Atlantis Jazz Ensemble

Oceanic Suite captures Atlantis Jazz Ensemble in full sail, recorded live over three days in July 2015 at Metropolitan Studios. The quintet - Ed Lister (trumpet), Zakari Frantz (alto saxophone), Pierre Chrétien (electric piano), Alex Bilodeau (double bass) and Mike Essoudry (drums) - work as a tightly knit organism, drawing on classic modal and spiritual jazz without ever slipping into pastiche. With every composition penned by Chrétien, the music leans into melody and feel: themes that lodge in the ear, unhurried grooves that give the horns space to testify, and a Rhodes sound that glows like city lights on water.

Tracked live‑off‑the‑floor and produced by Chrétien with engineer Jason Jaknunas, the album preserves the group’s natural balance: trumpet and alto in supple counterpoint, bass and drums locking in with just enough looseness to let the music breathe, electric piano threading harmony and texture through the centre. You can hear the room - the air moving around drums, fingers on strings, horn overtones blooming and fading - which only reinforces the suite’s tidal sense of motion. Sleeve design by Chrétien and a liner photograph by Jean‑Claude Batista frame the record visually as a continuous journey rather than a collection of tunes. Oceanic Suite is, in essence, a document of a band trusting the moment: five players listening hard, riding shared waves of momentum and repose, and inviting the listener to drift along for the whole passage.