Though The Lost Fingers might not be well-known in the Battlefords, their style and their music should be.
The band was formed in 2006 when guitar virtuosos Byron Mikaloff and Christian Roberge joined forces with jazz bassist Alex Morissette at the Quebec Conservatory of Music. Their acoustic guitar-based music recalls Django Reinhardt (after whom the group is named), or other icons of gypsy or jazz music, with intricate finger picking and tight vocal harmonies.
But the Lost Fingers apply this style not to gypsy jazz, but to 1980s ballads, transforming a song like Sunglasses at Night into a mysterious, questioning ballad with a sashaying rhythm that would be equally at home at a Parisian café or a dance floor.
The result seems something like the setting of one of their music videos. Imagine Pump Up the Jam played by virtuosos with pencil moustaches in a 1920s speakeasy. The juxtaposition might seem strange, but it has been phenomenally successful for the band. Their first album, Stuck in the 80s sold around 200,000 copies, a number that was second only to Nickelback's Dark Horse in Canadian album sales. The album was nominated for two Junos, and led to tours around the world to critical acclaim, including a performance at the 2010 Olympics.
The Battlefords seem like an unlikely stop for the band, but the Battlefords Jazz Society were lucky to get them for a single night at the Sloan Auditorium Nov. 3.
Opening for The Lost Fingers will be Brandi Disterheft, a Juno Award-winning jazz double bassist, accompanied by a drummer and pianist. Based in New York, the 27-year-old Canadian has already earned serious acclaim and released three albums despite her young age. With a vocal style described as "reminiscent of Billie Holiday with the lyrical elegance of Leonard Cohen" and a bass playing style that draws on Don Thompson, Rufus Reid and others, Disterheft is a rising star in the jazz world, a musician with an "infinite capacity to swing."
Alone, either Disterheft or the Lost Fingers would be an event not to be missed. Together, they are one of the most significant musical events in the Battlefords in 2012.
