Jazz Journalists Association honours Bill Smith at jazz fest opening gala
On behalf of the Jazz Journalists Association, the Vancouver Jazz Festival’s artistic director, Ken Pickering, presented Bill Smith with the JJA’s “A Team” Award for lifetime achievement at the jazz fest’s opening gala at the Vancouver Art Gallery last night. Almost from the day he arrived in Toronto in 1963 from his birthplace in Bristol, [...]
Icons Among Us – A Meditation
In 1955 Nat Shapiro and Nat Hentoff produced a remarkable book which documented the “Golden Age” of the early days in Jazz up to the heyday of 52nd Street. Hear Me Talkin’ to Ya! The Story of Jazz As Told By The Men Who Made It was (as the subtitle implies) completely constructed from the [...]
Hot Picks on Hot Air: John Orysik Previews the Jazz Fest
The TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival opens in just a few days. With hundreds of shows to choose from, where do you start? How about with Hot Air this weekend? John Orysik from Coastal Jazz and Blues is our special guest. He’s bringing in some of his picks for the festival, from the brightest stars [...]
“Icons Among Us: Jazz in the Present Tense” screening at VanCity Theatre June 19
There will be a special screening this Saturday of the theatrical feature version of the acclaimed, four-part TV documentary series. Looking at jazz as a modern art form that continues to evolve and expand, the film highlights what Terence Blanchard calls “the quiet revolution” going on today, including big names like Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, [...]
McGill Alumni jazz night
Thursday, May 27th marked the McGill Alumni Association of Vancouver’s 9th annual Jazz Night at Hycroft Mansion. Performances featured bassist Jodi Proznick, pianist Tilden Webb, and vocalist Melody Diachun. More at: McGill Alumni Portal
Feast of Fests on Hot Air
Festival season is almost here! Hot Air is warming up for all that great live jazz by playing highlights from some of the many concerts CBC recorded over the past year. Tune in Saturday to hear live recordings from the 2009 Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Jazz in the Garden at Qualicum Beach and MusicFest Vancouver. [...]
one more blog
Forgot to mention Coat Cooke’s blog (probably because there’s been nothing new since September 2009). Let’s hope this mention will spur him on to posting more often. Composer, reeds and flute player, Coat is artistic director of the New Orchestra Workshop Society and conductor of the society’s Orkestra Futura (formerly the NOW Orchestra). Again, if [...]
more from the blog o’sphere
It’s great to see the number of Vancouver jazz musicians who are blogging going up, albeit very slowly. Our previous post pointed readers to James Danderfer’s blog where they could listen to his Jelly Roll Suite and then go on (or back, I guess) to read what I think is a really interesting series of articles about [...]
