Time: cancelled owing to rain
Cover: none
Get a taste of some of this year’s Lethbridge Jazz Festival with thei jazz in thepark show featuring
The Polyjesters, Jack Semple band and Bandemonium.
Bandemonium
James Oldenburg http://www.myspace.com/jamesoldenburg
James Oldenburg is currently available for solo performances, and may also be heard with
SoJazz Trio, The Dave Renter Quartet, Hippodrome , Karen Romanchuk, the CWJO
(Contemporary Works Jazz Orchestra ), and in his own project Bandemonium.
Bandemonium is a band with no fixed configuration or members.
Although that sounds like a recipe for utter pandemonium, it actually makes a lot of sense
to pick band members based on the requirements of the project or function at hand.
While most bands seem to pigeon hole themselves into certain genres of music,
Bandemonium’s founding member James Oldenburg likes to keep the styles as varied as
needed for each performance.
Current performances have included Bruce MacKay - keys, Brad Brouwer - drums, Erica Hunt - vocals, Ryan Hestletine - sax
Marina - bass, Paul Holdon - bass, Les Kesler - bass, and Bob Gammon - drums.
James also operates Moberly Sound ( G.P.S. ) Studios in Lethbridge
Alberta.
Jack Semple http://www.jacksemple.com
Semple grew up on a farm north of Regina, Saskatchewan. He started his
musical career playing with various Regina-based bands, and later
relocated to Toronto in the late 1980s to become the lead guitarist of
The Lincolns, a popular funk and rhythm and blues band. He left the band
after two years and returned to Regina to pursue a solo career and to
spend more time with his family. After his move back to Regina, Semple
contributed to television and music scores and appeared in the title
role of Guitarman, a 1994 television movie. Semple also
commenced a solo recording career that has resulted in the release of
ten albums. In 1992, Semple came to national prominence through winning
the MuchMusic "Guitar Wars" contest. Semple has been twice nominated, in 1999 and 2000, for a Gemini Award for his soundtrack work on the television series Incredible Story Studio. Semple won a Juno award in 1991 for best roots recording. He has won two Western Canadian music awards
for "Qu'Appelle" and "In the Blue Light". Semple continues to perform
as a solo artist and with The Jack Semple Band, across Canada.
Polyjesters http://www.polyjesters.com
The
Polyjesters are Canadian brothers Jason and Sheldon Valleau who hail
from Alberta and honed their musical talents in Europe playing for
everyone from street folk to the Prince of Monaco. Since then they have
been everywhere, including the Epcot Centre and sharing the stage with
The Trailer Park Boys. It’s a bumpy, twisting road they travel rife with
adventure, great stories and excellent music
.
They play everything from Billie Holiday to The Beatles…from old
swing/jazz standards to alternative country. A breadth of musical
appreciation that produced their special home-grown blend called CHUNK. A
unique sound that is highly energetic, completely contagious,
unfailingly entertaining and appeals to a wide range of musical taste.
THE BAND
Jason plays upright bass, Sheldon the baritone ukulele and both sing.
The band morphs into several variations to include any combination of
fiddle, percussion and guitar.
These coveted positions are
filled by an elite group of talented musicians, including Drew Jurecka
(fiddle), Aaron Young (guitar) and Jon May (drums).
Brothers
Valleau are funny, articulate, smart, charming and above all – talented.
They are as much fun in an interview as they are on stage.
OFF STAGE
They do it all themselves: write, arrange, play, produce, press and
distribute their CD’s. They travel with a wireless money machine and go
from the stage to man their own merchandise table.
Jason and
Sheldon are first to arrive and last to leave. They are a sort of the
personification of the green room: fun, well known, fairly comfortable
and in need of a good steam cleaning. They come by this attitude
honestly having grown up in a fun, gregarious, musical family.
They are well respected amongst their Canadian peers and endeavour to
help their friends along the way. The guys know how to work the internet
and in doing so, have found various ways to showcase their own talents
and that of other independent musicians.
Jason runs a radio station out of his home in Carstairs, an internet station: http://www.kitchenradio.ca/
that features other indie artists they have met on the road, some of
whom are guest hosts. iTunes recently added Kitchen Radio as a station
preset under two categories: Eclectic and International.
Sheldon surfed his way to a distribution deal with Japan and the band is
heading there for a promo tour this spring. He also writes custom
jingles for radio morning shows and anyone else who wants one.
The Brothers Valleau own and operate a recording studio in Carstairs and
they host their annual Mountain View Music Festival, which brings
talent from all over to play Central Park …Carstairs, that is.
What don’t they do? The never leave a bad impression.
Galt Gardens is the centrepiece of downtown. All sorts of activities take place there including fire spinning, special events and music.
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