Talking about the Peggy Lee Band at Jazz Fest (Words & Photos by Jesse Cahill)

PEGGY LEE BAND - Performance Works - June 22nd, 2013
(all photos and words by guest blogger Jesse Cahill)

Peggy Lee Band at Performance Works

What a weekend. I don't think I've managed to cram that much music into such a short period of time in ages. Four bands in forty eight hours and that's not including  two gigs of my own. Crazy.

I managed to see the, Peggy Lee Band, Soweto Kinch, Goldings / Bernstein / Stewart (twice), and James Danderfer's Hummingbird Brigade. It took  20 KMS of bike riding, several train rides, a gallon of beer, and a nap in the park to get it done but hey, somebody had to do it.

Larry Goldings (B-3) /Peter Bernstein (guitar) / Bill Stewart (drums) at Robson Stage

James Danderfer's Hummingbird Brigade at Cory Weeds' Cellar Jazz Club

Soweto Kinch at Georgia Stage

All of the music was really outstanding but have I some thoughts on cellist Peggy Lee's band in particular that I'd like to share. I'm not one to offer up concert reviews though - I'll leave that for the critics - so these are just some of the impressions that lingered in my mind as I pedalled furiously from Granville Island to the Vancouver Art Gallery.

This was my first time seeing and hearing Peggy's band and to be perfectly honest I had no idea what to expect. I had a conversation earlier in the week with the groups trumpet player Brad Turner. He shared with me his thoughts on Peggy's compositional style but I had put that aside as much as I could. It's really something to be able to hear some  great music that is completely new to you without having any preconceived ideas about how it should sound; and that's exactly how I wanted to experience Peggy Lee's music for the first time.

How did it sound?

I was completely mesmerized by Peggy's writing and the bands musicianship. There are all kinds of colourful adjectives I could use to describe what I heard but  in the end I think I'll just call it beautiful; beauty in many layers and on many levels.

Her music, played by musicians who have been collaborating together for decades , could easily be a soundtrack for  a visit to New York's Museum of Modern Art. It was like a room-to-room tour from the Realists to the Impressionists, the Futurists to the Surrealists...I actually had to remind myself to take photos and make some notes about the songs (didn't do so well in the taking notes department).

For someone who spends more time on the bandstand than in the audience this show was a great reminder of how compelling music can be, of  it's power to  affect people,  and of the importance of beauty in our everyday lives. I might just have to start taking my job as a musician a little more seriously.

Peggy  along with  Brad Turner on trumpet, Jon Bentley on saxophone, Jeremy Berkman on trombone, Ron Samworth and Tony Wilson playing guitars, André Lachance on electric bass, Dylan van der Schyff at the drums are in the middle of a Canadian tour.  Please visit them on line HERE and check them out if they happen to be visiting your town.

* Thanks to the good folks at Coastal Jazz for putting on this great festival.  You guys rock. *

Post by Jesse Cahill (Vancouver drummer / band leader with Jesse Cahill's Night Crawlers, Jerrold Dubyk, Cousin Harley and much much more) - thanks Jesse!