Press
Release
May 19, 2008
Danny
Marks and All-Star Blues Revue open 2008 Festival with free concert
Blues veteran
Danny Marks has signed on to open this year’s All-Canadian
Jazz Festival Port Hope, playing a free admission concert on Friday September
19.
Danny Marks’ career
stretches back to the late 60s, when he was hired as guitarist for the
chart-topping band Edward Bear. Over the past 40 years he has toured and
recorded with Stephen Stills, Ronnie Hawkins, Rita Coolidge, Bo Diddley,
and many other artists.
For the last
20 years Marks has been equally well known for his radio work, on CBC’s
Basic Black and as host of the TV show Stormy Monday and radio show Bluz.FM.
His wide-ranging
talent, and his many connections in the Canadian music industry, contribute
to the success of the Danny Marks All-Star Blues Revue, which will bring
a who’s who of Canadian blues talent to Port Hope’s
Memorial Park.
The Friday night party will begin at 6:30 with the first of three sets by
Marks’ crew, but the park will open at 5 pm with lots of food and drink
available before the music starts.
Festival music
director John McGuirk says the show “will cover the
whole range of blues – traditional blues, country blues, western blues,
rhythm & blues – from the beginning right up to rock ‘n roll.”
The Festival
is now in its seventh year, and details of the weekend programme are being
finalized. As in past years, the Festival will showcase a wide range of
Canadian jazz talent, presenting more than a dozen of the country’s
finest ensembles.
McGuirk says
the selection process was especially difficult this year, because more
than 150 groups sent in submissions. “There were people I’ve
idolized for years, who I’ve had to turn down, because we’ve
had so many great musicians eager to play here,” he says.
The free opening
concert on Friday night is one way of saying thanks for the home-town support
of a musical showcase. “We’re looking forward
to seeing lots of our neighbours come out to the Park for a crowd-pleasing
show,” says McGuirk.
Press
Release
September 10, 2007
A Musical Celebration in Memory of Doug Riley
Saturday, September 22, 8 pm; $40
It was to be
an intimate trio performance, with matchless keyboard artist Doug Riley
sharing the stage with vocalist Dione Taylor and saxophonist Mike Murley.
But within days of Riley's untimely death on August 27, an all-star cast
of Riley's friends and admirers had signed on for what promises to be a
rousing, worthy celebration of Doug’s myriad contributions to Canadian
music.
The stellar
line-up includes members of Taylor’s band - David Restivo on piano
and Hammond B-3 Organ, Ted Quinlan on guitar, Joel Haynes on drums, and
Jim Vivian on bass. They will be joined by Kevin Turcotte on trumpet, Perry
White on alto sax, and Gord Myers on trombone. The group was brought together
through the intensive work of Dione Taylor’s manager Sandy Mamane.
Riley’s
talents led him beyond jazz into blues, R&B and classical music, and
beyond performance into composing, arranging and producing. Our concert
will reflect this awesome versatility, featuring some of Riley’s
own contributions and some of the many genres he had mastered.
The concert
will highlight Riley’s contributions to Jazz, R&B, Soul and Blues.
This will be a musical celebration of the man known simply as Dr. Music.
Tickets for
this unique event, which are expected to sell out before the Festival weekend,
are available online at www.allcanadianjazz.ca, and by phone at 905-885-1938.
Press
Release
August 29, 2006
Music
students will play with Canada’s finest jazz veterans at All-Canadian
Jazz Festival Port Hope
Several
dozen talented musicians from local schools will have the opportunity to
play with the country’s finest musicians, during the fifth annual
All-Canadian Jazz Festival Port Hope.
The
Festival activities begin with a whole afternoon of student workshops on
Friday, September 22. On Friday evening, Trinity College School Jazz Ensemble
plays an opening set for the “Two New Voices” concert. Saturday
afternoon’s schedule includes a set by the award-winning Colborne
Public School band.
Students
from other provinces will also take the stage on Saturday. The TD Canada
Trust Young Jazz Showcase, made up this year of musicians from
Manitoba
and BC, will play two sets. These five musicians were chosen through
audition tapes sent in by students from across Canada. Also on the
bill is the Christopher
Willes Quintet, led by a University of Toronto student who credits
his past participation in the Young Jazz Showcase with kicking off his
jazz
career.
The
Friday afternoon workshops this year expand the educational component of
the Festival. Festival programmer John McGuirk says the workshops
took shape after discussions with Dan Walker, music teacher at East
Northumberland
Secondary School in Brighton. Walker met with other music teachers
in the Kawartha Pine Ridge District, and came back with a “wish list” for
the workshops.
The
workshops will be led by Calgary musician Arnold Faber, whose band Vibré plays
a concert on Sunday. Vibraphonist Faber is a twenty-five year veteran
of the Canadian jazz scene. In addition to composing and band-leading,
he
regularly conducts music clinics for Yamaha Canada.
Two
members of the Paul Read Orchestra, which closes out the Festival on Sunday
evening, are also participating in the workshops. Sax
player Quinsin
Nachoff, who currently teaches at the University of Toronto,
has been nominated for three National Jazz Awards. Trumpet/flugelhorn
player
Jim Lewis has
led several jazz big bands.
While
these workshops go on in Port Hope’s Memorial Park, Humber
College music teacher Mark Promane will be leading the Young
Jazz Showcase members
in their rehearsals, and the Trinity College School musicians
will be polishing their Friday night set.
The
Festival’s youngest official participants will have their time
in the limelight on Saturday afternoon. The Colborne Public School Band,
currently led by teacher Chad Morford, was only started three years ago,
but the students’ dedication paid off rapidly. In 2005,
the group of fifth- to eight-graders took a silver medal
at MusicFest Canada, and
in May
2006, the school took home a gold medal from the nationwide
competition in Ottawa.
Students
of all ages have their opportunity on Saturday morning with the “Blow
Your Own Horn” parade. In advance of the parade, trumpeter Kevin Clark,
originally from New Orleans but now living in Toronto, will lead a workshop
on this year’s official parade tune, “Just a Little While to
Stay Here.” (The music is downloadable from the Festival website.)
The workshop begins at 10:30, in St. John’s Church on Pine Street,
and the parade begins at 11:30 a.m at the corner of Pine Street and Walton
Street.
Press
Release
July 15, 2006
All-Canadian Jazz Festival Port Hope opens with 'Two New
Voices'
The All-Canadian
Jazz Festival Port Hope has a track record of signing rising stars just
as they burst into international prominence,
and this
year’s
festival-opening “Two New Voices” concert carries on that tradition.
Kellylee Evans and DK Ibomeka both released new CDs this spring,
and the rave reviews for the CDs have been followed by enthusiastic cheers
at major summer
jazz festivals.
Kellylee
Evans currently hails from Ottawa, and she made a big splash last month
at the Ottawa Jazz Festival. CBC’s Ontario Morning cited her performance
as one of the “Five Must See Concerts” for the summer. She appears
on CTV’s national program Good Morning Canada on July 29 and 30, and
only a month after her Port Hope concert, she is booked for the Kennedy Centre
in
Washington, DC.
That’s a heady schedule for someone who just “got serious” about
jazz in 2002. She says a near-death experience from an allergic reaction spurred
her to focus on what was truly important in her life – music. In addition
to singing, she read widely on creativity and songwriting, work that paid
off with her current album, which features 11 of her own songs.
As Joyce
Corbett wrote in The Live Music Report review of the CD’s launch
party, “what is so remarkable about Kellylee’s songs is their beautifully-written,
intelligent lyrics.” Corbett also praised “the smooth, strong
voice of which she seems to have complete control. Kellylee Evans moves effortlessly
from note to note, savouring the vibrations of those she chooses to hold
onto.”
Clearly,
the judges at the Thelonius Monk International Jazz Vocals Competition
in New York agreed – they awarded Evans second place after listening
to 160 talented competitors.
The second of the Two New Voices, DK Ibomeka, has had an equally
meteoric rise. The son of Nigerian immigrants to Canada, at six foot seven
Ibomeka is a towering
figure with enormous stage presence.
While studying
chemistry and psychology at McMaster University a few years ago, he discovered
Ella Fitzgerald, whose voice, he says, “called to
me in a way that no other voice has.”
He soon
signed up for the vocal studies program at Humber College, and took advantage
of as many open mike stages as he could find.
It didn’t take
long for his natural talent to be noticed.
Geoff Chapman of the Toronto Star wrote: “I first heard him on a typically
storm-battered night at [Toronto’s] Distillery Jazz Festival, but he was
more than equal to the challenge, swinging and scatting hard – and caressing
ballads. It’s no wonder he’s been compared to Joe Williams of
Count Basie band fame.”
“His voice is big, his range is big, and he is big ... but it’s not
his stature that you’ll remember after a performance, but the way he can
project a song,” Chapman says.
DK Ibomeka is featured in the Summer Serenades series at Dundas
Square in Toronto this month, as well as in a Nathan Phillips Square concert
in August. He also
performed at Trafalgar Square in London with Peter Appleyard on Canada Day.
The Two New Voices concert in Port Hope will be opened by
the Trinity College School Jazz Ensemble.
Tickets
for the concert, on Friday September 22 at 7:30 pm, are $30.
Press
Release
May 1, 2006
Montreal piano legend Oliver Jones headlines Port Hope jazz
festival
Montreal-based
pianist Oliver Jones will bring his trio to the Saturday night concert
tent at this year’s All-Canadian Jazz Festival Port Hope in
September.
This year’s
festival will also feature increased involvement by youth, from Northumberland
County and from across Canada, festival programmer John
McGuirk says.
Now in
its fifth season, the All-Canadian Jazz Festival has earned a solid reputation
among fans and musicians alike, McGuirk says. After he took
over as programmer this spring, he was pleased to hear from many veteran
musicans
who were eager to perform in the friendly, small-town setting of Port
Hope’s
Memorial Park.
Oliver
Jones is the first musician to be slotted into a weekend schedule that
is rapidly filling out, McGuirk says. The concert is scheduled for
Saturday evening, September 23.
Jones’ musical career now spans six decades. He grew up just a few
blocks from Oscar Peterson’s home, and he often sat on the porch of
the Peterson home listening to Oscar practise. Oscar Peterson’s
sister, Daisy Peterson Sweeney, was his first teacher, and his first
night-club appearance
happened when he was just nine years old.
In 1964
Jones and his wife moved to Puerto Rico, where he worked as musical director
for popular Jamaican singer Kenny Hamilton for
16
years. In
1980, he returned to Montreal to pursue jazz full time.
Jones has frequently been asked to open the Festival International
de Jazz de Montreal. In his most recent appearance there, he played
his
first public
duet with Oscar Peterson.
In 2006,
Jones was voted Keyboardist of the Year in the National Jazz Awards, and
his album with Ranee Lee was voted Jazz Album
of the Year.
Jones is
known for his lightning-fast technique, solid articulation, powerful lyricism
and rollicking rhythms. For the All-Canadian
Jazz Festival show,
he will be accompanied by bassist David Young (Bassist of the
Year, 2006 National Jazz Awards), and drummer Normand Villeneuve.
In his
first season as programmer for the Festival, Wesleyville resident John
McGuirk is drawing on decades of involvement
with Canada’s musical
communities. After attending Bowmanville HIgh School, McGuirk
completed a Master of Music degree at University of Toronto.
For the next 31 years, he
taught music in the public and independent schools at all
grade levels.
McGuirk
is married to Joan Nichols. They recently returned
to live in Wesleyville, where Joan’s family has roots
which stretch back over several generations.
Working
for the All-Canadian Jazz Festival is a wonderful
way to contribute to the local cultural scene while drawing
on
his lifelong
love of music,
McGuirk says. He promises more programming announcements
as soon as additional bookings are finalized.
Press
Release
March 7, 2006
The
annual All-Canadian Jazz Festival Port Hope is in launch mode for its fifth
season, states Board Chair, Lou Pamenter.
Programming
and promotion have already started for the September 22-24, 2006 weekend.
The "blues" will be more integrated into the program this
year with some outstanding Canadian performers. The weekend will continue
to have all concerts and events in Memorial Park as the park site proved
so successful last year.
Under
the management of an active Board of Directors and Festival General Manager,
Christa Bisanz, various committees have had planning meetings
for the 2006 Festival.
David
Acomba, founder of the Festival, says "I feel the Festival format
and organization are firmly established and it's time for me to pull back
and return fulltime to my profession as a producer/director in television
and film. There are now about 200 volunteers who have the necessary skills,
experience and enthusiasm to put on the event. I'm looking forward to continuing
on as an unpaid advisor to the organization."
Everyone
involved with the Festival acknowledges the generous support of community
donors (individuals and businesses) and of government
agencies that has helped forward another important cultural event
in Northumberland
County.
"We're
very excited about this, our fifth Festival - watch for program notes in
the next few weeks" says Lou Pamenter.
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