chris wong in sync

The following have something in common:

What's the link? Canadian women — Dolores Claman, Ruth Lowe and Elizabeth Clarke respectively — composed the tunes. They're also songs that Mother of Pearl, Vancouver's all-female jazz group, will perform Sept. 28 at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre as part of SheBOP!-A Century of Jazz Compositions by Canadian Women.

Truth be told, Mother of Pearl's concert will feature a number of tunes that weren't composed as "jazz compositions". But the always dynamic group — pianist Brenda Baird, singer Colleen Savage, saxophonist Karen Graves, drummer Lauri Lyster and bassist Wendy Solloway — will give all the material a creative jazz treatment.

From its beginnings, Mother of Pearl has been interested in performing jazz works by women. These have included tunes by the International Sweethearts of Rhythm, an all-female big band from the '40s. But at one point Mother of Pearl realized this repertoire lacked Canadian content. So they started extensive research on songs by Canadian women. Gary Cristall, the former Vancouver Folk Music Festival artistic director who's now managing artists (among other things), got behind the project and offered support and encouragement.

During a Mother of Pearl tour, Solloway and Savage visited the CBC in Toronto. They went through the archives and found some valuable leads on female composers. "Without CBC we would be a lot further behind," says Solloway. But while they were able to listen to some recordings, the main thing they got from the mother corp was a list of names, including potential composers. So the band members sent the lists to various music experts. Eventually Mother of Pearl found some musical gems by Canadian women.

Vera Guilaroff, born in 1902, was a ragtime pianist in Montreal who composed "If You Only Knew". Elizabeth Clarke, a nurse at Children's Hospital in Vancouver, wrote a poem in 1947 that became "There's a Bluebird on Your Windowsill". (Trombonist Jill Townsend has done a big band-type arrangement of the song for Mother of Pearl.) Vancouver-born Dolores Claman wrote the Hockey Night in Canada song in 1968. ("We're seriously messing around with the tune," says Solloway.) Kathy Kidd, who died last year, wrote "Punishment of Baghdad" for her glorious Hajji album. Mother of Pearl will play all of these songs, plus more (including the band's own originals), in SheBOP!. Three additional horn players and a percussionist will play with the band. As well, the gals aren't saying who it is, but an 83-year-old singer will also be a surprise guest.

What's the biggest revelation that emerged from the research? One thing was the difficulty in finding any songs by Canadian females from the early years. "The facts prove that it was just not the thing for women to do," says Graves. But the songwriters Mother of Pearl found out about persevered. And these days, many more Canadian women compose jazz tunes. The quintet won't focus on those contemporary songs in this show, but they'll tell engaging stories through forgotten tunes by musical heroines.

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In light of the tragic events in the U.S., it's hard to think about going out to hear jazz. But for what it's worth, here are some upcoming performances on the Vancouver jazz calendar.

Capilano College scored a major coup when it booked tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano to perform Sept. 19 at the college's Performing Arts Theatre. Lovano, one of the foremost saxophonists in jazz, will play with the Brad Turner Quartet. Another strong tenor man, Charles Lloyd, will perform Sept. 25 at the Van East Cultural Centre. He'll play with first-rate musicians, including guitarist John Abercrombie, drummer Billy Hart and bassist Larry Grenadier.

Meanwhile Silence…On Jazz, the Radio-Canada show hosted by André Rheaume, will present and record two shows: the Chris Gestrin Trio with Mike Allen Sept. 26 at the Cellar, and trombonist Slide Hampton with the Hugh Fraser Quintet Sept. 27 at Rossini's Gastown. Silence…On Jazz airs Saturdays from 9 p.m. to midnight on CBUF FM (97.7). These recorded performances will broadcast Sept. 29.

 

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Flautist Hariprasad Chaurasia and santoor player Shivkumar Sharma are two of the greatest Indian classical musicians. They're also gurus (teachers) for emerging instrumentalists. In fact Shivkumar taught his unique instrument to his son Rahul and Hariprasad trained his nephew Rakesh on flute. The highly regarded Rahul Sharma and Rakesh Chaurasia will perform, along with Shafaat Ahmed Khan on tabla, Sept. 22 (7:30 p.m.) at the Centennial Theatre. Call (604) 879-8319 for tickets.

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Neil Ritchie, the Vancouver producer for CBC Radio shows Hot Air and Jazzbeat, has taught various courses on jazz. He'll teach another one Oct. 6-Nov. 10. Intimate Portraits of Jazz will focus on greats ranging from Duke Ellington and Ella Fitzgerald to Miles Davis and Pat Metheny. For information about the course, offered through the Arts Downtown program of Simon Fraser University's School for the Contemporary Arts, go to www.sfu.ca/cstudies/artsdowntown or call (604) 291-5212.