The Offering of Curtis Andrews puts a worldly spin on jazz at Performance Works, July 4
The Newfoundland-born, Vancouver-based percussionist and scholar brings influences from Africa and South Asia to his musical explorations
Curtis Andrews. Photo by Ruby Singh
As part of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Coastal Jazz presents The Offering of Curtis Andrews at Performance Works on July 4 at 1:30 pm
CURTIS ANDREWS moved from one side of Canada to the other. In his travels both physical and musical, the drummer and percussionist—who was born in Newfoundland but now calls Vancouver home—has wandered a lot farther afield.
Andrews has spent time in Ghana, India, South Africa, and Zimbabwe, picking up influences—and instruments—along the way.
A peek at Andrews’s musical C.V. reveals that he “plays mbira, drums and marimba with Zimbabwean groups Zhambai Trio and Zimbamoto, explores South Indian classical Carnatic music with vocalist Vidyasagar Vankayala, regularly collaborates with local Bharatanatyam performers, and is a regular collaborator with various world music and jazz musicians in and around Vancouver”.
It also tells us that Andrews earned a PhD in ethnomusicology and is an adjunct professor at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and Memorial University of Newfoundland, all of which is to say that his creative wanderings have a strong academic grounding.
He also infuses jazz into his world-music explorations in an ensemble that takes its name from his 2009 album The Offering of Curtis Andrews.
It’s this band—which also includes jazz vocalist Shruti Ramani, percussionist Paul Bray, guitarist Jared Burrows, vibraphonist Robin Layne, bassist David Soutar-Spidel, and trumpet player Kristian Naso—that Andrews will lead in a pay-what-you-can concert at Performance Works on July 4 as part of Granville Island Jazz at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. 
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