beaches jazz Season 24
Toronto soul funk and reggae Afro fusion band, Afroteque, followed by the indominable R&B and Reggae singer-songwriter Jay Douglas and his Jamaica To Toronto project (which documents some incredible music from prominent soul, funk and reggae musicians who emigrated from Jamaica to Toronto between 1976-1974
Our New Generation and Youth Stages at Woodbine Park continue highlighting the NEXT generation of jazz musicians. Over 75 high school musicians will be featured on the Youth stage, including the Festival sponsored Honour Combos. From jazz to pop, the New Generation stage features the talents of Amy Hunter, Robyn Hayle, the Rob Christian Band (a perennial favourite at our Festival), JP Saxe and My Son The Hurricane.
Then there’s our central corral – Kew Gardens. What a group of musical talent we’ve lassoed into it this year. Starting on Saturday with the Toronto based Julia Cleveland Quintet, headed by the versatile Julia, drummer and composer showcasing her talents with her eponymous quintet; followed by Robert Scott and his Power Trio, a virtuosic pianist, producer, composer and lyricist who’s passionate performing style has garnered him many accolades from music industry and public alike; followed by the Heavyweights Brass Band, with their fresh, modern and humorous take on classic New Orleans instrumental line-up and style; followed by Toronto based "First Lady of the Guitar", the Juno winning, Gold and Platinum recording artist, virtuoso and ever beautiful Liona Boyd; followed by the radiant and soul burning internationally recognized "Princess of Rockin’ Gospel Blues", Sharrie Williams, who we know, will leave you pleading and crying for more at the end of the night. Sunday we’re starting off with the keyboard wizardry of Lou Pomanti – composer, producer, musician, Gemini Award winner and long-time industry heavyweight; followed by the highly entertaining 13-piece Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Toronto’s only Balkan-Klezmer-Gypsy-Party-Punk-Super Band and Kew Garden’s salute to urban folk world beat sound; followed by our very own Bill King with guests Lou Pomani and multi-talented performer Stacy Bulmer; followed by charismatic Mississippi blues and soul legend Johnny Rawls who’ll be wowing the audience with his vocals and guitar playing; and capped off by the electrifying funkster trio known as the LMT Connection, celebrating 23 years of funk and "universal soul" around the world. LMT Connection have played over 4500 shows!
Our Boardwalk Stages – have grown to three this year. There’s our Latin Square Stage – a South American and Caribbean beach party extravaganza relocated to the Beach featuring 3 days of jazz, salsa, mambo, rumba and more! Staring DJ Manyoma and Un Poco Latino on the Friday. Jazzmeetssalsa Band, DJ Gury Gury, Lucho De Sedas y Los Selectos and La Heavy Mambo on Saturday and the The Latin Jazz Ensemble, DJ Manyoma and El Swing de Azuris on Sunday.
The Big Band Stage located east of the Latin Stage, features double sets from bands you heard and applauded last year. Featuring a range of sounds, from classics inspired Swing Shift Big Band to the The Jazz Mechanics with their modern arrangements, to The Big Smoke Big Band with their aggressive mix of contemporary jazz, funk, rhythm & blues and rock!
Great location along the Boardwalk Café, our New World Beat Stage is our new "world" within a stage offering, featuring the Imbayakunas, Party Island and Changuy Havana on Friday; Puente del Diablo, Party Island and on Saturday and Joaquin Hidalgo & Rumba Squad, Johannes Linstead and the Samba Squad on Sunday.
This year our workshop coordinator has arranged some outstanding TD Music Workshops for us. Many are back by popular demand, like Heather Bambrick’s Vocal Jazz Bootcamp and Steve McNie’s Ukelele Workshop. New workshops include Concert Photography in the Digital Age with Kris King; Songwriting with the incomparable Amy Sky and "Phat Al" of God Made Me Funky, who’ll present lots of great info on Social Networking for Bands and Musicians. Plus, there are a lot more dance workshops this year through our new dance partner – Alyona Dance Studio.
That’s not all! Our festival is continuing with our tribute to jazz photography through our "Jazz-in-Motion" Juried Photography Exhibition found at our Woodbine Park and Kew Gardens locations. This year, we’ve also invited sculpter Rudy Kehkla to display his amazing jazz inspired wire sculptures at Kew Gardens. Plus, we’re having some young artists inspire you with their paint-on-canvas-to-live-music creations.
Visit our sponsors’ tents and booths and our very own Kew Gardens Artisan’s Marketplace. Buy a Festival artifact! Better yet, raise a glass of beer, wine or wine spritzer, to our Festival at one of our outdoor beer gardens.
Big thanks to our corporate, media and government, to our municipal and local area business and service partners and to our volunteers and staff for all their assistance in making this Festival run like a smooth minor blues chord progression. See you soon!
It’s a crazy hurly-burly-topsy-turvy world we’re living in. But hey, for us it’s year 24 and we’re still here – steady as a rock and ready to offer you lots of good music and many opportunities to "commune" with your fellow jazz enthusiasts. We’ve even added a third stage to our Beach Boardwalk entertainment zone with the launch of our World Beat Stage.
So what’s up for this year? Among other musical deliveries, we are decidedly into Funk and Soul this season – Jazz-Funk, Soul-Funk and just plain Funky-Funk. We start with our three stage offerings at Woodbine Park. Main Stage, we’re getting our Friday night underway with the awesome Beach based a cappella group Countermeasure A Cappella; followed by Toronto soul funk and reggae Afro fusion band, Afroteque, followed by the indominable R&B and Reggae singer-songwriter Jay Douglas and his Jamaica To Toronto project (which documents some incredible music from prominent soul, funk and reggae musicians who emigrated from Jamaica to Toronto between 1976-1974. Saturday includes a strong line-up of musicians that include Alex Pangman – Canada’s "Sweetheart of Swing"; soulful Canadian powerhouse singer-songwriter Treasa Levasseur; the smooth and rich urban groove of Blackburn; crowd-pleaser Chicago tribute jazz-rock band, Brass Transit; and topped off by Papa Grows Funk, New Orlean’s pre-eminent jazz-funk band – fun, funky, energetic and mischievous. Sunday we’ve got Chloe Charles, with her charismatic and imaginative indie sound; the lush, sweet and yearning vocals of Suzana d'Amour; the husky smooth vocals and great piano playing skills of Tyler Yarema; and finally David Rotundo, front man, songwriter and harmonica-player extrordinaire, appearing with international guitarist guest star and past song collaborator, Enrico Crivellaro.Our New Generation and Youth Stages at Woodbine Park continue highlighting the NEXT generation of jazz musicians. Over 75 high school musicians will be featured on the Youth stage, including the Festival sponsored Honour Combos. From jazz to pop, the New Generation stage features the talents of Amy Hunter, Robyn Hayle, the Rob Christian Band (a perennial favourite at our Festival), JP Saxe and My Son The Hurricane.
Then there’s our central corral – Kew Gardens. What a group of musical talent we’ve lassoed into it this year. Starting on Saturday with the Toronto based Julia Cleveland Quintet, headed by the versatile Julia, drummer and composer showcasing her talents with her eponymous quintet; followed by Robert Scott and his Power Trio, a virtuosic pianist, producer, composer and lyricist who’s passionate performing style has garnered him many accolades from music industry and public alike; followed by the Heavyweights Brass Band, with their fresh, modern and humorous take on classic New Orleans instrumental line-up and style; followed by Toronto based "First Lady of the Guitar", the Juno winning, Gold and Platinum recording artist, virtuoso and ever beautiful Liona Boyd; followed by the radiant and soul burning internationally recognized "Princess of Rockin’ Gospel Blues", Sharrie Williams, who we know, will leave you pleading and crying for more at the end of the night. Sunday we’re starting off with the keyboard wizardry of Lou Pomanti – composer, producer, musician, Gemini Award winner and long-time industry heavyweight; followed by the highly entertaining 13-piece Lemon Bucket Orkestra, Toronto’s only Balkan-Klezmer-Gypsy-Party-Punk-Super Band and Kew Garden’s salute to urban folk world beat sound; followed by our very own Bill King with guests Lou Pomani and multi-talented performer Stacy Bulmer; followed by charismatic Mississippi blues and soul legend Johnny Rawls who’ll be wowing the audience with his vocals and guitar playing; and capped off by the electrifying funkster trio known as the LMT Connection, celebrating 23 years of funk and "universal soul" around the world. LMT Connection have played over 4500 shows!
Our Boardwalk Stages – have grown to three this year. There’s our Latin Square Stage – a South American and Caribbean beach party extravaganza relocated to the Beach featuring 3 days of jazz, salsa, mambo, rumba and more! Staring DJ Manyoma and Un Poco Latino on the Friday. Jazzmeetssalsa Band, DJ Gury Gury, Lucho De Sedas y Los Selectos and La Heavy Mambo on Saturday and the The Latin Jazz Ensemble, DJ Manyoma and El Swing de Azuris on Sunday.
The Big Band Stage located east of the Latin Stage, features double sets from bands you heard and applauded last year. Featuring a range of sounds, from classics inspired Swing Shift Big Band to the The Jazz Mechanics with their modern arrangements, to The Big Smoke Big Band with their aggressive mix of contemporary jazz, funk, rhythm & blues and rock!
Great location along the Boardwalk Café, our New World Beat Stage is our new "world" within a stage offering, featuring the Imbayakunas, Party Island and Changuy Havana on Friday; Puente del Diablo, Party Island and on Saturday and Joaquin Hidalgo & Rumba Squad, Johannes Linstead and the Samba Squad on Sunday.
This year our workshop coordinator has arranged some outstanding TD Music Workshops for us. Many are back by popular demand, like Heather Bambrick’s Vocal Jazz Bootcamp and Steve McNie’s Ukelele Workshop. New workshops include Concert Photography in the Digital Age with Kris King; Songwriting with the incomparable Amy Sky and "Phat Al" of God Made Me Funky, who’ll present lots of great info on Social Networking for Bands and Musicians. Plus, there are a lot more dance workshops this year through our new dance partner – Alyona Dance Studio.
That’s not all! Our festival is continuing with our tribute to jazz photography through our "Jazz-in-Motion" Juried Photography Exhibition found at our Woodbine Park and Kew Gardens locations. This year, we’ve also invited sculpter Rudy Kehkla to display his amazing jazz inspired wire sculptures at Kew Gardens. Plus, we’re having some young artists inspire you with their paint-on-canvas-to-live-music creations.
 | |
Bill King
Artistic Director |
Visit our sponsors’ tents and booths and our very own Kew Gardens Artisan’s Marketplace. Buy a Festival artifact! Better yet, raise a glass of beer, wine or wine spritzer, to our Festival at one of our outdoor beer gardens.
Big thanks to our corporate, media and government, to our municipal and local area business and service partners and to our volunteers and staff for all their assistance in making this Festival run like a smooth minor blues chord progression. See you soon!
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