Hilary Grist’s whimsical Imaginings mix pop, jazz, cabaret and more
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September 4th, 8pm, at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre
Tickets $15 in advance
$20 at the door
Advance tickets at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre box office
Call 604-251-1363
Visit tickets.thecultch.com
Or purchase in person at 1895 Venables Street
Hilary Grist might have gone to medical school had it not been for Debbie Gibson, and she might’ve ended up as just another jazz noodler had it not been for a chance encounter with Norah Jones.
Now she makes music that combines Jones’ jazzy sophistication with the naïve pop whimsy of Regina Spektor, while dabbling in a variety of other styles like country, folk, cabaret, and orchestral.
On her third album, Imaginings, her “first child” with new husband Mike Southworth, Grist offers up her first fully-produced, fully-realized collection of work—one that sees her worldly sound enhanced by some elements that are distinctly Vancouver: Tim Tweedale’s unmistakable steel guitar and the Too Big To Care Marching Band’s unconventional brass embellishments, to name a couple.
Orchid Ensemble to perform Silk Road inspired repertoire in Ontario
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The Orchid Ensemble
July 26th, 10:30pm, The Ottawa Chamber Music Festival,
St. Brigid’s Centre for the Arts, the Kildare Room
July 27th, 3pm, Young People’s Concert,
Dominion Chalmers United Church
July 29th, 7pm, Harbourfront, The Music Garden
July 30-August 1 – Mill Race Festival of Traditional Folk Music, Cambridge
One of Vancouver’s pioneering Chinese-Western musical ensembles will appear in Toronto, Ottawa, and Cambridge next month, performing music that explores China’s interaction with the nations along the Silk Road.
The Orchid Ensemble—arguably Canada’s only Chinese-Western chamber music ensemble—plays the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival July 26th and 27th and follows it up with dates at Harbourfront on July 29th and at the Mill Race Festival July 30-August 1.
Bonnie Ste-Croix begins cross-Canada recording project with top Canadian talent
Blog at www.bonniestecroix.wordpress.com
“a voice possessing the anguish of Annie Lennox, the passion of Chrissie Hynde, and the tender innocence of Janis Ian.” The Georgia Straight
Most musicians record an album and then hit the road. But award-winning Canadian roots-pop artist Bonnie Ste-Croix (pr: “Saint-Cwah) has decided to make going on the road part of her recording process. Starting tomorrow, June 22nd, in Vancouver, Ste-Croix will travel across Canada to Halifax, hitting the studio with some of the finest indie roots artists in each region of the country—including B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame member Shari Ulrich; Saskatchewan-born WCMA-winner Joel Fafard; and East Coast CFMA-winner Catherine MacLellan. The album is a celebration of Ste-Croix’s pan-Canadian life journey and a way of deriving something positive from a not-so-positive life transition: the need to move to the East Coast to be closer to her ailing mother.
Juno nominees Annie Lou hit the summer festivals
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July 1 – Canada Day – Parliament Hill – Ottawa
July 6 – Music in the Park – Riverside Park – Kamloops
July 7 – Music in the Park Envision Twilight Concert Series - Mission
July 9-11 – Vancouver Island MusicFest – Comox
July 12 – House Concert, Cowichan Station
July 13 – Butchart Gardens, Victoria – BC
July 16, 7 pm – Outdoor Beach Stage Harrison Festival of the Arts
July 17, 1 pm – Outdoor Beach Stage Harrison Festival of the Arts
July 17-18 – Vancouver Folk Music Festival
Sun July 18 Vancouver Folk Music Festival
July 20-23 – Kim and Anne Louise teaching at Calgary Folkfest Boot Camp
July 23-25 Calgary Folk Music Festival
Yukon-based old-time string-band Annie Lou is making its debut on the Canadian festival circuit this summer after racking up both a Juno nomination and a Canadian Folk Music Award nomination for its self-titled debut album.
Founded by Juno-nominated acoustic artist Kim Barlow and fellow northern roots artist Anne Louise Genest (pr. Jha-nay), the group grew out of the pair’s mutual love of old-time music—and from the lonesomeness Anne Louise had been feeling after many months of touring all by herself.
Now a four-piece that also includes Alaska export Lindy Jones (bass) and Vancouver native Meredith Bates (fiddle), the group has created arguably the most raw and authentic Appalachian sound ever to come out of …uh…the north.
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ECMA-Winners Gypsophilia Bring Their Indie-influenced Gypsy Jazz Back on the Road
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July 3rd – The Ottawa Jazz Festival night stage
10pm, Confederation Park
July 5th – The Montreal Jazz Festival
7pm and 9pm
July 9th – Hugh’s Room, Toronto
8:30pm. Tickets $14 advance $16 at door.
July 10-11th – SunFest, London
ECMA-winning gypsy jazz ensemble Gypsophilia is making a return trip to the jazz festivals next month after winning over audiences last summer with its indie-inspired take on vintage jazz.
Already, the band can be seen on the cover of Where magazine’s Ottawa “Best of the Fests” edition.
The ensemble—which spawned a mini retro movement in Halifax that saw fans showing up for concerts dressed in 20s and 30s garb—launched its sophomore album, Sa-ba-da-OW! (pronounced Sa-ba-duh-OW!), with a May 2009 appearance on CBC’s DNTO. The album earned a glowing review on Boing Boing, reached #1 on the national jazz radio charts, and earned an East Coast Music Award for Jazz Recording of the Year. It also earned a Music Nova Scotia Award.
Karyn Ellis Builds on Positive Press with dates at NXNE and the Rivoli
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June 17 – Cameron House (NXNE)
June 20 – The Garrison (NXNE)
June 30 – The Rivoli (The Box Salon)
Quirky roots-pop chanteuse Karyn Ellis plays two showcases at NXNE this month, followed by an end-of-June appearance at the Rivoli’s Box Salon.
The shows build on a month-long series of album launch dates for Ellis’ ambitious third album, Even Though the Sky Was Falling, during which the new recording received substantial positive press.
The Globe and Mail named the album’s lead-off number, “Be My Girl,” an Essential Track; Canwest gave the record a 4-star review; and La Presse told readers not to be fooled by Ellis’ naïve-sounding vocals, saying she is a solid and insightful writer. Back in January, Graham Kennedy of ChartAttack named Even Though the Sky Was Falling one of his Top Ten Albums of 2009. Last year, the song “Motorcycle Ride” from the then-still-to-be-released album saw Ellis nominated for the Colleen Peterson Songwriting Award.
Shari Ulrich Sings About Finding her Son on Find Our Way
Find Our Way album launch concert
Including special guests daughter Julia Graff, partner Bill Runge,
and, appearing for the first time, son Mike Magee
Also joining Shari will be Bruce Miller, Jane Mortifee and Tom Taylor
Friday, May 7th, 8pm, at St. James Hall
(3214 West 10th Avenue)
Tickets $23 ($20 Rogue Folk members)
Call 604.736-3022
Or visit www.roguefolk.bc.ca
In August of 2007, Juno-winning recording artist Shari Ulrich spontaneously signed up for one of those web sites that helps reunite adopted children with their birth parents. Within 48 hours, she was talking on the phone with the son she had handed over at the unwed mother’s home 39 years earlier. She had been barely 16 at the time. The joyful reunion is chronicled on “By the Grace of Goodbye,” one of the highlights of Ulrich’s new CD, Find Our Way—her seventh solo album and her first ever fully self-produced project. Best of all, the May 7th CD release concert at the Rogue Folk Club will see the whole family perform together for the first time—including son Mike Magee, who, it turns out, plays percussion.
CaneFire launches Pandemonium in Toronto
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May 19th, 8pm, at Glenn Gould Studio
Tickets $20
Available at the Roy Thomson Hall box office
Phone: 416-872-4255
Music fans in Trinidad and Tobago know a good Caribbean Latin jazz band when they hear one, and Toronto supergroup CaneFire has earned their enthusiastic embrace. Having been featured three times at the Trinidad and Tobago Steelpan and Jazz Festival and having earned high praise from the Trinidad and Tobago Express—an authority on the music if ever there was one—CaneFire is now releasing a sophomore album, Pandemonium, featuring no less than the legendary “Bob Marley of soca,” David Rudder, and the equally legendary Brazilian jazz innovator Hermeto Pascoal (pr: Ermeto Pas-QUAL).
Karyn Ellis launches Even Though the Sky Was Falling
Even Though the Sky Was Falling, a multitude of musical friends helped Karyn Ellis make a masterpiece
April 20 – The Local, Toronto
May 5 – Maxwell’s, Waterloo
May 6 – Phog Lounge, Windsor
May 7 – Foster’s Inn, Stratford
May 8 – London Music Club
May 9 – The Cornerstone, Guelph
May 12 – The Spill, Peterborough
May 13 – The Mansion, Kingston
May 14 – Centre St-Ambroise, Montreal
May 15 – Kaffe, Wakefield
May 16 – Café Ole, Pembroke
May 21 – Not My Dog, Toronto
“as if writing a brilliant song were child’s play.” – altcountryforum.nl
Like many musicians who have achieved critical success only to find themselves just as broke and no farther ahead than they were when they started, Karyn Ellis was getting ready to throw in the towel on the music business and get a real job. Just then, an envelope showed up from the Canada Council–a cheque for a hard-to-get composition grant she had forgotten she’d even applied for.
So began a series of events that not only kept Ellis making music, but resulted in her going all out—recording a breakthrough album that pairs her quirky songwriting and sensual, naïve vocals with a cornucopia of alluring production elements: strings, horns, choirs and glockenspiels, just to name a few. Suddenly, instead of feeling isolated in the business, the 2007 winner of Humber College’s Most Original New Voice award found herself surrounded by exceptional musical friends: Evalyn Parry, John Millard, Amy Lang (Hidden Cameras) and Brian Kobayakawa (Creaking Tree) just to name a few. And instead of scrambling to pay for recording costs, Ellis had money from both the Council and FACTOR, allowing her to fund the 16-member musical extravaganza. She even had her coffers topped up with donations from fans. The resulting album, Even Though the Sky Was Falling, is a celebration of the beauty and redemption to be found in chaotic times like the one Ellis had been going through.
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Cori Brewster takes her Buffalo Street Banff history project back on the road
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May 2 – The Stop, Black Diamond
May 3 – The Ironwood, Calgary
May 6 – Communitea, Canmore
May 8 – Twin Butte General Store, Twin Butte
May 13 – Ye Olde Jar Bar, Medicine Hat
May 14 – House Concert, Regina
May 17 – House Concert, Winnipeg
May 18 – House Concert, Dryden
May 21 – Smoothwater of Temagami, ON
Further Ontario dates TBA
It’s been almost exactly one year since Cori Brewster released Buffalo Street, her loving tribute to the history of Banff, and next month, she celebrates the anniversary with a reprise tour of the province. She will also debut the project in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario.