Jazz music has the reputation of being wild, crazy and spontaneous, but the Lethbridge Jazz Society wants to show it is also accessible as well.
So the Lethbridge Jazz Society is getting jazzed for the first official annual Jazz Festival, June 16-19 under the banner of the newly formed society.
Last year was such a success that the organizers decided to make this year’s bigger and better, expanding the number of venues emphasizing local talent and including the jazz programs in the local schools.
In addition to primary venues like the Southern Alberta Art Gallery, which hosts the The Lethbridge Big Band, 5 Decades of Swing program to kick off the event, June 16 at 8 p.m., as well as the Slice, Tongue N Groove, Sterndale bennett Theatre, there will also be a supper time jazz program throughout the week at Ric’s Grill, the Mocha Cabana, Plum and Streatside.
“We’ve expanded it. We’ve tried to keep it so there are more opportunities for musicians to play,” said Lethbridge Jazz Society president Don Robb.
“It’s all pretty mainstream. There isn’t going to be a lot of freestyle. There will be a lot of music people will recognize. It’s very accessible,” Robb continued. He is pleased Lethbridge is able to do their own jazz festival as they were associated with the Medicine Hat Jazz festival last year. He is happy to continue working in conjunction with them this year.
He said the mandate of the society is to support local jazz musicians as well as foster up and coming talent, so the organizers asked the jazz programs from local schools to play in Galt Gardens. The Conservatory and University of Lethbridge will be performing a special performance called Music In the Making at 1:15 p.m., June 17, which will be followed by Young Lions, featuring local middle and high school jazz ensembles.
“We wanted to do something for everyone. So this is an opportunity for school groups to come and get some experience playing and for their parents and family to come out and hear them play,” he continued.
Robb himself will be playing in the Lethbridge Big Band performance, June 16 as well as in the popular tribute to Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin, June 18 at the Tongue n Groove featuring Anna Vanderheide and Juran Greene.
The Society was so impressed by the sold out show of the tribute sold out at the Tongue N Groove back in April, that they decided to bring it back for the festival.
He will also be performing with the Contemporary Jazz Works Orchestra with special guest, Al Jacobson, who is one of several guests making their only public appearance of the year, here in Lethbridge.
Trombonist/ conductor/ vocalist Al Jacobson is looking forward to introducing Lethbridge jazz aficionados to the music of European jazz composers they might not hear otherwise.
He will be conducting the Contemporary Works Jazz Orchestra as well as playing trombone and scatting, June 17 at The Tongue N Groove.
“You don’t go away from a European jazz concert tapping your toes or snapping your fingers, but it will be interesting,” said Jacobson calling from his home just outside of Frankfurt, Germany.
““European Jazz has some swing grooves, but there a lot of textures. They are influenced a lot by composers like Béla Bartók and Stravinsky. They are influenced by a lot of European composers,” he said.
“It is very different but it is still very accessible,” he continued.
The Edmonton born and raised musician has been all over the world with his trombone, but he is looking forward to coming back to Alberta and visiting his sister and some of his fellow musicians he grew up with. He likes to return to teach workshops and hold clinics.
His Lethbridge Jazz Festival performance will be his only Canadian appearance until much later on as he will also be setting up workshops, clinics and work for late 2011, early 2012.
He will not only be performing European composers but also well known popular compositions.
“It’s going to be with the big band so anybody who goes will be pleasantly surprised,” he said.
Jacobson won’t be touring as he has instructional duties all over Germany, but he will be having quite a few appointments to set up future workshops and projects in Canada.
Jacobson is busy. In addition to providing plenty of workshops and seminars as well as private teaching, he also teaches Jazz Trombone, Vocals and Ensembles at the Hochschule fur Musik Rheinland-Pfalz in Mainz, outside of Frankfurt plus teaches jazz trombone and vocals, improvisations, ensembles and big band at the Frankfurt Musik Hochschule (University of Performing Arts.) He is also been ion the faculty of the Peter-Cornelius Conservatory in Mainz and is a visiting professor at the Mannheim University of Performing Arts.
He is looking forward to not only conducting the band while playing trombone, but also doing a little scatting, singing on stage.
In addition to performing with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, he has also played with another special guest— Tommy Banks, who will be playing a solo piano concert at the Sterndale Bennett Theatre, June 18.
Banks, who has a storied career which has included many highlights including playing for the Pope and the Queen as well as composing music for Expo 86, as well at the Calgary Olympics in ’88, is looking forward to playing the Lethbridge jazz Festival. Being busy in the Senate, he doesn’t play live as often as he’d like, so his solo piano show at the Sterndale Bennett Theatre, June 18, will be a special treat for everybody.
“I’ll be playing a wide variety of good music,” Banks promised over the phone from Ottawa. He said it has been at least 10 years since he has played Lethbridge.
“I love that someone started a jazz festival. Summer festivals are wonderful as long as they don’t take away from what is happening the rest of the year,” he said.
“It will be good music encompassing jazz classics and standard jazz repertoire,” said Banks, who started playing professionally back in 1950. He has received a Juno Award, a Gemini Award, Several ARIA Awards, the Grande Prix du Disques-Canada and is a member of the Edmonton Cultural Hall of Fame.
He is looking forward to playing the Festival.
“Well, I was asked,” he said.
“I’m not touring around much because Parliament is in session, I’m not playing very much music now, ” he said, joking he hopes people won’t be able to tell.
“When I retire from the Senate in about a year, I’ll start playing more. It’s what I’ve done for the past 50 years, so I’m looking forward to getting back at it
The festival winds up with guitarist Alex Goodman, who will be bringing his band to the Slice, for a final wind up show, at 2 p.m., June 19.
Goodman, who was here with the Brent Mah Quartet a few weeks ago, will be bringing his own band this time including saxophonist Nick Morgan, pianist D’Arcy Myronuk, bassist Dan Fortin and drummer Maxwell Roach who will accompany him on guitar.
“We’ll be playing music from the new CD “Bridges,” said the Toronto born composer who described his music as a “hybrid of jazz and classical music.”
He is looking forward to being part of the Lethbridge jazz society’s first jazz festival.
“Absolutely. We’re really looking forward to playing it. It’s an exciting year for Lethbridge. It’s the first year they’ve controlled their own festival. So it’s a big pleasure to come back and play it. It’s going to be a lot of fun,” he said.
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