Ric’key Pageot on the Sticky & Sweet Tour with Madonna: ''Phenomenal''

Ric’key Pageot sur la tournée Sticky & Sweet avec Madonna: "Phénoménal".

Dessy Di Lauro and Ric’key Pageot return after storming L.A.
By T’Cha Dunlevy, GAZETTE MUSIC CRITIC December 10, 2010

MONTREAL - Dessy Di Lauro and Ric’key Pageot are a musical power couple. The Montrealers have travelled the world with Cirque du Soleil and Pageot has toured with Madonna and Diana Ross. Now settled in L.A., they are forgoing the opportunities provided by their growing list of connections and getting back to their own music.
“It’s easy to keep going, to jump from one tour to another,” Pageot said, when I sat down with the couple this week at revived downtown hot spot Jello Martini Lounge where, home for the holidays, they will perform next weekend.
A graduate of McGill’s jazz program, Pageot met Di Lauro shortly after she returned from Florida in 2002. There, she had been a featured vocalist in the Cirque’s La Nouba show. Di Lauro, a veteran of Montreal’s funk and R&B scene, had a CV included singing in acid-jazz band Bullfrog alongside DJ Kid Koala, cooing hooks for Quebec hip-hop stars Dubmatique and penning songs for Ginette Reno.
She and Pageot hit it off immediately, recording her 2004 EP A Study of a Woman’s Soul. Her connections got the Cirque scouts out to their album launch, and before they knew it (or could even properly promote the disc), both were hired for the company’s first touring show, Delirium – Di Lauro as a vocalist and Pageot as keyboardist and musical director.
They got engaged, married and took their honeymoon on consecutive vacation breaks from the never-ending tour. While tons of fun and great exposure, the Cirque is also demanding work. The latter would prove critical for Pageot’s next gig.
Finishing the Delirium tour in 2008, he and Di Lauro were restless. They headed west – southwest, actually.
“We wanted to go up, as far as our career,” Di Lauro said. “There’s a lot more opportunity (in L.A.). It’s a music and entertainment hub. When we moved there, Ric’key got Madonna soon after.”
She makes it sounds easy, and it kinda was. Pageot had met Madonna’s musical director, Kevin Antunes, while on tour with Delirium.
“At the time, he was the musical director for Justin Timberlake,” Pageot said.
Upon arrival, he dropped Antunes a line.
“I said, ‘Hey, I just moved to L.A. I’m available if ever you need me.’ Four months later, I got a call for Madonna.”
Pageot auditioned, impressed and made it to the final two, where it reportedly came down to him and one other keyboardist. He made the cut because he played – of all things – accordion. Madonna wanted to incorporate a Gypsy jam into her show; she wanted someone who played accordion, which, luckily, he had learned for Delirium.
“It was also work ethic,” Di Lauro said.
“For Kevin, it was work ethic,” Pageot agreed. “Before hiring me, he did a lot of research about me – into my personality, my work ethic, my specialties. He’s been in the business 15 or 20 years, with New Kids On the Block, Britney.”
“People are aware that the Cirque work ethic is crazy,” Di Lauro said. "They’re very strict, you work long hours and they go for perfection. That’s what (Madonna) does.”
So what was it like touring with the Queen of Pop?
“Phenomenal,” Pageot said. “She wants us to live her life, meet cool people and hang out in really cool places. Dessy got to come out a couple of times.”
“It was surreal,” Di Lauro said. “It’s a huge production. It was crazy, being in Brazil and seeing 120,000 people packed into a stadium.”
“You get used to it,” Pageot said, with a smile.
Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet Tour stopped at the Bell Centre for two sold out nights in October 2008, during which Madonna gave a special shout-out to Pageot in his hometown.
Things took off from there when he returned to L.A., thanks to more fortuitous connections. He toured with Diana Ross earlier this year, a gig he got through pal Morris Hayes, keyboardist for Prince.
“He’s my mentor,” Pageot said. “I met him when I first moved down there, at (a convention). I went to the hotel bar after, and Morris Hayes was sitting there.”
Hayes has given the pair guidance as they work their way around L.A.’s club circuit, pushing their funky new sound – a funky update of early, swinging jazz.
“We’re listening to Cab Calloway, and original stride piano stuff,” Pageot said, “James P. Johnson, Fats Waller, studying the language of back then (and updating it) for now.”
They are, of course, backed by a stellar band: drummer Stanley Randolph (who plays with Wonder); bassist Brandon K Brown (Chrisette Michelle, Jessica Simpson); and the three-piece Regiment Horns (featured on Michael Jackson’s new album).
They recently finished Di Lauro’s seven-song EP, Jumpin’ N’ Jivin’ – Live at the Swing House, which they launch here next weekend. That will buy them time as they put the final touches on her new studio album, for which Pageot would like to call in one more favour:
“I just found out that Christina Aguilera’s guitar player – who I’ve known for two or three years now – plays banjo,” he said. “When we get back to L.A., I’m going to get him on the album.”
For the launch, Pageot and Di Lauro will reunite with their Old Montreal bandmates, as well as one connection that goes way back: Pageot’s younger brother Anthony on drums.
Dessy Di Lauro performs (with Ric’key Pageot) Friday and Saturday, Dec. 17 and 18, at Jello Martini Lounge, 151 Ontario St. E., at 10 p.m. Call 514-285-2009.

Source: The Montreal Gazette.

Power couple Ric’key Pageot and Dessy Di Lauro first met in 2002.
Photo: Allen McInnis, The Gazette.