Jazz, folk, and world beat: BlueShore at CapU announces winter and spring 2023 concert season
Ten shows span everything from African music to old-time bluegrass at three different venues
High Bar Gang.
BRING ON 2023: BlueShore at CapU has announced 10 jazz, folk, and worldbeat concerts at three venues throughout the coming winter and spring. Most take place at the newly renovated BlueShore at CapU, except where noted.
It all kicks off with Gord Grdina’s The Marrow on January 30, 2023 at 8 pm. The Juno Award-winning Vancouver musician brings the oud, an ancient lute-type instrument, to Western jazz. Grdina’s oud playing drives his numerous projects, including his quartet, The Marrow. Expect dense music with rhythmic counterpoints from the group that’s rounded out by Mark Helias on bass, Hank Roberts on cello, and percussionist Hamin Honari.
Known for lively old-time bluegrass, Vancouver’s seven-piece Juno-nominated High Bar Gang has performed everywhere from Vancouver International Jazz Festival to San Francisco’s Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival and has opene3d for Blue Rodeo. A winner of the Canadian Folk Music Award for Vocal Group of the Year, the band plays on February 1, 2023 at 8 pm
Grammy-winning instrumentalist artist Scott Robinson (who has 275 recordings to his name) joins CapU Jazz Ensembles on February 3 at 8 pm. A collector of rare instruments who plays theremin and ophicleide, he has been heard on tenor sax with Buck Clayton’s band, on trumpet with Lionel Hampton’s quintet, on alto clarinet with Paquito D’Rivera’s clarinet quartet, and on bass sax with the New York City Opera.
Rahim AlHaj Trio performs on February 17, 2023 at 8 pm at Mel Lehan Hall at St James Community Hall in Vancouver. AlHaj began playing the oud at age nine and is now considered to be one of the finest oud musicians in the world. He’ll be joined by Sourena Sefati on santoor (of the hammered dulcimer family) and Nicholas Baker on percussion.
Azae Loo (Festival/Celebration): West African Music with Kofi Gbolonyo and CapU Jazz Ensembles takes place on March 3, 2023 at 8 pm. Gbolonyo is a scholar, educator, and performer whose primary research and expertise are in West African traditional music and dance, Ewe indigenous culture, multicultural music education, Ghanaian brass band, and choral music. He also co-founded and directs the West African music-inspired drum/dance group Adanu Habobo.
JigJam performs on March 9, 2023 at 8 pm. The award-winning quintet from Ireland blends traditional Irish music with bluegrass and Americana to create a new genre branded as ‘I-Grass’ (Irish-influenced bluegrass). You’ll hear banjos, guitars, fiddles, mandolins, double-bass, and more.
Percussionist Joachim Cooder, who describes his music as electro-Congo-Bali blues, performs March 11, 2023, 8 pm at St. James Community Hall. Having been featured on legendary recordings (including Buena Vista Social Club sessions) with his father, Ry Cooder, and with artists like Mavis Staples, Dr. John, and Ali Farka Touré, he will play electric mbira, tankdrum, keys, and hand percussion at the show, while bandmates Sam Gendel and Rayna Gellert will exchange guitar, bass, banjo, mandocello, and more.
On March 19, Derek Gripper performs at Mel Lehan Hall at St James Community Hall. The musician’s note-for-note transcriptions of the complex compositions of Kora master Toumani Diabaté led to a distinctive interpretation of the music on a six-string guitar, which appears on his ninth album, One Night on Earth. The release created an unprecedented meeting point between the written tradition of Western classical music and the oral tradition of the West African griots. His more recent recordings, including Billy Goes to Durban (2021) and Sleep Songs for My Daughter (2022), include original compositions, improvisation, and recitations of works by composers like Bach, Arvo Pärt, Salif Keita, Fanta Sacko, and Baaba Maal.
In a coproduction with The Cultch, Juno-nominated singer-songwriter Jill Barber takes to the stage at the York Theatre on April 15 at 8 pm, when she’ll perform songs off of Homemaker. The new release marks the first time she has co-produced her own album. As the title suggests, the album is a reflection on marriage, motherhood, and self-identity. It also represents a return to Barber's stripped-down folk roots after her more pop, jazz and soul repertoire of recent albums.
On April 18, 2023 at 8 pm, Juno-nominated Florian Hoefner Trio performs. A German-born, Eastern Canadian-based jazz pianist and composer, Hoefner has a unique brand of modern jazz. His trio, meanwhile, which features Andrew Downing on bass and Nick Fraser on drums, earned a Juno nomination for its debut album, First Spring, which focuses on Hoefner’s arrangements of folk tunes from around the world. The group’s follow-up album, Desert Bloom, includes original compositions that showcase Hoefner’s lyricism.
More information is at BlueShore at CapU.
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