Daniel Gervais is a fiddler and classical violinist from Edmonton, Alberta. He won the Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Championship in 2011 and again in 2016, and he was the first Albertan to hold the title. He leads the gypsy jazz group Hot Club Edmonton, plays French-Canadian music in the duo Trad’badour, and teaches at MacEwan University.
Why Gervais matters
Gervais broke Ontario’s hold on the Canadian Grand Masters. Every champion from 1990 to 2010 came from Ontario, Manitoba, or Quebec. His 2011 win put Alberta on the list, and Ethan Harty’s three titles followed from the same province. Gervais also shows a picker how far one fiddle can stretch. He plays contest tunes, Django-style swing, French-Canadian reels, and concert violin.
Life and career
Gervais grew up in Edmonton and started violin at age five. He competed at the Canadian Grand Masters in 2003, 2004, and 2008, and finished in the top eleven in 2004 and 2008. His first solo album, Flying Fiddle, came out in 2003, and Endless Possibilities followed in 2005. The Canadian Folk Music Awards nominated him for Young Performer of the Year in 2006, and the City of Edmonton gave him an Arts and Culture Award in 2007.
In 2010 he and guitarist Clinton Pelletier released the self-titled Hot Club Edmonton album, with Calvin Vollrath guesting on fiddle. It won Instrumental Album of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards that year. Gervais also won the Prix Sylvie Van Brabant for artistic creation in 2010.
He won the Canadian Grand Masters in 2011. In 2012 he served as a cultural ambassador at the London Olympics and played a reception at Carnegie Hall. His third solo record, Old Red Barn, came out in 2013. In 2014 the French-Canadian Association of Alberta gave him its Eugène-C. Trottier award. He took his second Canadian Grand Masters title in 2016.
Gervais holds a Master of Music in classical violin from the University of Alberta, where he studied with Guillaume Tardif. He has played the Smithsonian Folklife Festival, Folkmoot USA, and Festival Interfolk in France. He teaches on the sessional faculty at MacEwan University and at fiddle camps across western Canada, including the Calvin Vollrath Fiddle Camp.
Playing style
Gervais plays with a classical left hand and a contest fiddler’s bow. His intonation stays clean at any tempo, and his tone comes from years of concert violin study. On the swing side he plays a five-string violin with Hot Club Edmonton, which gives him a low C string for chord work and lower melodies.
His contest playing keeps a dance pulse under the tune and builds the ornaments across the repeats rather than piling them on the first pass. In Trad’badour he plays French-Canadian reels with the drive of Quebec fiddling. The mix of clean violin tone and dance rhythm is the thing you can hear in three seconds.
Influences and legacy
Gervais studied classical violin with Guillaume Tardif at the University of Alberta. On the fiddle side his closest tie is Calvin Vollrath, the Alberta composer who played on the Hot Club Edmonton record and runs the camp where Gervais teaches. His swing group draws on the Hot Club sound of Django Reinhardt and Stéphane Grappelli.
His Grand Masters wins opened the door for Alberta fiddlers. Ethan Harty won the title three times after him. Gervais teaches the next group through school shows, the National Arts Centre MusicAlive! program, and camps across the prairies.
Signature tunes and songs
Flying Fiddle Flying Canoe Old Red Barn Mistassiniy Goin’ to the Barndance Orange Blossom Special.
Essential recordings
Flying Fiddle (2003) Endless Possibilities (2005) Hot Club Edmonton (2010) Old Red Barn (2013)
Awards and honors
Canadian Folk Music Awards, Young Performer of the Year nominee (2006) City of Edmonton Arts and Culture Award (2007) Western Canadian Music Award, Instrumental Album of the Year, with Hot Club Edmonton (2010) Prix Sylvie Van Brabant, Excellence en création artistique (2010) Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Champion (2011) Eugène-C. Trottier Award, French-Canadian Association of Alberta (2014) Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Champion (2016)
Watch and listen
The University of Alberta posted this video of Gervais after his 2011 championship, the first for an Albertan.
The Canadian Grand Masters association posted his preliminary round from the 27th championship. Listen for how the tune builds across the repeats.
What to learn from Gervais
Learn Flying Fiddle, his own tune and the title track of his first record. It sits in a standard key and shows how a modern Canadian contest tune is built. The technique to steal is his repeat plan. Play the tune plain the first time through. Add one ornament or one shift on the second pass. Add one more on the third. That is how Gervais keeps a judge listening, and it works in a jam too.
Sources
Daniel Gervais, official bio Daniel Gervais, official site Past champions and results, Canadian Grand Masters Fiddling Association Hot Club Edmonton, Hot Club Edmonton, Discogs
Related players
See the fiddle players hub and the bluegrass fiddle guide for more Canadian champions. Calvin Vollrath is his closest Alberta tie, and Ethan Harty followed him as an Alberta champion. Louis Schryer and Pierre Schryer set the Ontario standard he had to beat.