Island Jazz

Guitarist Storm Nilson performs during an afternoon concert at The Larsen Summer Jazz Concert Series

The Larsen Summer Jazz Concert Series, a brand new series modeled after the Port Townsend Jazz Festival, will feature unique collaborations among local, national and international artists. The series runs from Monday, July 12 to Sunday, July 18 with a full slate of afternoon and evening concerts. Highly recommended.

Afternoon Concerts Series: (Monday, July 12 to Thursday, July 15): all concerts are 4 to 6 pm, – $10/$8 tickets available at the door.

Monday -Kelby MacNayr explores Afro-Cuban music/ Scott White Free Jazz ensemble.

Tuesday – Marianne Trudel/Anne Schaefer piano/voice duo/Classic Funk, Headhunters and beyond.

Wednesday – Storm Nilson/Kelby MacNayr guitar/drum duo – Roy Styffe/Alfons Fear tribute to Kenny Wheeler.

Thursday – Storm Nilson explores Early Jazz – New Works : new compositions by the Summer Jazz Faculty.

Evening Concert Series(Thursday, July 15-Sunday, July 18): All concerts 8 p.m. Victoria Truth Centre, 1201 Fort Street, $20/15 (VJS,U-Jam,Student) except as noted.

Thursday, July 15th, 8 p.m. – Kelby MacNayr Quintet/Marianne Trudel Septet

Friday, July 16th, 8 p.m. – Storm Nilson Trio/Anne Schaefer Quartet tribute to the Great Jazz Vocalists

Saturday, July 17th, 8 p.m. – Alfons Fear Quintet play the Jazz Messengers/Ian McDougall/Roy Styffe Quintet play Paul Desmond.

Sunday, July 18th, 5- 7 p.m. – Larsen Summer Jazz Student Performance. Hermann’s Jazz Club, 753 View Street, $5 at the door.

The Tony Genge Trio closes out the inaugural Jazz at the Gallery series with a tribute to the great piano trios of jazz on Sunday, May 30, at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.

Tony Genge (piano), Russ Botten (bass), and Joel Fountain (drums), will offer a “deeply swinging tip of the hat” to pianists like Oscar Peterson, Ahmad Jamal, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Red Garland, and McCoy Tyner.

Genge is from the west coast but spends much of the year in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, where he is a professor of music at St. Francis Xavier University. In addition to working as an internationally known composer, he maintains an active career as one of Canada’s leading jazz pianists, educators and writers.

Botten studied with Ray Brown and Don Thompson and has toured with vocalists Ernestine Anderson, Dee Daniels and Denzal Sinclaire.  He’s also performed with the likes of Clark Terry, Renee Rosnes, and Herb Ellis.

Fountain toured with jazz trumpet legend Maynard Ferguson and played in the Grammy-nominated One O’Clock Lab Band, a big band that performed with greats like Michael Brecker and Slide Hampton. He has also shared the stage with players like Mike Stern, John Abercrombie and Kenny Wheeler.

The concert takes place in the intimate setting of the Spencer Mansion of the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1040 Moss St., and gets underway at 2 pm. Tickets include admission to the Gallery exhibits on the day of the concert.

Seats are still available and can be purchased by phone or in person during regular Gallery hours. For more information, visit www.aggv.bc.ca or call 250-384-4101, ext. 0.  Only 100 seats are available and so advanced ticket purchase is strongly recommended. The four previous concerts were sold out by show time.

Jazz at the Gallery is produced by U-JAM (www.u-jam.ca), a not-for-profit jazz advocacy society, in collaboration with the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria.

Kelby MacNayr presents new compositions at Jazz at the Gallery on Sunday, April 25 (photo by Jim Levit).

Kelby MacNayr has been hard at work creating new music in preparation for the appearance of the Kelby MacNayr Quintet at Jazz at the Gallery on Sunday, April 25.

The concert will see four accomplished west coast jazz improvisers – saxophonist Roy Styffe, trumpeter Alfons Fear, bassist Sean Drabitt, and drummer MacNayr – join forces with Montreal pianist Marianne Trudel in a unique presentation of MacNayr’s original work.

MacNayr has handpicked the musicians for their skill (all have impressive credits including work with the likes of the Marsalis family, Don Thompson, Neil Swainson, Ed Bickert and Misha Piatigorsky) and because Continue reading →

Pianist Miles Black appears with saxophonist Roy Styffe on Sunday at Hermann's

A quartet-not-to-be-missed plays Hermann’s Sunday night when saxophonist Roy Styffe and pianist Miles Black join forces with Sean Drabitt (bass) and Kelby MacNayr (drums) in a presentation of original Canadian jazz composition.

Black got his start in Victoria, studying with George Essihos, and has long been a major figure on the Vancouver music scene. His daunting list of performance credits includes work with Oliver Gannon,Maynard Ferguson, Lee Konitz, Slide Hampton,Houston Person, Fraser MacPherson and Ingrid Jensen.

Styffe is similarly well endowed with a long list of impressive credits that includes performances with Don Thompson, Ed Bickert, Kenny Wheeler, Rob McConnell, Renee Rosnes, and Phil Dwyer. He’s considered by many to be one of the finest alto sax stylists in the country.

The group has recently released a new album When Sparks Flew and presumably will be presenting material from that recording. Highly recommended. (8pm, $12/$8)

LA guitarist Storm Nilson offers intermediate and advanced jazz guitar workshops in Victoria this month.

Storm Nilson is easily one of the most breathtaking jazz guitarists I’ve had the pleasure of hearing.

He’s performed with the likes of Charlie Haden, Wynton Marsalis and Joel Miller and assumed the guitar seat once occupied by Kurt Rosenwinkel in Miller’s band Mandala. He’s so good he just landed a recording contract (a rarity for jazz musicians these days) in California.

The LA guitarist is currently splitting his time between his home state and Victoria and has been performing around town with Kelby MacNayr and Sean Drabitt. Most of the elite players who have heard him can’t find sufficient superlatives to describe the quality of his playing.

Apparently he’s an amazing educator as well, having been a guest artist and clinician at the Monterey Jazz Festival.

In April he will offer intermediate and advanced jazz guitar workshops through Larsen Music here in Victoria. Guitarists on the Island, and the Mainland for that matter, should jump at the opportunity to learn from someone who is clearly a master musician.

The intermediate workshop runs on April 11 & 12, with the advanced going April 17 & 18th. You can read all about them here. Highly recommended.

Guitarist Bill Coon appears with bassist Ken Lister and vocalist Dale Graham in Courtenay on Friday, April 9

Vocalist Miranda Sage returns to Victoria from an Alberta tour with two shows at Hermann’s on Friday, Apr. 2 and Saturday, April 3. Sage will appear with Don Thompson on piano, Ken Lister on bass, Roy Styffe on sax and Dan Brubeck on drums. Sage and this stellar quartet will perform material from Daydream, her most recent album, a classy mix of standards, Latin tunes, and original material. The album has been getting international airplay and was critically well received. Promises to be a very high quality show. (8pm)

Also on Friday night, guitarist Steve Grebanier performs with his trio at the Heron Rock Bistro with Kelby MacNayr guesting on drums. Grebanier favours a more contemporary repertoire, including tunes by Stevie Wonder, The Police, Neil Young, Jimi Hendrix, and The Kinks. Should be a good one. (7:30 pm/no cover)

Guitarist Bill Coon pays a visit to Vancouver Island, performing with vocalist Dale Graham and bassist Ken Lister at Joe’s Garage in Courtenay on Friday, April 9. Coon is an outstanding guitarist, one of the best in the country, and has extensive experience backing elite vocalists from Karin Plato to Denzal Sinclare. With support like that and Ken Lister’s Juno-award winning work on bass, Graham, who has been developing a following in the Comox Valley, is sure to offer an outstanding evening of music. (8pm/$15)

The Jazz Vespers folks at St. John’s United in Deep Cove are getting ready to welcome Trombone Mayhem on Sunday, April 11. This spirited group fronted by Nick LaRiviere and Jeff Agopsowicz on trombones and backed by pianist Karel Roessingh, bassist Sean Drabitt and drummer Josh Dixon should raise the roof of the comfortable and intimate space at St. John’s. Well worth taking in! (7pm/freewill offering).

More to come….

The Big Bossa appears in Victoria, Nanaimo, and Courtenay next weekend

Two major jazz events are happening in Victoria this weekend. The first is an appearance by Vancouver vocalist June Katz at Hermann’s on Saturday night (March 20) with Hugh Fraser (piano), Dan Brubeck (drums), Ron Thompson (bass), Noah Becker (saxes), and Lorae Farrell (trumpet). Billed as “Romancing the Seasons,” the show will feature seasonal tunes from Katz’s latest album to celebrate the arrival of the vernal equinox. Katz, of course, is a highly respected jazz vocalist who has been on the Vancouver scene since 1973 and helped “school” a veritable who’s who of young west coast jazz artists over the years. (8 pm/ $20).

The second is a jazz vespers appearance by the Brooke Maxwell Seven at the Church of the Advent in Colwood on Sunday evening (March 21). Contrary to the name, the group is actually a trio featuring Maxwell on vocals, sax, and keyboards, Joey Smith on bass and Kelby MacNayr on drums. It might as well be a septet since Maxwell has the energy and versatility to make up for the four musicians who aren’t there. (7 pm/ freewill offering).

In other news, there’s still a few seats available for trombonist Ian McDougall’s Jazz at the Gallery appearance next Sunday, March 28 at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. McDougall will be appearing in a quartet featuring Jodi Proznick on bass, Craig Scott on drums and Ron Johnston on piano. Like the two previous Jazz at the Gallery shows, this one promises to be a stellar concert in the intimate setting of the Spencer Mansion. (2 pm/ $23 & $25). Phone the Gallery to reserve (250 384-4171 ext. 0).

Drummer James McRae’s Nanaimo-based Brazilian group The Big Bossa has three performances set for next weekend. They appear at Hermann’s in Victoria on Friday, March 26 (8 pm); at the Red Martini Grill in Nanaimo on Saturday, March 27 (8 pm); and at the Elks Hall Jazz Club in Courtenay on Sunday, March 28 (7:30 pm). McRae’s dynamic octet includes young performers as well as seasoned veterans and offers new takes on seminal compositions by the great Antonio Carlos Jobim. More info at theiconoclast.com

Other upcoming events worth taking in include U-JAM’s annual general meeting at the Victoria Golf Club on Friday, March 26 (6pm) with performances that will include the Young Jazz All Stars starting at 7 pm. The Flora Scott Quartet appears at Sylvan United Church in Mill Bay on Saturday, March 27 (4:30 pm).