UNITED ONE. RECORDS HEILLIG MANOUVRE

Heillig Manouvre - hy-lig ma-noo-ver - U1CD-3021 "Musically both comforting and challenging. The payoff was a satisfaction not unlike that final glide of a roller-coaster ride.” Moira Dann, editor, Facts & Arguments, Globe And Mail The Heillig Manoeuvre is a Toronto-based contemporary jazz quartet. The band was formed in 1997 by longtime Manteca musical director and bassist, Henry Heillig, whose idea was to create a forum for playing "friendly music"; not 'smooth' jazz but not a Chinese puzzle either…a band whose repertoire would be more songbook than doctoral thesis. In December 1997, the Heillig Manoeuvre composed and performed the music for the Genie Awards, broadcast nationally on Bravo. In 2000, they provided the soundtrack for the documentary, Nuclear Dynamite, which won the 2001 Gemini Award in its category. The Heillig Manoeuvre's first CD, produced by Danny Greenspoon and pragmatically titled  hy-lig ma-noo-ver, was released in May,2001. HEILLIG MANEUVRES Bassist Henry Heillig is best known as a founding member and co-leader of  Canada’s award winning jazzlatinfunk ensemble, Manteca,  with whom he has toured the world’s major festivals from Stockholm to the Hollywood Bowl. In 1999, he toured western Canada with pianist Joe Sealy. Since then, he has been touring extensively with harmonica master Carlos del Junco. He has also spent many years performing in the children’s’ music scene first with Sharon Lois and Bram ,and then with Eric Nagler, for whom he produced three albums and  music for five seasons of Eric’s World. He has been musical director for several  Canadian award shows and has composed for film and documentaries. His tunes are an important part of the Heillig Manoeuvre repertoire. Guitarist Kim Ratcliffe is one of  Toronto’s busier  musicians. He has toured Europe and Japan with popjazz diva Holly Cole, and has played with a wide variety of artists, including Carlos del Junco, Melissa Stylianou, Ron Sexsmith.  Kim is a prolific composer and a major contributor to the Heillig Manoeuvre songbook. Bill Brennan plays piano and vibes in the Heillig Manouevre, but he is also adept at both classical percussion and Indonesian gamelan. He has toured the world as a member of the Evergreen Gamelan Ensemble and as solo accompanist to dancer Sarah Chase. Bill has led the band on the CBC radio show Vinyl Café. In 1999, Bill was honoured with the  Freddie Stone Award, a national prize given for excellence in all genres of music. Drummer Howard Gaul has covered a lot of musical territory, from jazz work with reedman Ron Allen to rock with the Henrys and funky folk with Morgaine le Fay and Cate Friesen. Recently, he has been performing with jazz singer Laura Hubert. He has also done soundtrack work for such films as Darryl Wosik’s critically acclaimed “H”. In addition to his musical talents, Howard was responsible for the cover art and design for hy-lig ma-noo-ver. www.heilligman.com