Lester Quitzau

For over 30 years Canadian roots music artist Lester Quitzau has been defying stereotypes in the music world and in that time span, this guitar playing, song-writing singer has carved out a life that is multi-faceted in its unique scope.
An overview of Lester’s resume finds that he’s just not a two-time Juno Award winner, recording artist, respected bandleader, bandmate and collaborator, but a snowboarding pioneer and organic apple farmer.

Yes, he’s that mellow guy who throws down a heavy groove, but he’s also an artist who continues to forge new paths in a musical journey where he’s navigated some heavy terrain with considerable finesse and focus. His unique style and fluidity on slide, acoustic and electric guitars, coupled with his well- crafted songs and warm vocals, are the fruits of this musical journey. Canadian blues broadcasting guru Holger Petersen sums up his appreciation of Quitzau’s talents by reminding us that “Lester’s slide playing is in that rarified category and he has that great combination of skill, tone, and studied knowledge. He’s a class artist, whose music has a direct connection to the heart and soul.”

These days Lester is once again on the road, sometimes performing solo, sometimes as a duo with drummer Damian Graham when on the west coast, or with old friend Sandro Dominelli when on the prairies. In the past year Quitzau has once again played to large and appreciative audiences at the Vancouver Island Music Festival, The Calgary Blues Festival, The Old Strathcona Performing Arts Centre in Edmonton and a number of venues on the west coast.
It’s been gratifying for this artist to see that his audience has been waiting for his return to the roots music scene.
It’s a new chapter in a story that began with a solid blues apprenticeship in the funky working-class bars of Edmonton.
Learning to play as a child, by fifteen he'd saved enough to buy his first guitar, a Les Paul copy. Exposed to rock & roll by his older brother, and later the pure blues of John Lee Hooker, the major blues influence of Lester's young life came via the funky Ambassador tavern, in downtown Edmonton. It was a joint known for booking blues legends like Jimmy Rogers, Willie Dixon, George Harmonica Smith, Fenton Robinson, Albert Collins, and John Lee Hooker as well as Canadian touring acts like Amos Garrett, Ken Hamm, and Houndog.

At the time Lester was performing with a rocking blues trio called The Slipping Lizards. Then it was on to fronting The Yard Dogs in 1987. In 1988 The Yard Dogs released Live at the Commodore and the group quickly followed that up in 1989 with Take Time which was released under Lester's name.

In 1992 Lester’s tune Thinking About You found its way onto the CBC Saturday Night Blues compilation album (Stony Plain Records) that included offerings from Downchild, Colin James, Dutch Mason and Jack Semple. The album won a Juno for Best Roots & Traditional recording.
After a move to BC's West Kootenays in 1993, Lester returned to Edmonton in 1994 and released a stripped down, funky all-acoustic blues set titled Keep on Walking.
His 1996 album A Big Love, surprised listeners who might have been expecting a second instalment of Keep On Walking. Where the first CD celebrated the traditional, the new one was mostly electric and embraced experimentation. Multi-layered arrangements and a noticeable confidence as a singer and songwriter resulted in his first solo JUNO Award nomination.

2001 saw the release of his So Here We Are album that included a standout rendition of the blues classic Rollin’ and Tumblin’, that track that also found its way into the snowboarding documentary movie Sinners.
Things accelerated quickly and highlights over the next 15 years were many. Touring both Canada and Europe he wowed audiences fronting his own units and an all-star aggregation, A Love Supreme, that found him in the company of jazz aces Kent Sangster, Sandro Dominelli, and Dale James.
Other collaborations came in quick succession, most notably, Lester partnered
with Bill Bourne and Madagascar Slim in 2000 to form Tri-Continental and their first album release won a JUNO award.

2002 found Lester marrying celebrated singer/songwriter Mae Moore, and their acoustic recording Oh My appeared in 2003. The album garnered a West Coast Music Awards nomination. A year later Lester collaborated with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, at the prestigious Winspear Centre.
Lester and Mae began to live their dream of a committed and sustainability-based relationship with their Gulf Island homestead. There they found a different rhythm: slower, more reflective, but certainly no less musical at its heart.
This is the impulse that finds such powerful musical expression in The Same Light, released in 2009. It represents the culmination of Lester's years spent re-connecting with the land, but it's also a reflection of serious musical wood-shedding and soul- searching. The CD flows naturally from blues to ballads, and to truly inventive jazz improvisations.
This all came about after Tri-Continental released three more albums, and toured Europe and Canada extensively until 2006.

“In our early years we were three strong individuals,” recalls Quitzau who saw the band come full circle when Tri-Continental reunited in 2018.
“The beautiful thing about coming together again was that we had grown as humans and artists. Bill was always evolving and with Michael Treadway on drums it allowed the music to go to a really great place, one of real joy. I think we broke through musically to a different level,” adds Quitzau of the critically acclaimed collaboration.
Tri-Continental released Dust Dance in 2019 which led to more touring in Canada and Europe. Covid put a stop to that, with the band at the top of its game. Sadly, Bill Borne passed away of cancer in 2022, marking the end of an era.
Ted Crouch, the long-time manager of Tri-Continental looks back on their time spent together and from his perch is reminded that, “Lester brought a deep sense of soul and belonging to the band. He found mystical spaces between the notes, while helping define the unique and universal sound of Tri-Continental.”
Back in the saddle and hitting the road with either Graham or Dominelli, Quitzau’s muse is once again sitting firmly on his shoulder.
“No matter which setting I’m working in, the spontaneity is what is exciting for us and the audience. For example, this past summer we had a great gig, a slide guitar workshop at the Vancouver Island Music Festival. I was so free, I couldn’t have thought it out any better. It seems the stuff we don’t plan is always ten times better. The audience knows we’re winging it and working on the edge and they pick up on that. It’s exciting.”
Dominelli echoes Lester’s sentiments and feels that, “playing with Lester allows me to open up harmonically and melodically while supporting the deep groove he lays down,’ while long-time admirers of Lester’s talents agree.
“He shines equally in performance and on recordings. Lester’s melodious and sensitive approach is driven with power and he creates an intersection of blues, roots and jazz that became the signature Quitzau sound”, says Cindy McLeod, the long-time producer of the Calgary Blues Festival.
Almost 4 decades on, Quitzau’s discography is impressive for its size, and artistic scope and depth. This musician who is a fan of everything from the Mississippi Sheiks to Bob Dylan to Jeff Beck is now “enjoying playing music more than ever.”
What neatly binds the entire live, on stage Quitzau experience together, is his ability to inject humorous anecdotes about his life and other passions into his between song patter.

More new sounds are on the way and will soon be captured in the studio and/or directly from the stage, and as always there will be an audience waiting to see what this versatile and inspired artist comes up with next.
As Doug Cox, a respected musical peer and long-time producer of the Vancouver Island Music Festival has stated, “if you get the chance to see him, don’t miss out, Lester Quitzau is one of Canada’s guitar Zen-masters, simply one of our finest artists.”