Volume 28 Issue 4 | February - March 2023
Volume 28 no.4, covering Feb, March and into early April '23! David Olds remembers composer John Beckwith; Andrew Timar reflects on the life and times of artistic polymath Michael Snow; Mezzo Emily Fons, in town for Figaro, on trouser roles, the life of a mezzo-soprano on the road and more; Colin Story on the Soft-Seat beat; tracks from 22 new recordings added to our Listening Room. All this and more.
Volume 28 no.4, covering Feb, March and into early April '23! David Olds remembers composer John Beckwith; Andrew Timar reflects on the life and times of artistic polymath Michael Snow; Mezzo Emily Fons, in town for Figaro, on trouser roles, the life of a mezzo-soprano on the road and more; Colin Story on the Soft-Seat beat; tracks from 22 new recordings added to our Listening Room. All this and more.
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At Jazz Bistro, impress your date with all of the<br />
conventional trappings of date-night romance<br />
(chandeliers! champagne! a red piano!) while<br />
being serenaded by vocalist Michael Dunston.<br />
Performing songs from the R&B/Motown songbook,<br />
Dunston is joined by the enviable rhythm<br />
section of Matt Horner on piano, Roberto<br />
Occhipinti on bass and Mark Kelso on drums<br />
(cost, including prix fixe menu: $80).<br />
At the venerable El Mocambo, vocalists Ori<br />
Dagan and John Alcorn take the stage with guitarist Nathan<br />
Hiltz, bassist Lauren Falls, saxophonist Jesse Ryan and special<br />
guest vocalist Joanne Morra. This particular evening, like that<br />
at Jazz Bistro, is a prix fixe event; $120 gets you the music,<br />
wine from Niagara on the Lake’s Two Sisters Vineyards, dinner<br />
from Mark McEwan and the knowledge that you – just like<br />
Mick Jagger – have gotten romantic at the El Mocambo.<br />
Michael Dunston<br />
Brian Dickinson<br />
Ori Dagan and<br />
John Alcorn<br />
DAN BROWN<br />
TRANZAC: the most musical event of the night may well<br />
be Thom Gill’s Eat The Wind album release, taking place at<br />
the Tranzac. Though he is the sole performer credited on the<br />
album, Gill – singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and firstcall<br />
collaborator for some of North America’s most interesting<br />
and talented musicians – has assembled an incredible<br />
band to bring the project to life, with Todd Pentney, Edwin<br />
de Goeij, Phil Melanson, Bram Gielen, Robin Dann, Luka<br />
Kuplowksy, and Alex Samaras, as well as an opening set by the<br />
Ryan Driver Trio. The show starts at 8pm, with limited-edition<br />
tapes for sale (at $10, it is also surely Valentine’s Day’s most<br />
accessible outing).<br />
Kenny “Blues<br />
Boss” Wayne<br />
The Rex: Romance aside, the coming weeks still have a lot to<br />
offer. Notably, a new group takes the stage in <strong>February</strong>: BaruBaru,<br />
saxophonist Allison Au’s latest venture, with her longtime collaborator<br />
and partner Todd Pentney on synths, Chris Pruden (also<br />
on synths), and Ian Wright on drums. With Au’s athletic, expressive<br />
saxophone playing, two times the keyboards, and Wright’s propulsive,<br />
rhythmically sophisticated drumming, check out the group’s exciting,<br />
exploratory, fusion-tinged jazz every Friday at 5:30pm in <strong>February</strong>.<br />
Also at The Rex: “The Rhythm Method,” a project conceived by pianist<br />
Brian Dickinson in 2015. With saxophonists Kelly Jefferson and Luis<br />
Deniz, Neil Swainson on bass and Ted Warren on drums, expect topnotch<br />
straightahead modern jazz played with lusty abandon.<br />
At Lula Lounge on <strong>February</strong> 23: The Lula Reggae & Blues Revue<br />
presented by Lula Music and Arts Centre and the Toronto Blues<br />
Society. Kenny “Blues Boss” Wayne plays on a bill with Jay Douglas<br />
and Quincy Bullen during an evening of classic blues and reggae celebrating<br />
Black History Month, the evening is sure to be memorable.<br />
Born in Spokane, Washington in 1944, before eventually moving to<br />
California, where he was based in the 1960s and 70s, Wayne moved<br />
to Vancouver in the 1980s, and has been a stalwart of the Canadian<br />
music scene ever since. (In 2006, Wayne won a Juno Award for Blues<br />
Album of the Year.)<br />
Like Wayne, Douglas has also enjoyed a storied career; equally<br />
comfortable with reggae, blues, soul and funk, he has been the<br />
recipient of three Juno nominations, has had major performances<br />
with international reggae stars such as Beres Hammond, Ziggy Marley<br />
and Ernest Ranglin and released many albums as both performer and<br />
producer. The youngest on the bill, Quincy Bullen is a name that will<br />
be familiar to many in Toronto – a multi-instrumentalist, singer and<br />
producer, Bullen performs regularly in Canada and abroad, and is at<br />
home in a wide range of styles, playing funk, rock, R&B, and soul with<br />
equal aplomb.<br />
LONG & McQUADE<br />
FREE CLINICS<br />
DURING MARCH<br />
MARCH 1-31<br />
Quincy Bullen<br />
A series of free career-enhancing clinics<br />
specifically tailored to the needs of musicians,<br />
songwriters, producers and home studio enthusiasts.<br />
Visit www.long-mcquade.com/LearningSeries<strong>2023</strong><br />
for all the information!<br />
Colin Story is a jazz guitarist, writer and teacher based in Toronto. He<br />
can be reached at www.colinstory.com, on Instagram and on Twitter.<br />
thewholenote.com <strong>February</strong> & <strong>March</strong>, <strong>2023</strong> | 31
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