|
contents | jazz | |||||||||||||
| All-Canadian Jazz Festival Port Hope, September 23-25 Jane Bunnett, Matt Dusk, and Molly Johnson will present headline concerts at the fourth annual All-Canadian Jazz Festival Port Hope, scheduled for September 23-25. And by popular demand, evening as well as daytime performances will be in Memorial Park under the convivial atmosphere of our concert and club tents. Some of the hottest players in Latin jazz will get people out on the dance floor in the Club Tent, a new addition to this year’s festival format. Latin jazz will also be featured in the Concert Tent, as Jane Bunnett and the Spirits of Havana play the Friday evening headline show. Building her career at the crossroads between Cuban music and jazz, Bunnett has turned her bands into showcases for the finest musical talent from Canada, the United States and Cuba. Mentoring of the next generation of musicians is an important theme throughout the festival. The Northumberland High School All-Star Jazz Band, led by saxophonist Pat Labarbera will open the festival on Friday evening. New Canadian jazz artists from Russia, Hungary, Argentina and Cuba will also take their places among more than a dozen of the country’s finest ensembles. In planning this year’s festival, programmer Sybil Walker says, “we became increasingly aware of the number of musicians who, although not Canadian by birth, are Canadian by choice. These players bring to their music the unique flavours of their cultural backgrounds, enriching the fabric of Canadian jazz.” Saturday’s festivities begin with the Blow Your Own Horn Jazz Parade, down Port Hope’s historic main street. The parade is led this year by saxophonist Richard Underhill, of Shuffle Demons fame, and Underhill plays the first concert of the day. Saturday afternoon will see sets by the John Alcorn Quintet, and the Hungarian-born Botos Brothers, Robi and Frank, on piano and drums. Russian-born songstress Sophie Milman, who has been catapulted into national stardom at the age of twenty-one, appears in the Concert Tent, followed by Montreal’s Sweatshop Tango Ensemble, whose music is devoted to the rhythms of tango. Fresh from Toronto’s Lula Lounge, nine-piece band Le Cache will play three sets in the Club Tent, followed by the TD Canada Trust Young Jazz Showcase, a group of high school jazz stars selected from across the country. Closing out Saturday’s events in the park is rising sensation Matt Dusk. This velvet-voiced twenty-four-year-old is all set to sing his way to international stardom. Dusk combines the finer elements of the Rat Pack era (great vocals, style, sophistication) with unique new material, and the result is the dawning of a new era of sound. Versatile pianist John Arpin, whose name has become synonymous with piano rags, opens Sunday’s schedule. Tabby Johnson takes the stage next in the Concert Tent, bringing a group of inspirational gospel performers. Singer Dione Taylor, whose conservatory training has been enriched by jazz, soul, blues and gospel, leads her quintet in the Concert Tent, and Juno-award-winning, Cuban-born piano legend Hilario Duran heats up the Club Tent with his trio. The Festival closes with a performance by Molly Johnson, an audacious entertainer and a proud Canadian musical ambassador. As a pop artist, she has rocked standing-room-only audiences in bars from coast-to-coast, and she has seduced the patrons of salons and lounges with her luscious interpretations of jazz and blues standards. Additional late-night entertainment is planned for the Capitol Theatre upstairs studio. Lou Pomanti hosts the Local Heroes Jam Session on Friday night, and June Garber, backed by The Richard Whiteman Trio, sings jazz standards and ballads on Saturday night. Once again the Oasis Bar & Grill will be the Festival’s satellite venue in Cobourg with outstanding performers write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |