My Memories of the Joint

By Gavin Walker

Hugh Fraser Kate Hammett Vaughan, Colleen Savage, Bonnie Ferguson Albert St Albert and Blaine Wikjord

I first became aware of the Joint in the early 1970's. I had just returned from a period of study and travel and found myself involved with the Jazz scene in Vancouver very quickly. I had scored a steady gig with a Jazz-Rock band (in the style of Blood Sweat and Tears and Cold Blood) and was looking for a Jazz scene where I could play some pure stuff. I found it at the Riverqueen on Davie owned by singer Ron Small and his then wife Shirley. I rehooked with pianist/organist Mike Taylor and met and rehooked with many others like saxophonists Ian Berry, Wayne Kozak, Pete Thompson, Dick Smith and met a cat who I only knew by reputation, Nick McGowan. Around this time Nick joined the Jazz-Rock band I was in and we developed a musical relationship.......we both were Jazz players and wanted to play more. The band had a couple of weeks off and Nick called me up and said there was a place in Gastown that had a Jazz    night and was called The Classical Joint at 231 Carrall Street. We went down and found a quartet of players led by the late Al Clooten...I can't remember the other guys but Nick and I sat in for a half dozen tunes and I checked out this little smoky, funky place where people listened quietly and played chess and drink coffee. I met the new owner, Andreas Nothiger, a Swiss-German who said he just bought the place from two guys Joseph and Joel. Joel, I knew but I had just met Joseph only once. I was told by Andreas that the place was really an outlet for folk singers, poetry reading and the like but he liked Jazz as well and classical music. Joel, who was there the night Nick and I played suggested that we come back and play there often. I thought no more of it and got busy with other things.

Fall concert season is like a mini Festival

 By John Orysik, Media Director

Eve Smith performing at the Clasical Joint Gretchen Parlato Benjamin Herman

You gotta love the Jazz Festival. There’s so much great music from all over the world. And it so rich and diverse - virtually all manner of jazz—from ragtime to no time, funky grooves, urban rhythms, world music, vocal stylings – it’s a feast and I love the vibe. The Fall for Jazz series with its six shows is smaller in scale but no less diverse. Kind of a Jazz Festival in miniature. The opening concert—The Great Classical Joint Reunion—is going to be a blast—a once in a lifetime jam session—with musicians and fans coming into town from near and far to get reacquainted. The Classical Joint is a place I checked out on a regular basis during the ‘70s and ‘80s—it was the hub for jazz in Vancouver where I discovered people like Renee Rosnes, Michael Blake, Dick Smith, Phil Dwyer, Hugh Fraser, Gavin Walker, Kate Hammett-Vaughan and so many other players. Also looking forward to the organic improvs of Mural, the inside/outside sax trio led by Darius Jones, fab vocalist Gretchen Parlato from LA, Nuevo tangomeisters Quartango, and Dutch bebop saxman Benjamin Herman whose band will be groovin’ on the tunes of maestro Misha Mengelberg and others.  We’re trying something new this year with our Fall for Jazz Pass. Kind of like a tester for some programs we’re considering for the Festival. It’s a way to case a few gigs you think you may not be ready to make the leap for. Let us know what you think. Also exciting about the series is the Artist Talks. Darius Jones is going to rap with Ken Pickering, Coastal Jazz Artistic Director and I’ll be chatting with Gretchen Parlato about her latest album and other stuff. I hope you’ve had a great summer and like me you’re looking forward to the Fall. See you at the gigs.

Our Fall Season Concert Guide is now available

We're pretty excited about this neat feature for viewing our Program Guide online. We're using Issuu to publish the guide in a cool, interactive way. Click on the image below and watch the guide pop up into Fullscreen mode, now just click through. Easy to read and intuitive. We like. What do you think?

Open publication

European Travelogue - Festivals in July. Part Three: Molde Jazz (Norway)

By Ken Pickering, Coastal Jazz's Artistic Director

Part Three: Ken Pickering goes to Molde Jazz (Norway)


Where were we? Artistic Director on the road or in the air to somewhere - oh yeah! Here’s where we left off. A hellish day of travel but Rainbow and I finally arrive in Norway. Our final flight from Oslo to Molde was packed with musicians and friends – In the Country, Larry Appelbaum, Eivind Aarset and more! New day, new country, new festival - jet lag anyone?





Great view from Reknes Park - overlooking Molde, the fjords and islands

European Travelogue - Festivals in July. Part Two: Nickelsdorf “Konfrontationen”

Posted by Ken Pickering 

Part Two: Ken Pickering goes to Nickelsdorf “Konfrontationen”

After a brief pit stop in Amsterdam (and then I found the hotel and plaque where Chet Baker met his untimely death!) for some meetings and a hang with Danielle Oosterup (agent/manager Michiel Braam, The Thing) and other Dutch friends   I reconnected with my Coastal Jazz colleague Rainbow Robert (who had just arrived in Europe) who would then join me for the next leg of the journey to Nickelsdorf, Austria for the legendary KONFRONTATIONEN 2010 still going strong at 31 years.

The plaque on Prins Hendrik outside the hotel where Chet Baker tragically fell to his death.