The first track, "Rêve encore un peu" (Dream a Little Longer), featuring bassist Carl Mayotte and pianist Sébastien Champagne, is available to listen to now.
Quebec, August 14, 2026 – The jazz artist Marie-Catherine Bouchard announces today the release of his second album, The common thread, under the label Passport Discs, available to discover on all streaming platforms from the September 18, 2026 A launch event will celebrate this release the day before, on September 17, D'Youville room of the Palais Montcalm, in Quebec City. Here is a first excerpt, "Dream a little longer", imbued with pop nuances while remaining faithful to the jazz that resolutely inhabits the entire album, paves the way towards this second chapter of the artist's musical career.
A thread woven between stories, eras, and collaborations
The common thread was born from the desire to weave together eras, friendships, and the two shores of the Francophonie. The album brings together three original compositions: "Sablier," "Je n'ai rien oublié," and "Rêve encore un peu." Imbued with the passage of time, fidelity to memories, and the sweetness of dreams, these songs are enriched by the voices and talents of musician friends, collaborators, and a songwriter who accompanied the artist on this adventure, including the bassist. Carl Mayottethe pianist Sébastien Champagne, the guitarist Sylvain St-Onge and the lyricist Maude Carrier, with whom Marie-Catherine co-signed her three original compositions.
Around these original compositions, Marie-Catherine Bouchard pays homage to the masters who paved the way before her. From the luminous nostalgia of Gilbert Bécaud (“C'est en septembre”) to the raw poetry of Félix Leclerc (“Bozo”), from the urban melancholy of Sylvain Lelièvre (“Marie-Hélène”) and Nicoletta (“Où es-tu passé mon Saint-Germain-des-Prés”) to the dramatic elegance of Barbara (“Si la photo est bonne”), each cover becomes a conversation with the past, reharmonized in an enveloping and accessible jazz. A special nod goes to Barbara, an artist dear to Marie-Catherine, to whom she had already dedicated her very first album. The Black TulipIn 2021.
“The common thread is the desire to weave together eras, friendships, and the two shores of the Francophonie. It’s an album of collaborations and complicity, a bridge between tradition and my own universe, where the passage of time and the persistence of memory become the guiding thread. It’s an invitation to follow this thread with me, between memory and renewal, to see where music still takes us today.” – Marie-Catherine Bouchard
"Dream a little longer": an encounter between the voice and the bass
Composed by Marie-Catherine Bouchard and Sébastien Champagne, who also plays piano, with lyrics by Maude Carrier, the album's first single, "Rêve encore un peu" (Dream a Little Longer), brings together seasoned jazz musicians, including Carl Mayotte on bass and Stéphane Chamberland on drums, who lend their virtuosity to the lyrics and the groove. Filled with tenderness, the song's lyrics are a message of hope addressed to a child. This first track, with its more pop-oriented feel, is instantly captivating, straightforward, and unpretentious.
Listen to "Dream a Little Longer"
A major launch at the Palais Montcalm
Marie-Catherine Bouchard will launch her album in style on September 17, 2026, at the D'Youville Hall in the Palais Montcalm; the artist will be accompanied by about fifteen musicians. Tickets are on sale now on the Palais Montcalm website.
List of titles
Upper Lip
It was in September
I haven't forgotten anything
Marie-Hélène
Where have you gone, my Saint-Germain-des-Prés?
Dream a little longer
hourglass
If the photo is good
Album launch The common thread
September 17, 2026, 19 p.m.
Palais Montcalm, D'Youville Hall, Quebec
Tickets: $42,50, on sale at palaismontcalm.ca
About Marie-Catherine Bouchard
Marie-Catherine Bouchard is a singer and vocal coach from Quebec City. Holding a master's degree in instrumental vocal pedagogy for jazz-pop from Université Laval, she has taught singing for over 20 years and, since 2017, has been a professor at Cégep de Sainte-Foy. She is the only French-speaking instructor and mentor certified at the highest level of the Estill Voice Training model, which she teaches in Quebec, France, and Belgium. Alongside her teaching career, she continues her journey as a jazz and pop singer, marked by her first album. The Black Tulip (2021), a tribute to Barbara, and by The common thread, his second album to be released in September.
