Heard a quintet of alto saxophonist Samuel Blais, trombonist Jean-Nicolas Trottier, bassist Fraser Hollins with Rafael Zaldivar on piano and Jim Doxas on drums, at Dièse Onze jazz club and restaurant in Montréal, last Saturday December 10. A fantastic couple of sets. Although Zaldivar and Doxas aren't listed in the name of the quintet (perhaps the drummer and piano change at times?), Doxas in particular was, I think, one of the keys to the group's smashing success in this gig. He plays an almost hyperactive, yet always tasteful, kind of drums... not falling frequently into the ching ching-a-aching implied triplets on ride cymbal that is a standard of bop and post-bop mainstream jazz drumming (though he doesn't entirely eschew it, either). He seemed to me to be more flexible about dividing the beat by twos or threes, but playing lots of fast, and hard-hitting, patterns implying a lot of subdivision of the beat, whether on ride, hard hat, snare, snare rim, or whatever. The drumming behind you can make a lot of difference to an improvisor, and I think energy was surging through Doxas into saxophonoist Blais and trombonist Trottier in particular. They both played intense solos in the area between bop and post-bop, the latter mostly not so much in highly colored, modal areas but in a more angular, major and chromatic sounding, and perhaps a bit free-jazz influenced bag...consistent with lots of bop influence, as mentioned. Some standards but given unique treatments, lots of very interesting compositions by band members. Excellent piano playing and bass too. Although I suspect this band is less well-known than the (apparently well-known in Canada, and certainly excellent) François Bourassa quartet I heard the previous night at Upstairs, it was at least equally exciting---in some ways more intense, probably due to Doxas' unique drumming. I had a decent Loupiac and a nice Armagnac at the bar, and enjoyed a conversation with Philippe, a computer programmer with a physics degree from McGill and a lifelong jazz fan. I was having trouble figuring out why the place was named "Dièse Onze" until he translated it "Sharp Eleven". Now that's hip, eh?