Jazz Fest: International Edmonton Jazz Festival !!
Next year: I will plan better to attend consistently !!
Write on as many events as I can. For those who care (I hope you do) I'm grieved that I wasn't able to write on every performance.
It's been great and nicely organized and well managed, congrats to all involved in producing this fine and important Edmonton Festival event.
I did manage to hear two groups: The Writer's Guild which I heard on Friday at noon and Mallory Chipman and band Friday evening at OSPAC.
The Writer's Guild: is a band that for the most part plays music that each of the members write. The musicians in the band have all improved over the time I've known them (10 years or more) and each has become a master musician in the process. It's impressive !! it feels and sounds like a committed band of musical brothers. I heard a track on CKUA and was impressed by the energy and wit in there reworking of the melody and changes to Recordame by Joe Henderson—it was brilliant. From what I heard on Friday, and today, this band is going to leave an impression and a legacy of great value. They all have a pretty good existing public profiles before coming together in this group so congratulations to Tyson Kerr (keys), Dan Davis ([tenor] sax), Marty Majorowicz (trombone), Efa Etorma (drums) and Josh McHan (bass). They are all hard working committed players and this determination and creativity is proof of their talent and their conviction in their performances.
Mallory Chipman: composes and arranges her complex charts which truly engages her audience's attention (and heart). Her performance in the Emerging Artist Showcase show at the OSPAC was packed and she delivered the 'goods' to an appreciative audience. This person can SING... and improvise with a scatting that has all kinds of elements to it: note for note dynamics, intervallic acuity, jazz language, vocal textures, and plain old virtuosic and engaging creativity and convictive creative spirit. She was charming and erudite in her patter and we all paid attention as her depth came through with that. Did I mention her fantastic voice? Her band (all young men) were up to the task and took their parts seriously and played with a good deal of natural musical savvy. We heard Brett Hansen on guitar (jazz guitar !!), Matt Graham (trumpet and Flugel), Leonard Patterson drums, and Andreas Weghner on bass. They all played well and swung and soloed with a maturity which belied their ages. Well done all !!
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