Fish Jones — Bio

Fish Jones is the story of a detective with the head of a fish.

The brainchild of composer and multi-instrumentalist Joseph Blais, Fish Jones integrates contemporary electronic music practices into a live jazz context — a mise en oeuvre of technologies to craft a unique contemporary voice on the Montreal jazz scene.

Fish Jones evokes the dark cinematic moods of film noir soundtracks filtered through nu jazz beats. Using modern instrumentation and post-production, classic noir themes of crime, espionage, and intrigue are transliterated into the 21st century.

Founded in 2015, Fish Jones has appeared in many iterations, with the largest performances counting up to fifteen musicians onstage. Alongside Joseph Blais (keyboards, synths, production), the current lineup includes Violet Hébert (trumpet, effects), Léo Jost (guitar), Laurent Corbeil (drums, percussions), and Alexis Gagnon (drums, electronic drums).

Besides appearing regularly on the Montreal jazz and alternative music scenes, the band has also worked with performance artists in a variety of disciplines, including liquid light projection (Georgi Patchouli), puppeteering performance art (Satan est un éperlan), and contemporary dance (Ariane Levasseur, Aussenwelt, Art Souterrain). Fish Jones was voted 3rd best jazz act in Montreal in Cult MTL’s Best of 2022 poll.

Fish Jones’ debut EP, Person of Interest, was released on February 22nd, 2022. The recording presents a dark, thrilling fusion of jazz virtuosity with broken beat grooves and squelching acid synths. Crime. Intrigue. Espionage. Detective jazz fusion.