Jesse Cahill speaks to Vancouver Legend Oliver Gannon

Jesse Cahill speaks to the legendary Vancouver guitarist Oliver Gannon

Oliver Gannon (Photo: JC)

The other  night I stopped by Cory Weeds' Cellar Jazz Club  and caught a very swinging set from Oliver Gannon and his Quartet.  Generally  it's  a no-brainer to go and see Oliver and his band but this was Jazz Fest week and as such there was a ton of great stuff to choose from on Wednesday evening including guitar superstar Kurt Rosenwinkel performing at Performance Works.

I guess to many people that's probably an easy choice to make depending on your taste in music. Or maybe it's a tough decision? Contemporary superstar or old school local legend? Hmmm...

I'd like to be able to explain how I made my choice and I'd like to offer an explanation that's slightly more sophisticated than simply stating that I like one artist's music over the other.  I don't have a particularly enlightened explanation though so instead let me share with you why it's great for a guy like me to be able to go see someone like Oliver Gannon play music.

O.G. is a musical elder statesman.  He comes from an era that I almost can't imagine existed.  Playing six nights a week for weeks at a time while spending the daytime recording jingles for the radio and doing television spots seems like a fantasy. For musicians of Oliver Gannon's generation however it was a reality.

It sounds romantic in a way but when I talked to Ollie on the phone today - mostly to make sure he was cool with being called an elder statesman - he made it clear that they were working for a living.

A part of our conversation went something like this:
"We didn't have these wimpy three hour gigs where you play two sets and go home.  You were there for five hours and played three or four sets"
"Didn't you tell me you saw Wes Montgomery?"
"Well, when I lived in Boston  in the mid 1960s we'd go over to the Jazz Workshop.  All the musicians would go in through the kitchen. I saw Wes maybe  ten times.  He had Wynton Kelly, Jimmy Cobb, and PC (Paul Chambers).  He'd have to play Tequila and things of that nature  earlier in the night but we'd be there for the last set which is when they played the good shit!"
"Who else did you see there?"
"well...I saw Miles Davis...and Eddie Gomez was playing bass.  I guess he was subbing for Ron Carter.  He did a good job"

This stuff is priceless and for me makes going to hear Oliver like my own little window into this alternate musical universe.   Maybe I'm living in the past?  Maybe I need to get with it and embrace the sounds of today?  Or perhaps I just want to enjoy a master musician who swings like crazy and was there when it was all happening.Whatever the case may be we are fortunate  to have an artist with such a rich musical past still making great music in our local clubs and for the most part that's why it's never a tough choice for me when Oliver Gannon is on the gig.  

Enjoy the rest of your Jazz Festival!

Oliver Gannon is always around on the Vancouver music scene.  Check out his Quartet recordings and his band Two Much Guitar featuring Bill Coon.

Kurt Rosenwinkel is a major force in contemporary  jazz.  He has twelve recordings as a leader and is featured on the cover of the July edition of Downbeat Magazine. 

Jesse Cahill is our guest blogman at Coastal Jazz this year (also writing at Huff Post). A fine local drummer - make sure to catch him on local gigs especially with his greasy quintet (sometimes big band) The Night Crawlers.