Jazz Festival


This year was different for me as far as performing. Last year, between club gigs and VCMI, I had five festival gigs, and this year was just one, but a nice one. The Wanda Nowicki Group got a booking from CJBS to play at the Capilano Suspension Bridge Garden Stage on the second night of the festival.

It turned out to be a really nice venue and a fine performance. I hadn't been to the suspension bridge for at least 20 years and it was a chintzy tourist trap. They've done a lot of work there and now a really nice tourist trap. And the stage area was quite lovely. I had concerns that there would be no audience, but we ended up having a full house. I can now appreciate why this has been a perrennial festival venue.

We were booked as a quintet, and very happy to have Tom Foster play drums again with us, as he did in the studio. We may have benefitted from a rehearsal, but it went very well indeed and was enthusiastically received. Prior to the gig Wanda asked if we should bring 20 cds to the gig and I laughed and said we have never sold that many. I got to eat my words - we sold out on the first break and could have easily sold 20.

Tom is such a great musician to play with, we felt really solid with the time. Mark could ease up on bass with a great drummer beside him and his playing was much more fluid. Chris really bore down and we could see him concentrating on his playing. He's usually like a magpie - shiny things distract him easily. Wanda did great job fronting the band and singing as well as ever. The tunes flowed nicely from one to another. I was happy with my playing, though felt I could have been more relaxed.

We had a sound guy that I worked with before at Cap College and Lloyd did a fine job for us, a real professional, which was nice for me. I'm the default sound guy at our regular gigs.

So it really was one of our best gigs, which is satisfying, We've been playing a lot and it shows now. Tom added a lot of punch - it's a shame that we really don't have very many places where we could afford to pay (or even have room for) him. It will be a treat a few times each year when we can do it. I particularly liked how we did Waters of March, a fabulous Jobim song, a tune that took us a very long time to work up. I play percussion for the majority of the piece, except for a short instrumental section in the middle, then a longer solo to finish the piece. I told Tom that I would play pandeiro for most of the piece and he immediately played a drum pattern that was closer in style to a pandeiro than a standard bossa sort of thing. It really gave the tune a much more Brazilian feel in my opinion, and so it really worked well.

That was our official gig in the festival and I think we did it justice. I'd be very pleased to get the gig there again in future years.

I made use of my artist's pass right away. On the opening night of the festival, I saw Andy Bey perform. He's a very accomplished singer with a unique style. I particularly dug his arrangements.

My one regret was that on the night of our gig, I had to miss most of the NOW Orchestra show at the Cultch. I caught the end of it and it went quite well, particularly a new piece of Coat's called the Westside Stomp. It has a very strong political message, very anti-Iraq war, and that naturally played well at the Cultch.

Sunday afternoon I went to Ironworks, where the VCMI performance was being held. Having been a part of the program last year, it was very interesting to be on the audience side of things this time. All in all it was a fairly interesting show, and I got to hang a little bit with Marilyn Crispell, Mats Gustaffson and Nicole Mitchell. I am working to arrange a VCMI night at the Cellar during the fall Jazz Projections series, and this show convinced me that this year's participants would do a fine job.

Then I was off to Gastown, actually Victory Square to see Ann Schaeffer's group perform. It was the only unpleasant experience I had during the festival, and nothing to do with the musicians. The sound man was totally useless and ruined the gig in my opinion. Ann is a fine singer and guitarist, but this meatball had her acoustic guitar louder than the rest of the band combined. Her vocals were often inaudible. Onstage, drummer Kelby McNayr later told me they couldn't hear Ann's guitar in the monitors, and that's what he and the bassist needed to hear in order to pick up on her intricate finger picking patterns. Instead of applause for the first few numbers, the audience kept yelling out to fix the sound. After a half a set with no sound relief in sight, I had to leave. I just couldn't stand it any more. It was very out of keeping for this jazz festival.

I won't bore you with my gig-by-gig experience at the festival. In the end, I reflected on my trends in gig choices. I saw a lot of singers, particularly liking Jeanette Lindstrom enough to go to two of her gigs. She has a great voice and is a fine composer. I really dug her trumpeter Staffan Svensson - like JP Carter, an anti-trumpeter. He did none of that macho brass thing and really said a lot more by playing a lot less. Ditto for Russ Johnson, who was part of Michael Bates' great show at the CBC studio. I didn't see any sax players who rocked my world, free or straight-up, though I was unable to see any of Mats Gustaffson's appearances (I heard mixed reviews on him, but I've seen him before and like him), and I didn't go to see Paquito d'Rivera, who was reportedly fantastic. But this wasn't a "sax festival" this year. I don't know if any one instrument was more prominent this time round.

I caught a lot at Granville Island, and the final weekend at David Lam Park and the Roundhouse. I am a big fan of the High School Intensive and Nicole Miller did a standout job with them. The whole concept of taking an all-star high school band and having them play a combination of classic repertoire and some new music like graphic scores is a winner with me. It's usually the first introduction of free improv techniques to these kids and it opens a whole world up for some of them. And I love to hear some of these kick-ass young players.

I also liked Ache Brasil's show to finish off Saturday night at David Lam Park. I must admit I have some bias since my daughter has recently started studying capoeira at their studio, but these guys put on one hell of a high-energy show. I am also partial to Brazilian music as evidenced by my attempts to play pandeiro.

By Sunday night, I was dragging my sorry ass around, and as much as I hated to miss Alita's festival closing set at the Roundhouse, I had a birthday party to attend - my own. Even then, as I drove someone home to the West End after the party, I couldn't resist popping in to O'Doull's. But by midnight, just as Mike Allen was taking the stage, I had to bail.

The other thing I did at this festival, which was a first for me, was to go out to some of the late-night jam sessions. Cem Zafir organized the Avant-Jam sessions at Rime, which got moved to the pub at the WISE Hall. The initial Sunday night one was cancelled altogether because the pub wasn't open late Sunday nights. Of course, that was the first one I tried to attend. Then on Tuesday night I went to the one hosted by Ron Samworth - the leader of the final gig of the night at Rime hosted the following jam session. Only three musicians showed up that night, Ron, drummer Roger Baird and myself. So we got to play as a trio for the whole session. It was a lot of fun.

I went again on Thursday and Friday. Thursday night there were a lot of enthusiastic but inexperienced improvisors, which always translates into nonstop noodling on the night. Not my favourite night. Friday was hosted by trumpeter Dennis Gonzales from Austin TX, and he is an old hand at this sort of thing. He kept it organized and set parameters for each jam. This was a lot of fun too and afterwards I went out to eat with Cem, Dennis and guitarist Greg Prickett. I really like what Dennis does and I hope I have a chance to play with him in future.

These jam nights cost me dearly in sleep, getting in at 3 or 4 in the morning, but they were worth it. I certainly had the glazed-over look of a hardcore festival goer by that last night. All in all, another fine jazz festival. Too bad the T-shirts sucked. What was with that artwork???

So on reflection, what appealed to me most this year were the performances that had some emotional impact on me. I did go to see a lot more singers than ususal, which was telling. Again, I am seeing the effects of my time at Banff. Sheer technique bores me. It's what a performer says with it that counts.