The aptly-titled Niagara Jazz Festival comes up August 22nd to 24th at various locations in Niagara-on-the-Lake, ranging from the local library to Stratus Vineyards, The Village, Garrison House, Jackson-Triggs, Oast House Brewery and The Old Winery.
This new event joins a crowded field of summer jazz and blues events, particularly in Niagara-on-the-Lake, but Juliet Dunn, Executive Director of the Festival along with her husband, pianist Peter Shea, are confident they can carve out a nice little niche for themselves in Niagara and grow into a marquee event for music lovers throughout the Region.
They are musicians themselves, of course, so they know the people they are bringing on board for the weekend, having engaged many of them for their popular Twilight Jazz series that showcased local jazz talent since 2011. Dunn and Shea are also wise enough to know a project like this can easily get out of hand if all the bases are not covered, so they are employing the considerable talents of bassist, composer and arranger Duncan Hopkins as Artistic Director for the event.
The music will range from traditional jazz vocals to dixieland and beyond, drawing talent from the considerable pool of resources right here in Niagara. On tap to perform at the first festival are such names as the Blue Note Tribute Quintet, John Neudorf, Heather Bambrick, John Sherwood, Ashley St. Pierre, Alistair Robertson, Barbra Lica, Brian Dickinson, Brian O'Kane, Brownman Electryc Trio, Chase Sanborn, Dixie Demons, Don Naduriak, Frank's Bus Brass Band and Graham Lear among others.
While much of the talent is local, both Dunn and Shea hope over time the Festival will grow and in turn draw international artists as well as local musicians. Why not? Musicians love to perform, and feed off each other's unique talents.
If you're tempted by the lineup, more information is available at www.niagarajazzfestival.com.
When I wrote those words in July, I was unawares another local jazz festival was also scheduled for this month in Niagara, as the Niagara Region Jazz Festival kicks off this Friday and runs for ten days at several Niagara locations.
Event co-organizer Tamas Brummer told QMI Niagara Arts & Entertainment guru John Law this week he knows creating a viable jazz scene right here in Niagara will be "an uphill climb" as he puts it.
True enough. There have been other jazz festivals launched in Niagara over the years, meeting with varied degrees of success. One of the more notable festivals to fall by the wayside was held at Jaycee Park in north St. Catharines a few summers back, also in August, and it lasted but one season.
Anyway, back to the Niagara Region Jazz Festival. This festival seems more geared to locals rather than tourists, as evidenced by the locations for the events, scattered throughout Niagara rather than concentrated in Niagara-on-the-Lake over three days next weekend.
This Friday for example, the regional festival kicks off at Canalside Restaurant in Port Colborne, with Lara Solnicki performing. The Wares perform Saturday night at the Panini Restaurant on Front Street in downtown Thorold, and GinTonic perform at Calamus Estate Winery down in Jordan on Sunday.
The following week, Fonthill's Cafe on Main plays host to Niagara Falls' own Khea Emmanuel August 20th, followed by Storyville Project at The Sanctuary Centre for the Arts in Ridgeway on the 22nd, and Adrean Farrugia teams up with Mary McKay August 24th at Savoury and Sweet in downtown Chippawa.
There will also be an all-day "Jazz in the Park" event at Merritt Park in downtown Welland on August 23rd, featuring a lineup that includes artists such as Karin Viser, the Gypsy Rebels and the Scott Taplay Trio among others.
Most of the concerts are very reasonably priced at between ten and fifteen dollars, although the Savoury and Sweet event includes dinner for $35 and the all-day event in Welland also costs $35. All in all, prices that should appeal to local music lovers who want to catch more than one event this month.
Although the Niagara Region Jazz Festival does not appear to have a website up, at least not yet, you can follow them on Facebook for updates and more information by searching JazzNiagaraRegion.
Let's hope both these festivals find their audience and prosper while both operating in each other's backyard. For too long we've have a lack of great jazz music in the Region, so both these local festivals will hopefully address that problem and provide local audiences with an affordable reason to come out and enjoy some great music with friends and family.
Enjoy the month of August...and all that jazz!
August 13th, 2014.
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