When we prospected among the most talented Quebec guitarists, many names came up – Rick Haworth, Michel Cusson, Joe Grass… But there is one that came back with metronomic regularity, granting many equals: that of Pierre Côté. “It can’t be to play the guitar like that,” said Simon Godin, a musician used to TV shows. Meeting with a handle fighter who imposes.
The clothes do not make the monk: behind this rather common name, Pierre Côté, hides an unusual guitarist, having multiplied collaborations, compositions and recordings. In short, a “bug”, somewhere between the octopus and the centipede, to which many artists in the field have a marked respect. When he’s there, they make themselves small, and “everyone is silent,” jokes Simon Godin.
But before playing with Jim Corcoran, Patrick Norman, Carol Welsman, Alain Caron or with Cirque du Soleil, to name but a few, the guitarist forged his hand over time, style by style, layer by layer.
After ogling his cousin’s guitar, he really practiced his first scales at the age of 12 by borrowing his father’s, a Brazilian Giannini.
Its heroes come first from pop and folk, like George Harrison or Neil Young. He started groups, then became interested in rock, listening to Peter Frampton, Mark Knopfler (Dire Straits) or Jimmy McCulloch (Wings), before hardening his tone, drinking from the teats of Led Zep, Yes and, above all, Van Halen. “He was the one who really paved the way for me in terms of technique, which then allowed me to approach jazz more easily”, underlines Pierre Côté who, around 16, made a pop-fusion transition (Gino Vannelli and guitarist Carlos Rios) before turning to jazz, lulled by Wes Montgomery or George Benson.
Around 18, it’s clear: the guitar will be his vocation. Although he will have to wait. “To reassure my parents, I studied industrial electronics, one of the only trades taught at Cégep de Sorel. During this time, I continued to advance in jazz, ”recalls the one who finally registers at McGill to receive musical training, at 21 years old.
His professional career began at the Hotel Le Reine Elizabeth, with jazz shows. “I was destined for this style, but I had to make money, so I started doing pop,” he says, supporting Véronique Béliveau at the time. But it is blues-rock that will act as a launching pad, when it will be noticed in a club by Christian Péloquin, guitarist in great demand. The latter having noted a similarity in their respective games, he will invite the young musician to replace him during a tour of Roch Voisine. The way was open. “Afterwards it came crashing down, I actually have so much, I can’t even remember the names! “, he says, quoting all the same Francine Raymond and Marie Denise Pelletier.
New bifurcation: he leans on country music, initiated by Bourbon Gauthier and Jean-Guy Grenier, a route that will end on the threshold of Jim Corcoran. “He’s probably the one I’ve played with the longest, because he gave me a lot, a lot of freedom as an improviser, which is very important to me,” says the guitarist, who still works with the singer.
Another key figure in his career was Carol Welsman, pianist and jazz singer from Toronto, with whom he toured Japan or recorded in Los Angeles, then expanded his contacts; Pierre Côté even came close to participating in an album by Natalie Cole, who unfortunately died before the project was completed. On the Quebec side, it is among others with the jazz-fusion bassist Alain Caron that he has shared the stage and the studios in the last 10 years.
This avalanche of collaborator names is, however, only the tip of the iceberg in Pierre Côté’s musical navigation; we have passed over many of them in silence. But it already says a lot about the rich eclecticism of the musician, hailed by many congeners.
If Pierre Côté is excellent (and even “mind-blowing”, says jazzman François Rioux) in a wide range of styles, is he in all of them? “No, no, no, reassures the person concerned. Playing classical pieces is really not my department! »
His “handyman” side is also confusing, since he released a solo jazz album in 2011, set up a country group – MiRebelle – with his wife Johanne Provencher, offered courses at CEGEP for 30 years, officiated as a director, while ensuring his usual collaborations. Ah yes, he is also a multi-instrumentalist, dabbling in bass, drums and keyboards; even if he confesses not to have pushed the study of it as far as the guitar. Also: he sings. A slipper with that?
Having surfed several musical eras, and with the popularity of styles like hip-hop where the six-string doesn’t really get the lion’s share, how does he view the place of the guitar today?
“We’ve seen a decline for a long time, especially in pop music. Guitar solos are gone! It feels like it’s become like a parallel universe. That said, there are still guitar-focused bands all over the place. It will always have its place,” he observes, pointing to the impressive community of guitarists active on YouTube, and an interesting succession in Quebec, citing Nicolas Ferron and David Rourke.
So, if the figure of the guitar hero is seriously tarnished, and if the status of “best guitarist” in Quebec remains illusory, we will still say to ourselves: Pierre Côté is one hell of a “string bug”.
