The Leader of the Band

On a recent visit to Paris, Chouinard struck up a conversation with an American couple sitting next to him in a cabaret. The couple, it turned out, were newlyweds from Excelsior. The three eventually left the cabaret for the plaza outside Notre Dame, where, under a moonlit sky, Chouinard played love songs for the couple.

“The sound of the accordion is so deeply evocative for so many people,” he says. “The accordion sings. It breathes, like a singer breathes. It’s capable of a full range of accompaniment that essentially takes the place of a whole band, but it has the advantage of being portable. If you’re sitting at the dinner table and you decide you want music after dinner, you bring out the slivovitz and the accordion. It generates an immediate response of nostalgia and usually an anecdote or two about someone’s great-aunt or grandfather.”

Long known for its progressive sensibilities and vibrant musical programming, St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church in south Minneapolis is Chouinard’s childhood church. (Though he spent his teenage years in Lindström, Chouinard grew up in Richfield.) Over the past ten years, his role at St. Joan’s has grown from occasional pianist to assistant music director. “I’m the leader of the band,” says Chouinard, which means he directs St. Joan’s band every Sunday at the 9 a.m. and 11 a.m. Masses, hosts the church’s annual cabaret, and accompanies the cabaret acts, as well as the musicians who participate in the church’s annual concert series. On January 16, as part of that series, Chouinard hosts St. Joan’s annual tribute concert to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., which features T. Mychael Rambo, Robert Robinson, and Jearlyn Steele.

On a crisp fall evening, Chouinard conducts a rehearsal in St. Joan’s gym. “Chaos among friends,” he says. Of the cabaret’s thirty-two acts, performed by the cities’ major musicians, Chouinard accompanies twenty-eight of them, including Mary Jane Alm, on the keyboard or accordion.

Onstage, from behind the keyboard, Chouinard, his sparkly red accordion slung across his chest, calls out a mike test, “OK, Mary Jane, talk to me through your soul.” The band starts playing, and Alm brings her sweet sound to “You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away.” Often during the four-hour rehearsal, Chouinard pulls a pencil from his shirt pocket and makes notes on his music. Whether he’s accompanying Alm or the entire company for the show’s opener and closer, he is relaxed and plays with an easy style. He hears and feels every instrumental and vocal part. His entire body moves with the beat of the music.

Music is his life. Rehearsing or performing, Chouinard is comfortable and content, as though he were still back in Lindström, rocking with Neon.

Claire Joubert is arts and entertainment editor of Mpls.St.Paul Magazine.