Django at the Coast

Hey, Thanks to everyone who came out tonight to hear Djangophilia at the Coast Hotel in Tsawwassen. We had a full house on a very blustery and rainy Wednesday night. Good food and good tunes.

World Music Event

Ta-Ki-Ta and Sangha in Concert.
December 1st at St. Marks Anglican Church, 2nd and Larch Streets in Vancouver.

Two of Vancouver's more unique world music groups are going to be performing a concert of Indian, Persian and world music. Ta Ki Ta is a mix of improvised music and classical Indian genras mixed to create a blend of interesting sounds . More info about them at www.ta-ki-ta.com. From their website:

Ta Ki Ta combines North Indian classical music, jazz, and other world music styles into a seamless whole where Eastern and Western instruments, rhythms and melodies are treated on equal footing. The origins of Ta Ki Ta began in 2004 as a series of musical experiments and concerts by Hari Pal (tabla) and Jared Burrows (guitar). Though they played and performed well with many other fine musicians, it was after meeting Ken Wells (sarode) that a really unique and powerful group sound emerged. The group's name, Ta Ki Ta is a reference to the syllables commonly used in Indian music to represent a three-part rhythm.

Also on the same program will be Sangha. From their website at www.sanghamusic.com :

Sangha is a Tar, Oud, Tombak and Tabla Quartet from Vancouver B.C. Like its instrumentation suggests Sangha is a combination of a number of improvisational traditions, predominantly Arabic, Persian and Indian. There are Indian classical rhythms mixed with Persian Improvisation in one piece, Arabic melodic modulation set in a Persian mode in another, and an African melody set inside a Westernized improvisational structure in the next. Having such a mix of styles the music could sound chaotic and directionless but due to each traditions emphasis on listening, subtlety and space the music comes off as purposeful and organic. With traditions this varied a mixture of styles is inevitable, so the musicians focus on creating music in the moment. This allows the varied influences to naturally blend together without being forced or diluted. The result is a sound similar to Vancouver, a melting pot of musical traditions forging a new path. Sangha has performed for Caravan World Rhythms, Kelowna’s Summer Arts Festival, the Asian Heritage Month Western Front concert series, a CBC National broadcast, and the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Gardens Enchanted Evenings concert series.

The concert will be December 1st at St. Marks Anglican Church, 2nd and Larch Streets in Vancouver. Check www.southdeltajazzfestival.com for info about tickets.

Fall Concerts

This years fall concerts begins November 15th at Beaches Restaurant. After a sold out performance last July at the Coast Hotel Ballroom Djangophilia is making a return engagement at the Beaches Hotel in Tsawwassen. Djangophilia is an acoustic jazz quartet that pays homage to the music and style of Django Reinhardt. This will be a really fun performance, featuring Ross Bliss and Tommy Babin on the bass with fest organizers Jared Burrows and Stephen Robb.

Come join us at Beaches on November 15th, 7 - 10 pm.

2006 - 07 Season

The summer hiatus has come to an end. We are now back planning our Winter / Spring concert series. There will be a couple of concerts coming later this fall closer to Christmas in both Vancouver and South Delta. Also there will be 2 or 3 pre festival event happening in Spring 2007 leading up to our main event in July 2007. Information about these and other events will be posted here, and our main website.

Goodbye and Thanks

The 2006 festival is now complete. Thanks to all of our sponsors for making this happen. Thanks especially to Century Group, GML Mechanical, Blakes, Envision and Great Canadian Casinos for their support of the student workshop and festival. We look forward to planning our next festival in July 2007.

Here is a picture of 2006 workshop participants and faculty.(Courtesy of S. Wright) As we move closer to the 2007 festival once again you will see news and information posted here. Have a great summer, see you next year.

Final Weekend

Friday was a day of contrast with two great but very different concerts featuring faculty. The arts centre was packed for Jazz for kids as we performed a number of jazz favorites from the era of those seven dwarfs, Fred and Wilma, and Linus and Lucy. We ended with our sponsored mascot "Salty the Seagull" parading through the isles with the kids to a spirited rendition of the Saints go Marching in . Friday night featured Len Aruliah and the quartet transported into the post- John Coltrane world with a suite of tunes inspired by Canadian trumpeter Kenny Wheeler. It is performances like these that indicate how wide the spectrum for jazz really is at the dawn of the 21st century, from Dixieland to post-modern avant guard

As we head into the final weekend of the festival, we would like to thank our audiences and supporters for coming out to our events this week.

Today features the student concert at 2pm. This will feature workshop participants who have spent the last 4 days at the arts centre learning about jazz improvisation and the skills required to master their instruments. Tonight at the Coast Tsawwassen Inn will feature local Vancouver guitarist Ross Bliss with Djangophllia. This is a straight ahead 1940's approach to traditional swing featuring the music of Django Reinhardt .

On Sunday at All Saints Anglican Church Ta-Ki-Ta will be performing in the final event of the festival. This is group creates a fusion of classical Indian music with jazz. The trio consists of two traditional Indian instruments with tabla player Hari Pal, Kenneth Wells on Sarode, together with the western influence of Jared Burrows on guitar. A beautiful and easy to listen to mix of sounds that you will enjoy. Admission is free.

Friday Concerts

Today features two unique performances as Tsawwassen Arts Centre. First off at noon is Jazz for Kids, which will feature our faculty performing and interacting with our young audience in a performance that will outline just what this "jazz" thing is. Look for us to get our audience involved in the performance and get everyone involved in the "jazz" thing.

Friday evening will feature Len Aruliah, our resident workshop saxophonist for this year's workshop. He will be performing with the faculty quintet a new suite of his own compositions inspired by Kenny Wheeler, the great Canadian trumpeter and composer who also resides in England. Both of today's concerts are at the Tsawwassen Arts Centre. Admission is Free. Thanks to Vancouver Port Authority and Terminal Systems for sponsoring today's concerts.

Festival update

Today is Friday and the festival is well underway. We have had a good audience for the first three days of festival concerts. Tuesday brought Brad Muirhead to perform and work with our workshop students on listening and improv skills. Karen Graves was in fine form Wednesday performing on various woodwinds and working with vocals. Thursday brought our first double bill with trumpeter Al Matheson performing and working with our students through a series of three masterclasses on improvisation in the afternoon, offering some great advice to our students. Thursday evening featured vibrophonist Marty Franklin with Nino DiPasquale in a concert of jazz standards and a tribute to Milt Jackson.


Here is a picture of Marty Franklin performing at Beaches in Tsawwassen on Thursday evening. We had a good crowd for the event despite some confusion in location.

The outdoor concert

Great tunes and great weather helped make this year's outdoor concert a success. Thanks to Envision for use of the tent and to the M&M's Meats for providing food and fixings. Here is a photo taken near the end of the day of the Tristan Rogers Trio. The Student workshop starts on Tuesday.

Almost there...

The third annual Delta Jazz Workshop is almost upon us. An article about the workshop was published in the South Delta Leader last Friday. Thanks to Chris Bryan for writing about us. Our first event is the outdoor concert this Sunday July 2 at Diefenbaker Park (56th St. at 1st Ave. in Tsawwassen). This concert features local musicians and bands from the Delta area. We still need volunteers to help with this event. If you are a jazz fan and are able to come and help out please contact Jamie. Thanks to Delta Parks and Rec for helping us make this event possible.

Jazz Elements

An interesting blog with lots of information about various Canadian jazz artists, news, concerts and reviews can be found at jazzelements.com. This website has lots of info about various artists and events happening across Canada. Also check out the article about our very own South Delta Jazz Festival

Ross Bliss at Vancouver Jazz Festival

The Ross Bliss Trio will also be appearing at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. June 24th at 6pm. at the Victory Square Stage in Gastown. Details on the festival website

The Quartet

Here is a pic of the quartet taken just before the June 10th concert at the arts centre. A fine performance featuring many of Len's own tunes.

Our workshop enrolment is almost full. Students wanting to come to the July workshop should get their application forms in this week.

Hot Jazz in June

Come out to the Arts Centre this Saturday June 10th for our pre-festival concert "Hot Jazz in June" featuring Len Aruliah. A few tickets are still available at the door on Saturday. Show is at 7:30 pm, come early to get a good seat. There is an afterparty at Beaches, down the street at the Coast Hotel at about 10pm.

Volunteers

We need volunteers for our festival. If you can help us out during the week of the festival, help set a stage, distribute flyers, etc. drop us a line at info@southdeltajazzfestival.com

Festival line up

Our concerts and festival line up for July is now set. Check out Festival Concerts

Relay for life

A few of our volunteer festival organizers will be out in force in support of the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life which will be held this Saturday May 13th at South Delta Secondary School in Tsawwassen.
Look for our Jazz Fest wandering minstrel's...

Vancouver International Jazz Festival

Several of our performers will be appearing in this years festival.

Marty Franklin- June 23, 2006 12 noon - Granville Island Stage.

Clark / Burrows / Taylor - June 24th, 2006 12:30 pm - Gastown Stage.

Djangophilia

An evening of acoustic music featuring Gypsy Jazz and Hot Club Swing. The music of Django Reinhardt. Jared Burrows, Ross Bliss - guitar, Stephen Robb - clarinet, Tommy Babin - bass
Saturday May 27th, 7:30 pm. Friends Meetinghouse 1090 W. 70th Vancouver. Tickets: $15 More Info

Welcome to the South Delta Jazz Festival Blog

Here you will find information about our upcoming third annual festival and events, and other news items relating to the event in Delta BC