Winnipeg definitely has its checks and balances. For example, we just had one of the mildest winters in recent memory. Relatively speaking, we hardly kept an accumulation of more than a foot or two of snow the whole time. It’s like we somehow pulled a fast one on the whole eastern seaboard and they wound […]

Winnipeggers will have the exciting opportunity to see one of the true masters of improvisatory music, Kenny Barron, perform at this year’s Jazz Festival. Barron is an extraordinary pianist and musician. He is steeped in the tradition of jazz music, having worked with many jazz greats such as Lee Morgan and James Moody, as well […]

In 2013, I attended the memorial service for Ana Márquez-Greene. An image I’ll never forget is Jimmy Greene towering at the front of the congregation, hands outstretched in brokenness before God. What other response is possible in the midst of such an unfathomable tragedy? Two years later, Jimmy has crafted another response, his latest album […]

Originally from Cincinnati Ohio, Fred Hersch is one of the truly great pianists on the scene today. After showing early promise as a classical pianist, Fred became immersed in jazz while studying at Grinnell College in Iowa. He broke onto the scene in the late 70s as a sideman with Art Farmer, Jane Ira Bloom, […]

Aren’t we lucky that Juno Award-winning saxophonist-composer Christine Jensen has her own big band, and that she is touring it through our very own TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival?  Aren’t we lucky, with so many current stories of destruction and sadness, that we can hear her collaborate with her renowned trumpeter sister Ingrid to actually […]

Throughout his distinguished career as both a bandleader and sideman, English bassist Dave Holland has emerged as one of the most identifiable voices of his generation. He first rose to prominence in the late 60s as a result of playing with Miles Davis, appearing on seminal albums such as the jazz-fusion classic In a Silent […]

Pianist Robi Botos is a freak of nature. He’s what you get when you mix together Herbie Hancock, Billy Preston, George Duke, and Oscar Peterson (one of his mentors). He’s got technique, he’s got style, he’s got invention. Botos was born in Hungary, of Roma descent. (He did the score for a recent Canadian film, […]

A quiet guy with a warm smile, Carter Graham has clearly been putting in serious practice hours since he graduated from the Jazz Studies program a couple of years back. His piano work is sensitive, lively, and always musical. He remembers rocking out to his parents’ Beatles and Rolling Stones LPs when he was only […]

In April, I stood at the back of the band room at Vincent Massey Collegiate to hear the Youth Jazz Collective, an auditioned tentet of young jazz musicians from high schools around the city. They played tough, contemporary music—including a tune composed by their bandleader Jon Gordon—and they sounded good. Very good. They were playing […]

Ain’t But a Few of Us Left is one of the best albums Milt “Bags” Jackson ever recorded. It is billed as a Jackson CD, but it is less about him than an encounter of four masters: Jackson on vibes, Oscar Peterson on piano, Ray Brown on bass, and Grady Tate on drums. It is […]

Recently I heard about a fascinating experiment in early childhood education. In one scenario, the researcher plops down with a group of young kids and says, “Hey, I just got this new toy. I wonder what it does?” She pokes away at it, makes it peep. In the other scenario, the researcher plops down with […]

There are many great drummers in the world but few great musicians who just happen to be drummers. Otis Brown III is one of those few drummers who is truly a wonderful musician. Raised by musical parents, Otis grew up playing many different styles of music including gospel, jazz, funk and rhythm and blues. His […]