When we first came to Winnipeg, one of the first things we started was the Monday Night Hang. That was a lot of fun because it was the place where I got to meet everyone and everyone got to meet me. It was exciting to see symphony musicians and blues musicians and jazz musicians, young […]

After a year away, drummer Curtis Nowosad is becoming a familiar face here in Winnipeg again. Fresh off a headliner show with Jimmy Greene at the TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival in June, and a rash of events across Canada as the leader of his first tour, Curtis will be reconnecting with friends here in […]

The summer after grade 8, I went to music camp. The first week I was there, I met a tuba player who was a year younger than me and ten times a better player. There was a bassoonist who spent his spare time conducting (with a real baton) as he listened to Beethoven on his […]

Brooke Van Ryssel started singing about the same time she started to talk, and everything since then has confirmed her desire to sing her heart out. A new graduate of the Jazz Studies program at the University of Manitoba, Brooke brings to the stage a great voice and convincing storytelling, plus a dose of old-fashioned […]

This summer, a new learning opportunity is opening up for a handful of gifted young musicians in Winnipeg’s underserved neighbourhoods. Thanks to a grant from the Manitoba Arts Council and some determined maneuvering by Jazz Winnipeg, the University of Manitoba, and a few committed souls, we’re rolling out the first incarnation of the Jazz on […]

Horace Ward Martin Tavares Silver [b. 1928] was exposed to lots of different music from a very early age. His Portuguese father and American mother listened to Portuguese and Cape Verdean folk music, and at church he heard the gospel music his mother sang. Later, he listened to blues records from the 1930s and 19r0s […]

“Little” Jimmy Scott—born James Victor Scott—had one of the most distinctive voices and styles in jazz. Both his small stature and his unusually high contralto sound were caused by a rare genetic condition, but he was not hampered by that. He rocketed to attention in the 50s and 60s, performing with Charlie Parker, Sarah Vaughan, […]

Youn Sun Nah. I imagine that is a name most of you are hearing for the first time. I recently discovered this artist-visionary-vocalist when I clicked on a link in a promotional email from her booking agent. Lucky for me that I did! While Youn Sun Nah is relatively unknown to most of us in […]

I’m thinking a lot these days about a compelling conversation I hosted at McNally’s recently. Rupert Ross, a retired crown attorney and prosecutor who worked for several decades in northern Ontario was in town with a new book, Indigenous Healing: Exploring Traditional Paths. He talked about what he has learned—and what he continues to learn—from […]