There is nothing better than coming home for renown saxophonist Vern Dorge, who returns to play the Lethbridge Jazz Festival this week. He last played in Lethbridge two years ago during the first Lethbridge Jazz festival, which was an extension of the Medicine Hat Jazz Festival.
The poplar saxophonist has his own show, Saturday, June 16 at the Sterndale Bennett Theatre, backed by the Alberta All-Star Quartet, Saturday, June 16 and will be stepping in with the Contemporary Works Jazz Orchestra who will be playing with trumpeter Marvin Stamm.
“They were short a saxophonist, so I was happy to step in. I’ve never played with Marvin, but I saw him playing in a jazz club in 1976. So It will be exciting to perform next to him,” Dorge said.
He is looking forward to his two performances, especially his solo show.
“It’s with the Alberta All Stars who are Tyler Hornby on drums, Rubim de Toledo on bass and Michelle Gregoire on piano, plus guest vocalist Anna Vanderheide on vocals.
“We’ll get to play a mixture of styles and some original tunes. There will be some Brazilian jazz, a little bit of jazz and some funk. Because you‘ve got to have the funk,” he enthused.
He is pleased to see the Lethbridge Jazz Festival beginning to grow after two years. He last played here two years ago when the Medicine Hat Jazz Festival added a Lethbridge component.
Since then he has been busy with a variety of projects including playing in the pit band for a couple of long running musicals including the Toronto production of Elton John’s 10 Tony Award winning musical Billy Elliott and in a touring production of the West Side Story.
He has also been busy with the Dave Young-Terry Promane Octet, and recorded a CD with them.
“ We spent two days in the studio and recorded a lot of songs for it,” he said.
“It’s a really fun jazz group,” he said.
Dorge has had a storied career since leaving Lethbridge in 1974 for the bright lights of Toronto and school at Humber College. He fully immersed himself in the scene playing with a variety of big names like Blood, Sweat and Tears, Anne Murray, Gordon Lightfoot as well as sharing stages with Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Ella Fitzgerald, Aaron Neville and Herbie Hancock , just to name a few.
“Toronto was a really fertile new scene, I couldn’t get enough of it. I was out at the clubs at least two nights a week going to jazz clubs and concerts. It was a great time to be there, right at the peak,” said Dorge.
He noted while the Toronto scene was a real eye-opener, Lethbridge has always had a fertile scene of its own.
“Lethbridge was pretty culturally isolated,” he said.
As a teenager, he played with Dale Ketcheson and Herb Hicks in a group called the Jazz Scene, who played a lot in the city.
“People always really seemed to enjoy live music,” he recalled.
“ It was really vibrant back then. We used to play a restaurant called the Town Chef and an old hotel called the Garden that was burnt in a fire. We used to play in the tavern there,” he reminisced.
He also played in a rock band called Kathy and the Kool-Aid Kids, which played music from the Doobie Brothers, and an old R and B band called Cold Blood.
“They were the predecessor to the Tower of Power. Some of them went on to play with them,” he said adding he started out playing in his dad’s country and western ban called the Westerners, who played a lot of seniors dances.
“We’d play a lot of old time music dances. So we’d play a lot of polkas. We’d see people coming in wheelchairs and on crutches and when we’d play it would transport them to another world. Like they were born to dance.”
He noted it is tough for musicians right now.
“When I moved to Toronto, there was a lot of studios and commercials and TV work, now that’s all gone,” he said a adding musicians must be able to multi-task.
“A lot have focused on music education.”
He started his own business 25 years ago, servicing and repairing saxophones.
He learned from Fred Leister of now closed Lethbridge music store Leisters Music.
“ I know a lot of people who consider themselves to be real artists,” he said, adding to them the idea of making music just to make money, doesn’t sit well with them.
“So they have to have regular jobs and after that they just do it for the music,” he said. Whenever people ask him about a career in the arts, he tells them to do it because they love it.
“Don’t look at Stats Canada and see how bad it is, because it is pretty dire,” he said.
“ They just cut $100 million from CBC, they should have added that much.”
“It is important for people to come out and support things like this, because they can really grow. It’s a great addition to the community,” he said. He noted Southern Ontario Jazz Festivals in communities like Mississauga have really taken off and have become a popular tourist attraction. He is pleased to see so much corporate sponsorship for Lethbridge’s festival.
“They will find it really does pay dividends,” said.
“It is really exciting. First of all, I get to come and reconnect with old friends and get to know new friends. And I find that generates real positive energy which comes through in the music,” he said.
