jazz

Marvest is an offshoot of the CityFolk festival that runs between September 16th and 20th, at the Aberdeen Pavilion, and along Bank Street. These mostly free shows feature local bands, and we’ll be profiling some of those bands.  CityFolk asked several local cultural producers, including Apt613, to curate shows at Marvest.   Matt Dorgan’s love for the saxophone […]

As Canada Day approaches in the nation’s capital, I can’t help feeling a growing sense of pride for the funny quirks this country has to offer. The performance of Groenland, a band from Montreal, at Jazzfest Saturday night, had a uniquely Canadian flavour to it. Groenland, a self-described indie pop orchestra, performs all their songs […]

This firecracker livened up the British jazz scene upon his arrival in 2003 at the tender age of 24. I will never forget the first time I saw Jamie Cullum perform. It was over a decade ago when I was living in Toronto and a friend of mine who has an ear for cool, up-and-coming musicians, […]

Ottawa’s young singer/songwriter sensation Danielle Allard has spent her life immersed in music since the age of 3. She began performing publicly at 9, started receiving formal training at 11, and was writing her own songs by age 14. Her studies at Canterbury High School’s Arts Program would further develop her skills in voice and guitar. […]

Chris Botti and his line-up of world-class musicians and special guests completely seduced the crowd on Sunday night’s Main Stage performance in the gorgeous setting of Confederation Park. Botti displayed his mastery of utilizing the trumpet as a tool to add unique shapes to multiple genres of music. His amazing skills of playing and adaptation […]

It didn’t take long for a mass of people to gather around the Rideau Centre stage to see Ottawa’s long-time performer, Victor Nesrallah and his band on Saturday afternoon. He was joined by an accomplished trio of Craig Wallace (double bass), Mike Bellavy (drums), and Keith Snider (violin), where they played an hour long set […]

Ottawa diva and songwriter Rebecca Noelle considers herself lucky to have found out at a young age what direction her life would take. She established an early relationship with all things jazz, a genre she embraced growing up in a family immersed in its music. “I grew up listening to Ella Fitzgerald. My grandfather was […]

Longtime Ottawa musician Victor Nesrallah has spent his life forging a well-rounded career through his never-ending thirst for knowledge in nearly all aspects of music. He shared with me how his 35-year musical journey has been shaped by learning, experience, and answered calls of opportunity. “Earlier in the 70’s, I used to back up my brother, […]

Despite the abundance of genres, the various styles and wide-ranging traditions, jazz essentially is about improvisation, collaboration, and the ongoing quest for exploration. It’s about creating musical moments bound in the precarious nature of time. Or, to say it another way, it’s about sonically interpreting the precariousness of time by collaborating in the construction of […]

Scott Helman is on the cusp, armed with a left-of-centre poppy sonic identity and just enough songs to leave his hometown, brimming with an expansive energy of what’s yet to come. The Toronto native caught the attention of labels exces at Warner Music Canada while still a teenager and since releasing his debut EP, Augusta […]

This Saturday night the Byward Market will be alive with music and you’re all invited to join the street party. The strolling music and dance-fuelled celebration, presented as part of the Ottawa Chamberfest will be lead by the Lemon Bucket Orkestra, a 16-strong, Toronto-based “Balkan-klezmer-gypsy-party-punk-superband.” Marc Marczyk (violinist and vocalist wih LBO) admits that this […]

After fifteen years of music, Kathleen Edwards has decided she’s done, at least for now. Tonight’s Jazz Festival performance is the artist’s final planned show. Whether or not this means she’s quitting music permanently is not clear, but Edwards is clear that she is stepping back from music for a sizeable portion of time. Since […]

Jazz Festivals don’t just fund themselves! This week the Ottawa Jazz Festival is holding their annual fundraiser to help them pull together the resources they need to put on a great show next summer. This year’s event features Jill Barber, an Ottawa Jazz Festival veteran and lover of the capital. I spoke with Ms. Barber for a story before […]