All-Canadian Jazz Festival Press Releases
Dave Young Quintet • Kellylee Evans • Downchild Blues Band • TD Canada Trust Young Jazz Showcase
August 4, 2011
Dave Young Quintet presents ‘Aspects of Oscar’
“It’s always nice to come and play in your own neighbourhood,” says long-time Oscar Peterson bandmate Dave Young.
The Winnipeg-born bassist now spends much of his time on a farm near Baltimore, just a few minutes away from Port Hope, when he isn’t travelling.
Dave Young’s Quintet presents our headline concert, “Aspects of Oscar”, on Saturday evening, September 24, at 7:30 pm.
All-Canadian Jazz Festival fans will recognize Young from several other performances in Port Hope in recent years. In 2010 he led his own quartet for an afternoon set at the Festival, and he accompanied headliner Oliver Jones for concerts in 2009 and 2006.
Young’s work with Oscar Peterson began in 1975, when he embarked on an eight-month stint playing duo sets with the legendary pianist. The association continued with full-time work as well as occasional concerts for more than 30 years until Peterson’s death in 2007.
The “Aspects of Oscar” show was created to kick off a Koerner Hall series honouring Peterson in 2010. Young recruited pianist Robi Botos, drummer Terry Clarke, guitarist Reg Schwager, and trumpeter Kevin Turcotte for the gig. The same personnel recorded the CD “Aspects of Oscar”, and will be presenting the show in Port Hope.
“It wasn’t hard selecting the tunes,” Young says. “The hard part is rehearsing until it gets to the level where it sounds right.”
The work clearly paid off. Peterson’s daughter Celine wrote about the group, “Watching Dave play songs that either Dad wrote or performed often, but with Dave’s touch on them, was magical. I was so overcome with happiness seeing these men on stage, pouring all the passion, effort and love that they have into this music. When they perform, the sparkle in their eyes and the wide smiles are unmistakable. That is the way music should be played.”
Juno Jazz Vocalist of the Year Kellylee Evans returns to Port Hope
Kellylee Evans, 2011 Juno Jazz Vocalist of the Year, has a special place in her heart for Port Hope.
“The All-Canadian Jazz Festival was the first jazz festival to book me – it’s been a huge part of my career.”
That first gig in Port Hope was in 2006, when her first CD of originals had just been released to rave reviews both for her song-writing and her singing style. A second disc of originals in 2007 was equally well received, and her calendar filled up with concerts on both sides of the Atlantic.
One of those concerts resulted in an invitation to record a CD in France, but it came with a surprising request: “they wanted me to do a full album of standards”. For Kellylee, whose first CDs had been entirely originals, this meant finding “songs with words that made sense to me, that I feel connected to.” She chose songs associated with the great chanteuse Nina Simone.
“I was introduced to her music by my mother, and my boyfriend (now husband) used to listen to her a lot, so with this music I’m going back in my own history.”
The album, Nina, came out in 2010 and won the Juno in 2011. Kellylee says she’s been performing mostly songs from Nina in her concerts, but she’s thrilled when audiences ask for some of her originals as well.
Through all the excitement of the last five years, Kellylee has not forgotten Port Hope. “I love that place!” she says. “We often stop in Port Hope when we’re driving by on the 401. I was here for Estival, and I love Jim’s Pizza, and the British Shoppe, and buying shoes on Walton Street.”
Her set at the 10th Annual All-Canadian Jazz Festival is on Sunday afternoon, September 25. Day passes are just $20 for an afternoon that also includes sets by Sharon Riley & Faith Chorale, TD Canada Trust Young Jazz Showcase, Planet Earth, Brownman Electryc Trio, and The Galaxy Orchestra. featuring Ross Wooldridge.
Downchild Blues Band opens Festival with free concert
Pop quiz: “Flip, Flop and Fly” is a) a novel about trout fishing; b) a documentary film celebrating the 40-year career of a legendary blues band, who open this year’s All-Canadian Jazz Festival Port Hope.
The answer is b: Downchild Blues Band, performing the Free Friday Night concert in Port Hope’s Memorial Park on Sept 23, are the stars of the 2010 documentary which takes its title from their 1973 hit song. But members of the band are avid fishermen, who cast a line in waters across the country whenever their touring schedule allows.
Reached during an afternoon of fishing in Haliburton, tour manager Art Theberge talked about the band’s travels, which have taken them to Nanaimo, BC, Calgary, and to the Southside Shuffle Blues Festival in Port Credit this summer.
The current tour is in support of the band’s most recent CD “I Need a Hat” – but the group has almost 20 other albums of material to draw on in putting together their set lists.
The group was founded in 1969 by Donnie “Downchild” Walsh and his brother, the late Richard “Hock” Walsh. Their 1973 single “Flip, Flop and Fly” was an inspiration for Dan Ackroyd and John Belushi’s collaboration in the Blues Brothers and was included on their CD “Briefcase Full of Blues”.
Fast-forward a few decades, and “Flip, Flop and Fly” is also the name of the 2010 concert documentary, celebrating the band’s 40 years as the leading Canadian blues band.
For the Port Hope show, the band will include Donnie Walsh on guitar and harmonica, Chuck Jackson (vocals), Michael Fonfara (vocals, electric piano and Hammond B3 organ), Pat Carey (sax), Gary Kendall (bass), and Michael Fitzpatrick (drums).
The band and its members have have earned a long list of Maples Blues Awards. In 2010, Donnie Walsh was inducted into the Canadian Blues Museum Hall of Fame.
Downchild Blues Band takes the stage in Port Hope’s Memorial Park on Friday Sept 23 at 7 pm, in a free concert sponsored by Cameco.
Tickets for Saturday and Sunday events are available through the Festival website at www.allcanadianjazz.ca, or by phone at 905-885-1938.
TD Canada Trust Young Jazz Showcase: a very special reunion
The TD Canada Trust Young Jazz Showcase has been a crowd favourite from our very first year. All of these performers were still in high school when selected for the Showcase, all of them amazed and delighted audiences here, and alumni of the program have gone on to wow audiences across the continent.
For our 10th Annual Festival, we bring back eight of the most accomplished performers from our first nine years for Young Jazz Showcase sets on Saturday and Sunday, September 24 and 25.
Bassist Lauren Falls, from Port Alberni, BC, performed here in 2002, 2003 and 2004. Vocalist Emma Love, from Nanaimo, BC, performed here in 2004. Lauren and Emma are now carving out careers in jazz and musical theatre in New York City.
Trumpeter Simon Millerd (YJS 2004) is a CBC Galaxy Rising Star winner, and currently works in Montreal. Tenor saxophonist Eli Bennett (YJS 2005, 2006 & 2007), also a CBC Galaxy Rising Star winner, has performed at the Grammy Awards for two consecutive years.
Pianist Paul Morrison (YJS 2007) is a recipient of Humber College’s highest musical honour, the Oscar Peterson Award. Guitarist Sam Dickinson (YJS 2009) won Steve’s Music Guitarist of the Year Award as well as the Rex Hotel Upcoming Artist Award.
Drummer Kai Basanta (YJS 2009, 2010) currently studies Jazz Performance at McGill University. Drummer and vibraphonist Matt Chalmers (YJS 2009, 2010) now studies at Humber College; he recently received the Oscar Peterson Developing Artist Grant from the Ray Hnatyshyn Foundation.
The YJS Reunion is mentored by Denny Christianson, Director of Music at Humber College. They present sets at 4:15 pm Saturday, 7:30 pm Saturday (opening for the Dave Young Quintet), and at 12:30 pm Sunday.
Media Archives
press releases from previous Festivals