je chante" recorded by Pierre Plante, Studio 12, Radio Canada, Montréal

Mixed by John "Beetle" Bailey

Mastered by Trevor Sadler, Mastermind Productions, Charlotte, NC

Graphic design: Caroline Brown, Whitebear Design

Photography: Ian Brown

Hair & Makeup: Ivy Lam

Stylist: Kathryn McEwan, Fashion Crimes, Toronto

Cover Shoot Location: The Cobourg, Toronto

liner notes

The simple plan was....: a compilation of songs I had previously recorded in French. But wait. Life goes on. . .things change, and I am made aware as I revisit each song, that time paints the day with fresh colours, reframes memories and brings clarity or understanding. I found myself compelled to re-record the songs that have travelled with me for a while. As well, I was eager to explore more French repertoire - a rewarding adventure for sure. I must share these discoveries! And so, a new album came to life - an opportunity to immerse myself in the musical poetry of la langue française, including repertoire from la belle province de Québec! Longing and loss, laughter and joy, romance and delicious melancholy. . . all in the fullness of a life. « Seule ce soir » will accompany you on your own journey.

personal notes

Simon Says....."Make an all-French album". The Simon in this scenario is Simon Fauteux, (Six Media Marketing) my longtime publicist, co-manager for a stretch, friend, and one of the very most important people in my career. Simon and I first met in 2005. He was handling all my press and publicity for Québec. We got along well right away, and he was very enthusiastic about my career possibilities there. He immediately started booking radio interviews and appearances - and even though my French was not very strong - he cheerfully thrust me onto live tv and I did my best to charm my way through!

Over the next several albums, I always peppered my repertoire with French tunes (and Portuguese!) , but he was getting more and more vocal about me making an all-French album. My only reluctance was that I still didn't feel like I had a strong enough grasp of the language. "I'm not ready!" I kept saying. But then he reminded me that I had said many times in interviews, that learning French lyrics had helped me greatly in learning the language. Busted! I now had no excuse, and so I began my "french immersion". Simon's support and expertise has been instrumental in my success, and he has been one of the few people who ALWAYS does what he says he's going to do. No bullsh*t. I have been able to truly trust and rely on him and that is a gift.

Seule ce soir went on to be my most successful album (so far!) , and won both a Juno Award and a Felix Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year. It also kicked off more extensive touring in Québec, and in fact, the night the Juno Award winners were announced - the band and I were playing a show in Rimouski, and found out all together right after our encore when we went back to the dressing room and all our phones were exploding with messages! what a special night!

Here's a sweet video that Steve Webster made for C'est Merveilleux, (from SCS) using video clips from when we played in Paris!