NOW Orchestra Blog | NOW Orchestra

Paul Plimley and Tony Wilson @ The Jazz Cellar

October 6th kicked off the new season of "And NOW Monday Nights at Cellar..."

Paul Plimley led off the evening with a wonderful set of solo piano. Paul has developed into such a wonderful artist over the thirty years that I've known him. He's always been a strong technician and a soulful player, but his whole conception has come to a wonderful maturity that reflects his warmth, humour, chops and power as a person and as an artist. The program consisted of a number of compositions and improvisations, as might be expected from Paul. As you might expect too, the set only got better as he dug in and warmed to a receptive and appreciative house. I hope Paul will come back and play another evening next year.

The second set of the evening was eagerly anticipated, as I had never heard Tony do his thing in the solo format. Tony and I go back to the early 1990's when we played together in a number of projects (my band The Evolution and his Bug's Inside).

I was deeply touched by Tony's playing on this night. His technique which is seemingly always up for any task, is always used in the service of what he is trying to communicate. The evening started ever so gently with a beautiful melange of pieces by a number of different composers, himself included (often self-depracatingly "Untitled" pieces). Beautiful voicings, hard swinging grooves, interesting paths that take you to beautiful and truly unexpected moods and ideas. Tony always tends to be tremendously modest.

He is a beautiful and heartfelt improvisor. I hope he comes back and plays solo again.

I've included a few photos that Bill Gibson was generous enough to give me permission to use. The light was a little low in the Cellar, but maybe that conveys some of the intimacy that we experienced.

Monday @ The Jazz Cellar - Year 4 starts

It's been a while since I added to this blog. I thought that it would be a good idea to comment on NOW's upcoming activities starting next week.

First up:

"And NOW.....on Monday Nights"

Live Music ... cisuM eviL

Our association with the Jazz Cellar enters its fourth year this fall.

It's always a bit tenuous as it means getting people out to hear original improvised music on a Monday night in Vancouver.

I hope that we can make it continue. The admission is the same as four years ago, $5.00. We now don't have a food and drink minimum to make it more enticing for people to come out. We hope that helps lure listeners out.

The programming this fall looks really great. For listings go to http://www.noworchestra.com/events

Our first night is this coming Monday night, October 6th. We feature two of the west coast's most original anc exciting musician/composer/improvisors.

We have a double bill with the first set a solo piano set from the mercurial and effervescent Paul Plimley.

It's sure to be a great night, as we'll get to hear Paul playing on the Cellar's great piano. I'm really looking forwrd to this, as I love to hear Paul play solo piano more than hearing him in any other context.

The second set is a solo guitar set with the Hornby Island semi-reclusive, Tony Wilson.

I"ve played with Tony for many years in different situations, but I don't really know his work doing a solo show. I'm looking forward to this set, as I've always loved his playing for the humour, drama, lyricism, and individuality that he brings to all of his playing situations.

I hope we get a full house so that we can continue our programming at this great venue.

The first set starts at 8:30 pm at the Jazz Cellar in Vancouver (3611 West Broadway).

SEE YOU MONDAY NIGHT!

Improvisation Workshops

Also on October 6th we start on Improvisation Workshop Series at the Western Front (they're free....bring an instrument)

. We've been co-producing this series of workshops with the Front since the early 1990s and have featured the most amazing workshops with the best improvisors from Vancouver, Canada and the world.

This year starts off with Matthew Welch (New York) a sax/bagpipe player leading the workshop.

He's in town doing a show at the Western Front with (as the blurb goes): Blarvuster Alien funk counterpoint meets avant-garde rock and
minimalism in Blarvuster. This ensemble also infuses their rich sound
with Celtic lines and South East Asian textures. Led by acclaimed
bagpiper/composer Matthew Welch, the Brooklyn-based Blarvuster boasts a
lineup of some of the brightest young stars in the New York
experimental scene. Matthew Welch is a virtuoso of the highland
bagpipe, whose compositions ran…

It's sure to be really interesting.

The workshops are all free, as in no charge to participate.

They run Mondays from 4-6 pm at the Western Front (upstairs) 303 East 8th Avenue.

See http://www.noworchestra.com/workshops for the full line-up.

That's it for the moment.

Hope you can make it out to some of this.

Viviane Houle and Stefan Smulovitz’ new CD “la belle et la bête”

Last night @ the Jazz Cellar the penultimate show of our season featured the CD release of NOW Orchestra’s second disc, “la belle et la bête”.
It was an exciting night of music. It was the best performance, hands down, of this duo ever. In the process of getting this CD together for release, as well as some important performances (including playing at the Festival de Musique Actuelle in Victoriaville, Québec) they have really raised their game to a new level. Their focus, growing vocabulary and compositional sophistication was really a joy to be a part of. As a longtime fan of the two, it makes me really happy to see that. They really displayed some beautiful telepathic sonic dancing together.
They were also fortunate to be joined by one of Canada’s great dancers, Barbara Bourget. Barbara is such a powerful improvisor and collaborator, that it really is a pleasure to watch her anytime she performs. She can adapt to anything, including moving in a room that is not really meant for dance. She made it hers, anyway.
The evening was also augmented by a wonderful spoken word piece written and performed by Stewart Brinton bringing the moment to a beautiful multi-media quartet.
I hope you can make it out to our last show of the season featuring The Coat Cooke trio, with Coat on saxophone, Clyde Reed on bass and Kenton Loewen on drums.
They will also be joined for part of the evening by some guests in town for the jazz festival.
The show starts at 8:30 pm @ the Jazz Cellar (3611 West Broadway).
$5.00 cover/no minimum.
Hope you can make it out.

Gord Grdina's Haram @ The Jazz Cellar

Next Monday, June 2nd, Gord Grdina's band Haram will take to the bandstand.

The group will feature Gord Grdina/oud, LIam MacDonald/riq+percussion, Dan Gaucher/drums+electronics, Jesse Zubot/violin, Tommy Babin/bass, Chris Kelly/saxophone.

They will explore the music of Arabic masters Jamil Bey, Abdel Waham and Um Kalthum manically interpreted through the Vancouver Improv scene.

This is a superb group of musicians and will no doubt be a really rousing evening of music.

Cover is $5 and no minimum.

Yet another great NOW Production @ The Cellar

3611 West Broadway

8:30 pm start.

East Van Jazz Orchestra this Saturday

East Van Jazz Orchestra this Saturday: Just had the last rehearsal yesterday. Check it out.

East Van Jazz Orchestra this Saturday

I think this is going to be a really good show.

I want to support the efforts of Brad Muirhead and Jared Burrows in self-producing this event (with a little invaluable help from

Community College.

East Van Jazz Orchestra
Saturday, May 24, 8pm
Vancouver Community College Auditorium
1155 E. Broadway (at Glen)
Tickets $15
To reserve seats call 604-294-3714
or email crassbrutes@telus.net
Join some of the city's finest jazz veterans and young lions in an
exciting concert of new works by Brad Muirhead and Jared Burrows.
Featuring the amazing musical talents of:
Stan Taylor, Tommy Babin, Chad Makela, Dave Branter, Brad Muirhead, Jared
Burrows, John Korsrud, Tim Barrett, Dennis Esson, Coat Cooke, Norm Quinn,
Kevin Lee, Greg Farrugia, Bryan Davies, Tim Ting, John Paton
To learn more about EVJO and hear some music, please visit:
www.myspace.com/eastvanjazzorchestra
Sponsored by VCC School of Music. Admission is FREE for VCC music students

Jeff Younger's Sandbox @ The Cellar

This past Monday at the Cellar Jazz Club, Jeff Younger’s Sandbox was featured.
The band is a wonderful and extremely musical group of musicians playing improvisations and pieces written by the band leader. The band has really developed and matured over the last year and a half that I’ve heard them play. They have a wonderful sense of playfulness, focus, kick-ass intent and determination that is a pleasure to witness. The band is a tremendous unit, but it is the individuals that make it so special.
First of all, you have to have a strong rhythm section, and in this group you a have Dave Chokroun on bass and Ben Wilson on drums. Dave is a remarkable player. His vocabulary and inventiveness in his arco playing is truly a delight. No other bass player that I’ve heard in Vancouver is playing arco with such a hunger to make interesting sounds…and is succeeding. I love his harmonic work. He also listens, plays with real commitment and displys a wonderful sense of humour.
The drummer Ben Wilson is a multi-instrumentalist that has decided to focus on one instrument, the drum kit. Ben has the composer’s wonderful sense of story telling. In his responses, and is a rapt listener.
Jeff Younger, the guitarist-sound-maker composer, noise freak, was in fine form on Monday. With his eyes closed he would lean into his lines, chords, sounds and conduct the band with authority and abandon. He never sounded better.
Kristian Naso plays a wonderful trumpet, plain and simple. I have always liked his sound, harmonic sense, beautiful dynamics and fearlessness in his choices of when and what to play.
Substituting for tenor saxophonist Darren Williams (who’s probably a dad by now – congratulations Darren), was Jonathan Wilcke. Jonathan, who is usually an alto player, was playing tenor on this night. Jonathan is a writer/poet as a well as a really creative musician. I really like that he brings a wonderful sense of imagination to his saxophonic vocabulary, including his bizarre flutter tongue technique and his vocalization through his horn (that keeps you guessing what’s coming next).
This night really was really quite a magical one. I look forward to the CD that they have coming out in the fall.
Jeff Younger blasting away

Lots of great music!

Wow! When it rains it pours.

There is some great music to check out...unfortunately it's all tonight.

Although not improvised music, at the Commodore there is a benefit of great music for Scott Harding who was badly hurt in a hit and run accident in NYC. He has no health insurance. He is a musician, artist and friend. 100% of the proceeds go to help him. Do go and enjoy the music and support Scott.

There is also a great show at the Ironworks tonight featuring Talking Pictures (Ron Samworth, Peggy Lee, Dylan van der Schyff) with the Unexpected(with Special Guests from Montreal drummer Pierre Tanguay and guitarist Bernard Falaise.

Another show that's sure to be a knockout is the Ad Hoc Ensemble at the Western Front. The Ad Hoc Ensemble is a rare mix of six adventurous improvising musicians coming together from places across the nation for a five-city tour: Daniel Oore from Halifax on saxophone and abs constructions, Jesse Zubot from Vancouver on violin, Jean-Felix Mailloux-Desjardins from Montréal on bass, Guillaume Bourque from Montréal on clarinet, Jean Martin from Toronto on drums, and Christine Duncan from Toronto on vocals.

ALSO...

On Monday April 28th at the Jazz Cellar, NOW presents Bug's Black Blood.

3611 West Broadway

8:30 pm

Cover $5

This is a thirteen piece creative music ensemble that has it all cool new compositions by Dave Chokroun and Joel Lower, great improvising, sensitive playing and plenty of power as well.

This version of the band features:

Karen Oliver/violin, Soressa Gardner/voice, Gordon Bertram/reeds, Shane Krause/reeds, Coat Cooke/reeds, Blythe Polreis/trombone, Dave Todd/trumpet, Joe Rzemieniak/trumpet, Wayne Stewart/piano and keyboards, Craig Townsend/guitar, Michael Alleyne/bass, Dave Chokroun/bass and Joel Lower/drums.

Hope you make it out.

Stitching Unstitching - April 1, 2008

I managed to get to the Stitching Unstitching show last night at the Casa del Artista at 150 East 3rd Avenue.

Russell Sholberg, Jeff Younger and Stephen Lyons have been making this wonderful series happen for quite a while now. It seems to happen the first Tuesday in each month. It's really worth checking out.

Last night Jeff Younger played a short set of "devil's loops", with Jeff hunched over his guitar and pedals cranking out some great music. There are a lot of guitar players out there playing solo sets, but Jeff is doing something that is quite personal and is therefore unique. I really love the way he layers his ideas and then through his development of the sounds creates a very compelling compositional arc. Jeff is doing a lot of projects and is worth the trip to hear him, whether it's his Sandbox project, playing solo, or any number of bands that he plays with. A really creative fellow. Check out his website at http://www.jeffyounger.net

The second set featured the Sukha Trio + 1 with Daniel Heila - flute/video, Clyde Reed - bass, Colin MacDonald - saxophones, and Jared Burrows - guitar. This quartet confures a pretty atmospheric space for the most part, which worked well with the video imagery that Daneil Heila presented. It was mostly improvised with some grooves interspersed that everyone locked into very beautifully. Every time I see them, they present another facet to their character.

You can check them out at www.myspace.com/sukhatrio

Also go to www.danielheila.com

Bug's Black Blood

Had a great rehearsal with the band Bug’s Black Blood last night.
It’s the first of five before a couple of gig’s: Monday, April 28th (8:30 pm) at the Cellar Jazz Club, and the other at the 1067 Granville St. loft on May 2nd (10pm).
Wonderful to play with Karen Oliver, Dave Chokroun, Joel Lower, Tim Sars, Wayne Stewart, Blythe Polreis, Craig Townsend, Joe Rzemeniak, and Dave Todd.
We’ll be adding Soressa Gardener, Gordon Bertram, Michael Alleyne and maybe a few others.
For the shows, we’ll be improvising, as well as playing music by George Lewis, Oliver, Lake, Ron Samworth, Dave Chokroun, Michael Alleyne, and Coat Cooke.

Be sure to check it out.