The Jennifer Scott Quintet will bring an electric jazz program to the Yukon this weekend In one sense, Jennifer Scott’s newest CD, due to be released sometime in the next few months, is a fitting tribute to the Vancouver singer/pianist’s own musical upbringing. Titled Music for Bigs & Smalls, the album consists of what Scott calls …
The Sam Taylor Trio will present an evening of jazz standards at the Yukon Arts Centre on Sunday, Jan. 26, as part of the Jazz on the Wing series. Besides Taylor, personnel will include Aaron Seeber on drums and Neal Miner on upright bass.
One person’s trash is another’s treasure. When Larry Fuller’s older brother brought home an upright piano a cousin was discarding, the “little kid” from Toledo discovered a passion that would take him to the forefront of North America’s jazz scene. “I just started playing it by ear and then I went on to have lessons and …
Without question, Phil Dwyer was the only first-year law student at the University of New Brunswick in 2014 sporting an Order of Canada pin in his lapel. Odds are strong he was also the only frosh who could claim a 30-year career as one of Canada’s most in-demand jazz musicians. Or that his other option for …
Vocalist-bass player Katie Thiroux brings her jazz trio to Whitehorse for a Jazz on the Wing concert
Lonnie Powell’s passion for percussion dates back to a childhood night in B.C.’s Kootenay region, when he attended a wedding reception with his mother and watched a “really animated” drummer strut his stuff.
By her own admission, Jodi Proznick, an award-winning bassist and member of Triology, has enjoyed an “incredible performing career, and had opportunities really beyond anything I could have imagined for myself at the beginning of this journey.”
After more than two decades as a jazz guitarist, Sheryl Bailey still invokes the name of a player who first inspired her love of the genre, but who died when she was just two years old. “I got into jazz when I was about 15. I heard Wes Montgomery on the radio. I just fell …
After two acoustic solo albums, Bluesman’s Plea (2011) & Here on Earth (2014), Brandon Isaak’s Spiritual Undertones marks a departure.
Fate has a habit of steering flute and saxophone player Jane Bunnett in unexpected directions. If tendinitis hadn’t forced a break from her intense piano practice regime, for instance, she might not have gone to San Francisco and met Charles Mingus’s pianist, Don Pullen, who would become her mentor, friend and musical collaborator. If she …
Cory Weeds credits the influential jazz label, Criss Cross Jazz, for his initial introduction to long-time friend and musical collaborator, David Hazeltine. In the mid-’90s, the Vancouver sax player, impresario and Juno-winning producer had finished his studies at the University of North Texas and returned to his home roots. Before long, he was spearheading a …
There is a new sound in town! On Thursday June 21, Lucie D and the Immortals will debut their new EP, Les Thèmes de la Vie (Themes of Life), from 7 to 9 p.m. at Baked Café.
The Vanier Junior Jazz Band won first place in the Under 16 category of BYTE’s Battle of the Bands – again!
Café des Voix at Cafe Balzam at the Takhini Hot Springs on Jan 31. PHOTOS: courtesy of Elaine Schiman Café des Voix is always looking for new talent Yukon accompanist Grant Simpson helped found Café des Voix in 2016 as an extension of Jazz Yukon workshops that had been occurring since 2011 and as “a …
When a band calls itself Peripheral Vision, you might be excused for thinking it’s a rock group, or possibly a folk/roots, or even bluegrass ensemble. But you’d be wrong.
Jen Hodge had just spent five hectic days in Asheville, North Carolina, rehearsing every day and performing late into every night as part of the massive celebration of swing music known as Lindy Focus XVI. Despite the grinding schedule, the Vancouver jazz bassist and singer considered the Christmas-week event “a really incredible experience” that allowed her …
The email said Jeremy Pelt was between engagements in Europe and China, with just a “sliver of time” of time for a phone interview from his New York City home. For the first few minutes, the answers were terse, non-committal, perhaps a bit jetlagged. Or maybe he just wasn’t into it. Asked about his earliest …
Have you heard the one about the farmer’s daughter, the music teacher, the composer and the jazz singer? It’s not a joke. They’re all the same person: Karin Plato. Although she has called Vancouver home since 1985, Plato grew up on a grain farm near the tiny (current population: 129) community of Alsask, Saskatchewan. That’s where …
Tamir Hendelman’s list of players who have inspired him as a performer and composer includes unsurprising names such Evans, Davis, Corea, Hancock and Peterson. But how many other jazz musicians could also such early influences as a grandmother continuously humming everything from Yiddish songs, to opera, to Frank Sinatra in the apartment below? Or, for …
McColeman and Desaulniers perform as a duo. Lucie D and the Immortals with Paul Lucas, Lonnie Powell, Paul Bergman and Olivier de Colombel.
After several vocal jazz workshops “There was no outlet for the singers to practice what they’d learned.” said Simpson. Enter Café des Voix
John Stetch was already part of the New York City jazz scene when he first played in front of classical pianist and teacher Burton Hatheway in Fairfield, Connecticut back in 1993. Hatheway, who is still teaching at the age of 87, didn’t mince words. “Do you want to be serious?” Stetch recalls the maestro asking. …
From Tomaso Albinoni to Django Reinhardt, by way of Led Zeppelin? It’s all part of guitarist Marc Atkinson’s musical journey. The 48-year-old Atkinson grew up on B.C.’s relatively remote Quadra Island, without YouTube, or even television, but with access to the major music source of the day, vinyl records. “I didn’t know that humble peasants …
“It’s sort of like a straightforward country approach to old-school, ’30s vocal jazz,” she says. “I would say it’s got folk roots, a bit of blues and bluegrass, but jazz is sort of where I draw inspiration from and is probably the top of my influences.” Producer Bob Hamilton of Old Crow Recording Studio selected …
Nicole certainly mixes it up with genres including Jazz, Gospel, Rock, Roots, and the Latin sounds in “Lychee Martini” and “Second Thoughts”
The All City Band is comprised of students between the ages of 12 and 17, playing alongside more experienced adult musicians. The group is comprised of sections: the All City Jazz Band, the Junior and Senior Concert Bands and the Grade 8 Band. “The All City Band is a great musical opportunity for students in …
Memphis, Tennessee has been dubbed both the “Home of the Blues” and the “Birthplace of Rock and Roll”. But it’s no slouch in the jazz department, either. In a four-year span from 1934 to 1938, at least half a dozen future jazz luminaries were born there. That mid-’30s crop included trumpeter Booker Little, as well …
Full disclosure: Steve Maddock and I have a few things in common. We’re both PKs (preacher’s kids) who grew up in southern Ontario adding our piping, angelic treble voices to the choirs in our fathers’ churches. Point of departure: I struggled through the guy-hood change of voice as a scholarship student of an Ursuline nun, …
If you go by way of Laos and the U.S. East Coast, the journey from France to Yukon is anything but a straight line. But a brief reunion of two lifelong friends in Paris two summers ago proves you can get from there to here. “We had a great time together, and I told him …
Willie Jones III isn’t shy about crediting his late father, a renowned pianist from Los Angeles, with sparking his interest in jazz. “Even before I started school, he would take me to rehearsal with him and I would watch while he rehearsed. For some reason, I would always sit next to where the drums were, …
If you’re doing a stage show about a highly-admired guitarist, being able to render the music is a big help. Fortunately, Whitehorse musician Nicholas Mah has been playing the music of his dramatic subject, the late Lenny Breau, for decades. Mah was 12 when he first encountered Breau at a guitar society meeting in his …
Add a fruity kick to your fall with a lychee martini! Try the cocktail at the CD release party and concert for Yukon musician Nicole Edwards. On Sept. 23 the songstress releases Genre Bender at the Yukon Arts Centre in Whitehorse. The first single off her new CD is called “Lychee Martini” and was co-written …
Musical talent is over-rated, and taste is under-rated. At least, that’s how Canadian-born sax player Grant Stewart sees things. “I know many, many, many players who can play anything they hear, and that’s kind of what you’re told is the ideal to shoot for,” he says. “But if you don’t develop the things that you’re …
When Oliver Jones was a mere 65 years old, he and his wife both felt it was time for him to retire after years of playing piano on concert stages throughout the world. So he did. Briefly. Now, 16 years later, the legendary jazz pianist is about to retire again, insisting his current tour of …
Scott Wilson doesn’t credit either ’50s TV host Arthur Godfrey or campy falsetto Tiny Tim with the current popularity of the humble ukulele. Instead, the Whitehorse musician thinks it likely stems from a few years back, when Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s hauntingly beautiful medley of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and “What a Wonderful World” became …
It’s a gathering where you may sip the tingly bitterness of a pale ale, sample salty snacks from the “bacon booth” and lock eyes magically with your future spouse. No wonder tickets to the Haines Beer Fest have sold out faster than ever this year. The event takes place May 27 and 28, in Haines, …
He’s only 24 years old, but American pianist Matt Savage has had a 15-year professional career as a jazz musician, playing with some of the biggest names in jazz including Chick Corea, Wynton Marsalis and Chaka Khan. People Magazine described Savage as a “…jazz phenom (who) unlocks a door to genius using 88 keys.” Savage …
Anyone contemplating starting a small musical group to perform on a cruise ship would be well-advised to contact Lache Cercel. The Romanian-born fiddler, who now lives in B.C., teaches a course in how to develop a successful repertoire for just such a venture. “This is something I know myself, because from when I was 18 …
The Folk Society of Whitehorse has been hosting the famous Yukon-Alaska Coffee House for more than 25 years. This event features two coffee house evenings, back-to-back, in Skagway and Whitehorse. The Yukon evening of talent, which takes place on Saturday, will also serve as the finale to a series of Whitehorse coffee houses that happen …
If a musical shindig at the Old Fire Hall this Saturday puts you in mind of a New Orleans street party, Ryan McNally won’t be the least bit disappointed. The event is intended to introduce Yukon audiences to the Whitehorse singer-songwriter’s newest CD, Steppin’ Down South. The bulk of the album consists of nine tunes …
Alex Goodman doesn’t really cross borders so much as straddle them. Although the Toronto-raised guitarist and composer has made his home in New York City for the past three-and-a-half years, he seems to keep one foot planted in the musical soil of his homeland. “I think of Toronto as a very vibrant music scene. The …
“You know how kids like to pretend and tell stories? My story was that I was Dinah Washington.” { legendary jazz singer who died in 1963}
Bring family, friends, or even a date, because the All-City Band Society is hosting the 16th annual Dessert and Dance. The evening will start off with some sensational tunes provided by All-City Jazz Band, with the lights dim and the jazzy sounds of saxophones alongside the trumpets and trombones, controlled by the beat and rhythm …
Steve Maddock owes at least part of his resumé to the bad judgment of another singer. In 1998, the crooner/actor/voice teacher from Burnaby, B.C., got an unexpected call from a cruise ship line, asking him to fill in for its previous male vocalist, who had been fired for having marijuana in his cabin. “I kind …
James Danderfer didn’t intend to be a clarinet player. In Grade 6 he selected the drums as his preferred musical vehicle, but the band director overruled him. “He looked at my choice, then he asked to look at my hands, and then he asked to look at my teeth,” the Vancouver musician says. The verdict: …
Your first perception of Duncan Sinclair may be of a reserved, buttoned-down guy – a civil servant, most likely. You wouldn’t be wrong. Sinclair spent decades in the territorial public service, rising through the ranks before retiring in 2002 as top dog of the Yukon Development Corporation. Next time you see him, he has …
Forget the metronome, and don’t even bother trying to play like someone else, no matter how much you admire them. “When I was young, I figured that out real quick, because it was uncomfortable; it didn’t work,” says legendary drummer Louis Hayes. “You’re influenced by all sorts of things, and you can do certain things …
As the famous Alice Cooper song says, “School’s ouuuuuut for the summer!” But for kids of various ages whose passion is music, classes are set to resume next Monday, when the Yukon Summer Music Camp begins. The week-long annual event offers instruction in a wide range of musical forms and styles, for students of varying …
On June 12, the Yukon’s annual bluegrass bash is heading back to Kluane Country, where it all began. After a three-year sojourn in Whitehorse, the Kluane Mountain Bluegrass Festival will celebrate its 12th anniversary next week in what artistic director John Faulkner calls its “ancestral home” of Haines Junction. “It’s feeling good to everybody,” he …
Jazz has come a long way over the decades. What started as a call-and-response song though the cotton fields of the south, has now become an uptempo beat familiar to most. In edition to its evolution, it has sparked the creation of many sub-genres: Latin jazz, classical jazz, funk, b-bob, acid jazz, and vocal jazz, …
Campbell Ryga has a thing about saxophones. When he’s not playing them, chances are you’ll find him at a workbench repairing one, or conducting clinics to teach others to do it. “Saxophones and clarinets always kind of interested me. I like to take them apart and I have an aptitude for the repairing of those …
According to Tim Tamashiro, there’s “thinky” jazz and then there’s “drinky” jazz . “I’ve always had a bit of a problem with the serious nature of jazz, so I wanted to come up with some sort of a name to put it into a bit of a context for the greater population,” he explains. Oh, …
Why settle for karaoke night in a bar when you can parade your singing talent at the Yukon Arts Centre? “I think people miss singing in their lives, or miss music in their lives,” claims Whitehorse composer and filmmaker Daniel Janke. “It can just slip away if you don’t make the effort to get involved …
She later met Tucker at a Whitehorse Folk Music Society coffee house gig. “Ray must have been talking to Scott Wilson, and then we all just came together,” she says. The group’s biggest outing so far was a slot last fall in the Junction Arts and Music (JAM) series in Haines Junction. It was Wilson’s …
He may be a classically-trained pianist, but Chris Donnelly doesn’t get bent out of shape if his instrument is less than brilliantly tuned. “There’s nothing inherently bad about an untuned piano. It just sounds different. It has its own vibe,” he says. Donnelly is the pianist with the Toronto jazz trio Myriad3. Along with bassist …
Halloween is over, but don’t stop dressing up . On Saturday November 8, Open Pit theatre is giving you another chance; it’s hosting a 1920s-themed silent film night, and the directors of the company want guests sporting their Sunday best. It’s an art night true to the theatre company’s multidisciplinary mandate — to create space …
Richard Whiteman’s career as an upright bass player began virtually by coincidence. About 10 years ago, as leader of a highly regarded piano trio, he was doing a photo shoot with Juno-winning vocalist, composer, and bassist Brandi Disterheft. “I was holding Brandi’s bass while she was adjusting her hair or something, and I thought, ‘This …
Jazz Yukon is delivering yet another one-of-a-kind show next week. On April 23, Toronto bass player George Koller will perform alongside Yukon percussionist Ken Searcy and muti-instrumentalist Daniel Janke in a concert dubbed George Koller: Jazz Reunion. It has been decades since the three musicians have played together. “I have been trying for quite some time …
Learn, listen, and play is what Jazz in the Hall events are about. On March 6 Jazz Yukon is presenting a Jazz in the Hall event featuring youth musicians. The Jazz Kids with Their Jazz Hands Project is a show with an open jam session tucked in at The Old Fire Hall. The feature performers …
A whirlwind of optimism, energy, and passion is coming from Annie Avery and Grant Simpson regarding their new album, Two Piano Tornado. After playing music together for years they finally decided to go to the studio together, following a particularly successful Arts in the Park concert in Whitehorse last summer. They’ll be celebrating the accomplishment …
Young or old, you can see it in the dancers’ eyes – the mood is one of romance. It is one of the finest date opportunities in the Yukon — the annual Dessert and Dance, hosted by the All-City Band Society. Duncan Sinclair’s tenor sax solo weaves melodically over the walking bass, through the beating …
How often do jazz musicians point to the Beatles as their inspiration? It may be evidence of their broad interest in music, and their versatility. That’s the case with Vancouver jazz guitarist Bill Coon. “Let it Be is the first pop record I ever owned, and that’s when my interest started in pop music,’ he …
If you’re in the mood for some up-tempo jazz, then Cory Weeds might have the answer. On Sunday saxophonist Weeds and his quartet will be performing at the Yukon Arts Centre. The performance will feature special guest Steve Davis, a New York City trombonist, and will include songs from Weed’s current album, Up a Step. …
Vancouver Jazz Quartet Swings Through Whitehorse Read More »
Four Hands, One Heart. Saxophonist Mike DiRubbo and pianist Larry Willis will be delivering their unique jazz sounds at the Yukon Arts Centre
Jennifer Scott has several loves—wine tasting, reading, cycling—and one in particular that brings the Vancouver-based artist to Whitehorse for the first time: her love for Latin music. Scott is vocalist/pianist for the international jazz group, Crossing Borders. “Crossing borders refers to not just the fact that two of us are Canadian and two of us …
Musicians really know how to raise money. Dances are popular and most everybody likes dessert so, for the eighth year, the All-City Concert Band Society is holding a Dessert & Dance in the Porter Creek Secondary School Cafeteria Saturday, Feb. 9. Music will be provided by the Junior Jazz Band, the Senior Jazz Combo and …
Playing solo is something Robi Botos loves. The jazz piano player, born in Hungary but has called Toronto home these past 10 years, loves to play with his two brothers, too, but there is something special about playing solo. “It has a different vibe,” he says over the phone. “I love playing in a trio, …
The pianist just turned 33 and the clarinetist will be 84 next week. And yet it is the older gentleman who has been described as “fearless”. “The amazing thing about Phil,” says jazz pianist David Braid, “is he is in the autumn of his career and he is putting everything on the line.” Phil Nimmons, …
In The Netherlands it is almost 2 a.m. and yet Amina Figarova is bursting with energy and she wants to talk. Even better: she wants to talk to someone from the Yukon. “How is it up there?” she asks, straining to offer silence to allow an answer. She apologizes, saying she just came from a …
Andrea Simpson-Fowler has a choice for audiences: if you want to see cute little kids and a mix of entertainment, come to the recreational show; if you want to see more professional, more polished pieces, then come to the repertory show. The owner and operator of Leaping Feats Creative Dancework is planning for its annual …
The band Trifolia does not waste a minute of their time, nor yours. Barely a year after their first steps as an instrumental trio, they are releasing the album Refuge and going on a cross-Canada tour. They’ve already showcased their compositions at the renowned German jazz festival, Jazzahead. On Jun—–e 18, Trifolia will kick-start their …
Jazz On The Wing has reached back to the early 1900s for its show Nov. 9 at the Yukon Arts Centre. New Orleans flair and Louis Armstrong arrangements will be presented by Bria’s Hot Five. The bandleader, Bria Skonberg, is not unusual because she is a woman – “There are a lot of good female musicians …
From the gritty, primal rhythms to the lingering, sweet slide of steel guitar; and from the soulful roots of jazz to the vintage romance of classical guitar – and so much more – the music of Fathers & Sons takes you places you never thought you would go. “Sometimes it sounds like you’re kind of …
One of the perks of being a composer is being able to jam with friends. On a trip last year to M ontréal, Daniel Janke got in touch with an old friend, Jean-Pierre Zanella, who is well known in the Montréal jazz scene as a saxophonist, composer and arranger. Zanella is coming to the Yukon …
Bellows and Brass is a trio of three respected and accomplished soloists. Each have been invited to perform as concerto soloists with orchestras such as the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. When they get together as a trio, however, they like …
Sienna Dahlen has that classical jazz sound in her voice. That is to say, it is what you think of when you think of small, smoky rooms and tight bands cooling up the place. But, just as jazz is forever evolving, Dahlen is now writing and performing a fusion of folk and pop. “I like …
Trumpeter, pianist, composer and arranger, Alan Matheson, is a big fan of the Rotary Music Festival in Whitehorse. He feels it’s an honour to be one of the adjudicators. “It is one of the best-run festivals I’ve worked for, and the enthusiasm and skill of the performers and teachers is inspiring to see.” He’s back …
Jazz Yukon had already told Brandi Disterheft what “On The Wing” means, and she is looking forward to it. “It is definitely one of my favourite types of venues,” says the stand-up bass player of her upcoming visit to the cozy stage of the Yukon Arts Centre Sunday, March 1. “You can really interact and …
The guitar adjudicator at the 2009 Rotary Music Festival, in Whitehorse, is Manitoba resident Dale Normandeau. He graduated from Brandon University as a guitar major with a Music Education degree and a special interest in, and love for, jazz. Why did he choose guitar? “The guitar is just a cool instrument. It is unique in …
After a career of 70 years playing jazz piano, on every continent in the world, Oliver Jones is finally coming to the Yukon. “I guess someone up there figured an old man should get up to Whitehorse at least once in his lifetime,” says Jones over the phone from his summer home in Florida. He …
Fawn Fritzen‘s first album, Bedroom Voice, demonstrates what can happen when a talented artist meets an engaging producer. It’s what happened with The Beatles and George Martin, Talking Heads and Brian Eno, or brigs and Jordy Walker. Fritzen is a vocalist, pianist and songwriter who had been performing for eight years when her husband Michael …
Some have called Marc Atkinson’s music “gypsy jazz”. Over the phone line, I could almost feel Atkinson shrug: “It’s a common denominator,” he says. “The fact that I play the guitar, I get associated with it.” And audience members often ask him if he is influenced by various guitar players and he sometimes has to …
The working life of a dancer is not all showbiz and stage time. Countless hours are also devoted to rehearsals, choreography, classes and workshops. Workshops are a welcomed spinoff of any touring dance show. It is here that local dancers can break the fourth wall and engage in the communal art form of dance with …
Kimberley Cooper retraced the rise and descent of North American jazz dance: It is primarily a folk dance mixed by African slaves and the Europeans who enslaved them. But it died out with the Second World War, bebop and the taxation of dance halls. “It was kind of lost in the world, and that’s sad,” …
“It’s like apples and oranges,” says Bill Coon, a member of Era Bom, as well as having his own Bill Coon Quartet. “You love them both.” Era Bom is a Brazilian duo he shares with Michael Creeper, and was scheduled to perform at a Jazz On the Wing event Sunday, Nov. 15. Unfortunately, a health …
Fawn Fritzen, Rebekah Bell, Claire Ness and Katie Tait showcasing vocal talents in “Under the Blue Umbrella,” music inspired by things blue.
Just as a reformed smoker is often the first person to complain about a hotel room that smells of tobacco, I shall now complain bitterly about today’s society misusing the word “cool.” “Cool”, as I understand and appreciate the word, originated from jazz music: the saxophone player doesn’t acknowledge the audience; he leans into his …
Whitehorse is celebrating “Django Week” to honour the eccentric Gypsy jazz legend and musical genius, Jean ‘Django’ Reinhardt, who would have celebrated his 100th birthday Jan. 23. Django Reinhardt died in 1953, but his skill with the guitar and innovative style – due to his disabled fingers — still resonate with jazz musicians today. He …
He calls it, “The Lenny Moment.” “I found myself frozen as music played the way I’ve never heard it before,” says Pierre Brault, a veteran Canadian playwright and actor who has performed in operas and Shakespearean and contemporary plays. He is speaking of the first time he “experienced” the music of Lenny Breau. His taste …
Besides hearing jazz played as tight as only a quartet of professionals can, the Jazz Yukon audience Sunday night will enjoy a spectacle. Have you seen the Hammond B-3 organ at The Cellar? Well, you will see it played by jazz veteran Mike LeDonne … and it will be a spectacle. “The funny thing is …
Face plants in spaghetti, snow wars and, in “more peaceable times”, snow angels … It’s all part of the fun at the band retreat for F.H. Collins and Porter Creek secondary schools Grade 8 students. Rebekah Bell, band teacher at Porter Creek Secondary School and her husband, Bruce Johnson, band teacher at F.H. Collins Secondary …
What’s better than live music? Live music available every Saturday, in the form of East Coast jazz, courtesy of the Capital Jazz Trio. The trio experiments with a variety of jazz influences, performing primarily from the edgier, aggressive “East Coast” school of jazz, but also adds in some smoother, milder “West Coast” influences, for flavour. …
Jazz Trio Steps Up the Style at the Capital Hotel Read More »
It was bluegrass, as much as anything, that lured Radim Zenkl to slip through the Iron Curtain and become a political refugee in the United States. “At the beginning I played folk music, but as soon as I heard some country music on the records that were smuggled from the USA, I was really interested …
Don Ogilvie’s love affair with Gypsy jazz dates back 40 years. Like most budding musicians in 1970, Ogilvie was mostly into rock music at the time, but he also played with a New Orleans-style band. Then he discovered Jean “Django” Reinhardt, the Belgium-born Romani gypsy who pioneered the distinctive sound that became known as “hot” …
Don’t let the name fool you. True, the Québec-based trio, The Lost Fingers, took its name from the two fingers of legendary gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt that were rendered useless in a fire, leading him to develop a unique and unmistakable playing style. And it’s true that the group’s sound is highly influenced by the …
I think I like violins because they cry. Or perhaps it’s the way resined horsehair pushed and pulled over wire strings makes my spine quiver. It could be the intensity of the violinist drawing the bow, rocking with the motion, fingers dancing deftly on the instrument’s neck, connecting with the sound through closed eyes. A …
Full disclosure: one of the most treasured albums in my vinyl collection is the 1962 Stan Getz & Charlie Byrd classic, Jazz Samba. Fuller disclosure: I’ve had a mad crush on Antônio Carlos Jobim’s “tall and tan and young and lovely” girl from Ipanema ever since Astrud Gilberto, hand-in-hand with Getz and her then-husband João …
When Caroline Drury-Márkos last performed at the Yukon Arts Centre, she was a jazz crooner with the popular Peter Drury Trio. When she returns next week to kick off the Whitehorse Concerts 2011-12 season, it will be as an opera singer. Although she studied voice with Barbara Chamberlin as a teenager, and took a few …
It’s not surprising that Darren Sigesmund blends the occasional food analogy into a conversation about music. The 42-year-old jazz musician is not only a trombonist, bandleader and composer. He’s also a professional chef. And he sees a clear connection between music and cuisine. “The general principles, I think, are very similar,” he says. “You have …
Karin Plato loves her art form, but she is not blind to the fact that jazz music can be a tough sell. Plato herself came late to the genre and she knows that jazz is not everyone’s cup of tea. That said, she is also a living, breathing example of the way that jazz can …
Mike Rud has packed a lot of musical mileage into his 44 years. The Edmonton-born jazz guitarist has three CDS to his name, not to mention an impressive list of performing and teaching stints in Vancouver, Edmonton, New York City (where he studied with guitar master Jim Hall) and Montreal, where he lives and works. …
Brandon Isaak almost trashed his musical career before it started. “I didn’t see it. I stepped on it, broke it in half”
“No.” The answer came from Rebekah Bell and Bruce Johnston in the perfect unison you would expect from two band teachers – from Porter Creek and F.H. Collins Secondary School, respectively. The question was if they would add an extra Dessert & Dance this year since it is so popular and raises money for the All-City …
