The Freddie Stone Award

The Freddie Stone Award was established in 1991 in honour of Freddie Stone, the influential Toronto jazz trumpeter and flugelhorn player, teacher and composer who died in 1986. The award honours a musician who reflects musical integrity and innovation. The recipient must be a Canadian musician who is studying or performing acoustic instrumental music or voice. Recent musical achievements, promising future plans and a keen interest in improvisation and new musical expression are considered in the assessment of a potential recipient.

Established by The Arthur and Beatrice Minden Foundation, the Freddie Stone Award is valued at $3,000. By special request of the Minden Foundation, the recipient of this annual award will be recommended by the artistic director and executive committee of the Sound Symposium, an organization which Freddie saw as a reflection of his own integrity and innovative ideas. The award is administered by the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra.

Sound Symposium considers it a great honour to present the annual Freddie Stone Award, as a tribute to the unique vision and philosophy of this man, whose music and light, loving spirit have touched so many.

2006 Recipient -
Joane Hétu, composer/performer (alto saxophone, vocals)

Joane Hétu has earned herself a key place on the Canadian creative music scene. For over 25 years she has expressed her art mostly through the voice and the alto sax, two instruments she approaches in a similar way, bringing into a unique symbiosis the flexibility of one and the urgency of the other. Self-taught, she first practiced songwriting, playing in the cutting-edge groups Wondeur Brass, Justine and Les Poules, whose avant-garde rock carried her throughout North America and Europe. Later she reinvented the sensual song format through the prism of "musique actuelle" with her own band Castor et Compagnie. Since then, she has left rock music behind, but she still flirts with songwriting.

Since the mid-'90s, Joane has been more and more focusing on abstract composition, in works that combine text, texture and vocal experiments. This research is at the core of her solo album Seule dans les chants and the triptych Musique d'hiver. In recent years, she has created improvisation structures that have been performed in Italy and Canada, by small groups of improvisers or by Ensemble SuperMusique, in which she plays.

Joane Hétu may have come to music through rock, but improvisation has been a crucial part of her life for over a decade. Her unique techniques and crude sax playing make her a fierce improviser with a strong personality. Joane's music has one foot set into human emotion and the other firmly planted into the atavisms of primitive thought. She is a member of the improvising trio Les Poules and has recorded duets with Lee Pui Ming, Mélanie Auclair and Ireneusz Socha, in addition to performing with Martin Tétreault, Lori Freedman and Jean Derome, among others. She is a member of the Ambiances Magnétiques label, co-director for the past 25 years of the concert production company Productions SuperMusique, and president of the DAME record label, which she incepted in 1991 and whose catalog now offers over 450 CD's of creative music. She has around 15 albums under her belt.

Past Recipients

2004: Jean Martin (percussionist)
2003: Peggy Lee (cellist)
2002: John Gzowski (guitarist / composer)
2001: Mark Duggan (percussionist / composer)
2000: Lee Pui Ming (Pianist / composer)
1999: Bill Brennan (Percussionist / Pianist / Composer, Newfoundland & Toronto)
1998: Lori Freedman (Bass clarinetist, Winnipeg)
1997: Nic Gotham (Saxophonist, Toronto)
1996: Rene Lussier (Guitarist, Montreal)
1995: Paul Plimley (Pianist, Vancouver)
1994: Michele George (Voice, theatre, Toronto)
1993: John Oswald (saxophonist, composer, Toronto)
1992: Jean Derome (saxophonist, flautist & composer, Montreal)
1991: Lisle Ellis (jazz bassist/composer, Montreal & Vancouver)

Tribute to Freddie Stone - by Don Wherry

Freddie and I were friends since the late 50s, when we jobbed together in a variety of situations. We first played together one summer in a Latin band at a resort in the Muskoka Area of Ontario. In between, we played pool together, filled ourselves with pastrami sandwiches, fished and even tried our hands at golf. After that I pursued a career in the classical and contemporary classical scene, and Freddie, tremendously interested in jazz and improvisation, flowed head-long into a lifetime of composition, teaching and playing - with the Ron Collier Orchestra, the Boss Brass, Lighthouse, Bruce Cockburn, the Duke Ellington Orchestra, and his own Freddie's Band. His symphonic compositions brought us together again, on several occasions - particularly between 1961-1974 - when I was percussionist with the Toronto Symphony and the CBC Symphony. Freddie was totally dedicated to his work - his involvement and honesty was reflected in his playing and compositions. Music was his life and it inspired all those whom he touched.

Since leaving Toronto in 1974, and starting a contemporary music program here in Newfoundland, I have experienced a new sense of "life's commitment" and of how old friends cross paths once again. My connection with Freddie was established again by young musicians from St. John's who travel back and forth to Toronto. They have been part of our Sound Symposium and other contemporary music events, and they have also been working with Freddie.

Inviting Freddie to the Sound Symposium was an absolute joy for all of us. His light, loving spirit inspired all those in his workshop and prepared them for the 9 days of sharing, experimenting and collaborating. Watching Freddie draw such energy from the actors, visual artists, scientists and musicians - watching him share his life and his music so freely was utterly fascinating. We're going to miss him.