Festival Wrap Up by Ken Pickering

Festival Wrap Up - July 2nd, 2012

by: Ken Pickering - Artistic Director

(all photos by Chris Cameron unless otherwise noted)

I’m writing this on Monday morning before I pack my bags to head out to the Kongsberg Festival in Norway. What can I say? An absolutely fabulous festival was served up for our 2012 edition folks and I couldn’t be more pleased with the outcome. Our opening weekend with Downtown Jazz exceeded all of our expectations. Simply an amazing weekend filled with great music and more. Honestly I just can’t stop thinking about how awesome it was around Robson Square and the Vancouver Art Gallery! Build it and people will come – we hear that mantra all the time but in this case it was truth be told. For many of us Gastown Jazz holds memories of great scenes that go back 20 years or more, but clearly it was time to move on. The building blocks are in place and we’re now well positioned to take the festival to the next level through further development of our musical programs in the downtown core. Of course building Downtown Jazz is a long-term project that we hope will eventually be the major focus of the festival with more venues involved in the surrounding streets. The pictures below show the potential - check out Dal Richards. Forever young, Dal's a man who has seen this city go through almost a century of change!

Georgia Stage 

 Dal Richards conducts 

What really makes a festival happen is the music. We had so much wonderful music this year – tons of positive feedback on Janelle Monae (she was the talk of the town),Trombone Shorty / Preservation Hall, Avett Brothers, Wayne Shorter, The Cookers, Kid Koala, Balkan Beat Box, George Benson, Robert Randolph (with our amazing intern Peter Haley sitting in!), Ndidi O, Kyprios, Dianne Reeves, Eliane Elias and more from friends, musicians, colleagues and fans.

Janelle Monae 

Some personal highlights for me – Bill Frisell’s opening night set at the Vogue was exquisite – the detail and uncanny rapport between Bill and Greg Leisz backed up by Tony Scherr and Kenny Wolleson was a dream. John Lennon’s music never sounded better. It was also a thrill to note that Hornby Island BC’s Tony Wilson finally got to meet Bill and I managed to snap a decent photo!

Tony Wilson meets Bill Frisell for the first time with Greg Leisz (Ken Pickering)

IPA was one of the jazz gigs that resonated – we’ve heard Ingebrigt and Magnus often with Atomic and others, but it was a revelation to bear witness to the depth that saxophonist Atle Nymo and drummer Hakon Mjaset Johansen bring to the quartet. Super!

IPA from Norway/Sweden were terrific, one of the best fest jazz gigs.

Also on the Nordic tip – Norway’s Mathias Eick (powerful Ironworks performance was a knockout) and Terje Rypdal’s Crime Scene (both Terje and old friend and road manager Lars Mossefin told me it was the best ever performance of that piece). The sheer beauty of Eivør Palsdottir’s voice with Yggdrasil (Faroe Islands) was positively angelic.

Mathias Eick from Norway at the Ironworks Innovation Series

The Canadian and BC representation was top drawer as well – with stellar performances from October Trio, Barry Elmes Quintet, Hard Rubber, Talking Pictures, Gordon Grdina, Tyson Naylor, Cat Toren, Tony Wilson, Brad Turner, Lan Tung, Ugetsu, The Nightcrawlers and the Pugs and Crows - just a small (incomplete) sampling of the wealth of talent that performed at the festival.  It was wonderful to see the warm reception that "new" Vancouverite and incredibly talented Jill Barber received from two sold out audiences at Performance Works for her first festival appearances.

Jill Barber at Performance Works

Spotlight on French Jazz focused our attention on creative artists such as Hélène Labarièrre, Benoit Delbecq & Marc Ducret, Méderic Collignon and Pierrick Pédron; with what in fact was our most expansive French program at the festival to date.  I was knocked out by Ms. Labarièrre’s performance and also by my old friend Benoit Delbecq with Marc Ducret and Francois Houle plus the Francois Houle 5+1 – he’s a gem and it’s been personally gratifying to witness his growth as an emerging artist in the early 90’s to one of the most important French jazz musicians today! It was fantastic to here Ducret really stretch in his duo with Samuel Blaser at the Roundhouse.

Benoit Delbecq, Marc Ducret, Francois Houle (Ken Pickering)

Similarly Made in the UK was a new initiative for us – and we hope to further develop this project with our partners at Rochester Jazz. Liane Carroll was a knockout at Performance Works. She reminded me that she and Roger Carey were here in 1988 with Trevor Watts Moire Music. The Scottish lads in Breach and NeWt (with Fraser Fifield) acquitted themselves well as did Get the Blessing in their show at the Venue. Great memories!

A great collaboration: Torsten Müller's Distant Relatives with Dylan van der Schyff and Peggy Lee with special guests Xu Fengxia and Ab Baars

Of course it wouldn’t be right if VanJazzFest wasn't part of Han Bennink’s 70^th birthday celebration – we’ve been presenting Han in various contexts for 25 years! An incredible concentrated improv concert with Brodie West and Terrie Ex. Also representing the Euro improve edge: Ig Henneman Sextet, Samuel Blaser and our resident uncompromising free improv bassist Torsten Muller’s Distant Relatives, plus German saxophonist Angelika Niescier, Colin Vallon Trio (Switzerland) and the amazing Hexen Trio (featuring Paul Plimley, Barry Guy and Lucas Niggli) played the last concert of the festival to a full house at the Ironworks. Loved it! 

Gordon Grdina Trio with Samuel Blaser at the Ironworks

Gordon Grdina was on fire – many hipsters thought that he stole the show at the Spectrum Road Vogue Theatre concert. John Medeski himself told me he was blown away! For an encore Gord totally crushed it at Ironworks with monster Swiss trombonist Samuel Blaser guesting. Tony Wilson’s A Day’s Life band with narration by Hornby Island’s Bill Smith might have been the tastiest Tony treat ever! The sound was perfect and the execution of the music simply sublime.

Tony Wilson at the Ironworks

Terell Stafford's Billy Strayhorn program was a standout. The band was on fire and it's clear that Terell Stafford is a major trumpet voice on today's jazz scene! I also managed to catch a few snippets of  very good workshops by Harris Eisenstadt and Michael Bates (both Canadians in Brooklyn touring with Francois Houle's 5+1). The High School Jazz Intensive with Nicole Mitchell and Tomeka Reid (thanks Flora!) showcased some of our brightest young talents in a program that veered well beyond the standard stock big band arrangements. Always a thrill to see a new generation of young folks rock the David Lam stage. 

Terell Stafford

Other standouts for me were Black Lotos (Xu Fengxia and Lucas Niggli) and the Homburger / Guy / Niggli Trio - they created a highly detailed gorgeous sound world that I never wanted to leave! The final evening featured the mid tour YVR debut of the highly anticipated Francois Houle 5+1 - an international sextet with spiritual roots in Vancouver. This is a band that I feel very close to having played a hand in helping Francois assemble the players. All great friends - (Taylor Ho Bynum, Samuel Blaser, Benoit Delbecq, Michael Bates, Harris Eisenstadt) it was a group effort (6 leaders in this band!) and kudos to Tony Reif at Songlines for having the foresight to not only record this amazing band, but to get the disc out in time for the tour! There is no doubt in my mind that this is one of the best new jazz ensembles to emerge in the past couple of years. If they happen to perform in your town - do NOT MISS THEM! This band is destined for great things.

Homage à Max Bill - Barry Guy (Christine Fedina)

Ken Pickering / Xu Fengxia (unknown photographer!)

So that's it - a 10 day extravaganza of wonderful music in YVR! I'd like to thank everyone that worked on the festival - especially Fatima, Alex, John, Rainbow, Eduardo and Judie who played a major role in the visioning process that was key to the success, not only of our move downtown but the entire festival. Also kudos to the rest of the core staff - Jen, Kelly, Phil, Jeff - our festival staff, amazing interns, board and volunteers. This has been the 27th year for John Orysik and myself. What a ride! Special warm thoughts go out to Lynn Buhler and James Coverdale who were not able to attend this festival. They were missed.