I see dig! magazine as an ongoing chronicle of every jazz event that has occurred on my radar since 2004, the year after I arrived in Winnipeg. It’s a staggering amount! I’m amazed when I think about the number of people who’ve come here to play, to teach, to share music with us, and when […]

I’m now going into my eleventh cold season here and I am a bit surprised about the amount of anticipation I feel about the ensuing winter. (I’m actually not kidding about this.) My favorite part of the cold season in Winnipeg is the time leading up to the holiday break in December. It’s the coziest […]

Niall Bakkestad-Legare is a powerful young tenor saxophonist who graduated a couple of years ago from the Jazz Studies program at the University of Manitoba. He has a big sound and tremendous facility, but he also has an open, philosophical nature that gives his musical ideas reach and depth. When did you decide you wanted […]

The Rady Jewish Community Centre once again hosts Tarbut: Festival of Jewish Culture in mid-November. Alongside lectures, films, readings, art, and a market, festival goers have an opportunity to see three great concerts with Jewish connections. Israeli violinist Michael Greilsammer opens the festival November 15, performing his intriguing mix of traditional fiddling with Irish and […]

Winnipeg is on the fall tour circuit for two young Canadian singers. First out of the gate is Jill Barber, a Vancouver-based singer whose work evokes the glamour of bygone eras. With several recordings under her belt, including Chances, Mischievous Moon, and Chansons, she has become an audience favourite in Canada, Australia, and elsewhere, known […]

The Cool Wednesday Night Hang celebrated ten years this spring. When we started it up, jam sessions were not familiar to local players, but they’re an essential part of a jazz musician’s development—they’re also a lot of fun! Jam sessions are designed to give musicians a chance to socialize, play together, and share ideas while […]

Cannonball Adderley was an affable, good-natured guy, and a great, folksy communicator. The blues-based tone he found on his alto saxophone was distinctive and helped to define the hard bop sound, a more intense, more melodic evolution from bebop. He was liked and respected by other musicians; he even played on Miles Davis’s influential Kind […]

There are so many great contemporary artists out there with their own unique vision of this music. If I could bring anybody I wanted to Winnipeg, it would be Grant Stewart and Eric Alexander, two of the greatest modern tenor players, each of whom have absorbed and filtered the history of the instrument through their […]

I met Steve Kirby in October of 2004, right around the time of the first issue of dig! magazine. A clever graduate student thought we’d be a good match of skills and temperament for a poetry-bass duo. We had great fun at our gig, and before he left, he handed me a magazine, proudly and […]