What do you know! ‘Tis AUTUMN

I am somewhat surprised and yet willing to accept the fact that Autumn has indeed arrived. Summer was wonderful and filled with music and vacation time too.

I’m back to teaching in my music studio and I certainly do have some interesting piano and voice students ranging from very young to much older. Some like jazz. Some like classical music. Some are pop singer-songwriters. Some are absolute beginners. My task? To help teach and guide and motivate and cultivate the joy of music no matter what genre my students are interested in studying.

I still have space for new students in case someone out there is considering lessons. Note: typically, my music room is far more cluttered than this photo indicates and that is a fact! Often song books and piano books begin to pile up during the week. There is table for that specific purpose and every once in awhile I decide to place books back on the shelf in an attempt to keep things tidy, at least for a day or so. Ha!

Aside from my teaching I have some lovely opportunities to perform coming up, here in Vancouver and also in Toronto and I am certainly excited about the month of October.

Soon, I’ll be singing at Vancouver’s premiere jazz club: October 11th at Frankie’s!  I’m delighted about sharing some of the music I’ve been working on this past September. I’ll be singing lots of jazz standards, some are new to me and others I have revised after many years of neglecting or “resting” them. I have one new original that I will debut that evening with my band mates. Reservations can be made here: Frankie’s Jazz Club

Just a week later I will be heading to Toronto to attend the Audio Festival and the Vinyl Festival and, even more exciting to me, I’ll be singing two exclusive concerts with the acclaimed Mark Eisenman Trio. The one of a kind “Jazz In The Kitchen” concert series is where these performances will take place and tickets are available here: Jazz In The Kitchen

Last but certainly not least it’s time for the new Joy of Jazz Concert season to kick off and Sunday October 27 will be a doozy! Kate Hammett-Vaughan and I will be joined by Miles Black and Conrad Good and the evening will be a Cole Porter celebration.

Many years ago Kate performed Porter themed concerts entitled “Kate Loves Cole”. We both love Cole! So, our concert is entitled “Let’s Do It” and we’ll definitely include that song as well as many others. Further information at the website: Joy of Jazz Concerts

Enjoy your Autumn days everyone!

Karin

What’s Your Story Morning Glory?

August greetings everyone! Here in my Vancouver garden the flowers seems content with today’s refreshing rain. Moments before the rain really kicked in, I ran outside to take a photo of my Morning Glory flowers. I love this blue! It’s a good day for me to write a blog about some of the music related projects in my life right now.

I have a new recording which will be officially released in December. It’s called “I’ll Send This Dream” and it is dedicated to the memory of Nancy Thorwardson, a musician who really made an impact on many people with her songs, her sense of humour and her engaging personality. She is dearly missed. Check out more about Nancy at her website: https://www.nancythorwardson.com/

I consider myself lucky to make music with and record with mandolin star John Reischman and incredible guitarist John Miller.  I admire and respect the musicality of both these men so much! Recording engineer Marc L’Esperance  was able to record us “live off the floor” here in our dining room and I am very happy with the end result. It’s natural and unadorned and just the way we like it! We recorded some beautiful jazz standards and we also included some original songs. We’ll be performing a CD release concert later in the year. Thank you to Paul Norton for the graphic design:

I’ve been putting the finishing touches on the next Joy of Jazz Concert Series for 2019-2020. These concerts take place at Hood 29 on Main Street and this year we’re presenting the concerts on Sunday evenings: October 27, December 15, February 23 and April 26. These are early evening concerts starting at 7:30 PM so even people who are working the next morning will (hopefully) consider attending. This is my labour of love series! I am part of each concert however some of my personal pleasure comes from hearing my fellow musicians in performance together and in solo presentations as well. Web-Meister Paul Norton will have the new website up and running soon. Here’s a link to last year’s series: www.joyofjazzconcerts.com 

Take a look at who is involved in the 2019/2020 series!! Yeah, it’s going to be a doozy…

There may be one more “Plato Pop Up Performance” which will be part of this series in 2020. I’m still scheming…

Enjoy the rest of your summer days everyone and thanks for reading my blog.

Karin

Kate McGarry and Keith Ganz…for the love of music

For the love of music…That’s right! The love of music is the reason I decided to produce the “Joy of Jazz Concerts” series in Vancouver.  Over a year ago now I began to sculpt and hone and shape my idea of presenting a small concert series which would enable the musicians to perform a nuanced and dynamic program where each and every note, phrase, word and musical line would be heard by the audience.  It’s all about the intimate and shared experience of a jazz performance whereby freedom of expression and playing in the moment help create the situation where both the listener and the music makers come together and connect and experience a type of bond.

The 3^rd and final concert of this inaugural season takes place at the end on Sunday May 31 at St. James Hall.  Entitled “Songbird of May” the concert will feature Grammy nominee vocalist Kate McGarry and her husband Keith Ganz; an absolutely exceptional guitarist. This will be their Canadian debut and I certainly wish for a warm Vancouver welcome for the two of them. It is true that here in Vancouver Kate and Keith might not necessarily be house hold names.  I am one of several jazz fans who admire and appreciate these two fine artists and their approach to music making. Together they have made several recording together within larger ensembles and their latest release “Genevieve & Ferdinand” is a celebration of their ten year marriage and musical relationship. It’s a duo record and the recording has been receiving rave reviews from music columnists and reviewers everywhere. If not yet widely known in Vancouver, Kate and Keith are certainly well known in the USA and beyond and they have fans all around the world.

As I am concert presenter I believe I must cling to that adage “if you build it, they will come” and I need to continue to work on spreading the word of the upcoming concert in a variety of ways. I admit to having had a few insomnia-filled nights as I worry about how to attract a full house for these acclaimed musicians. Let me tell you more about Kate McGarry and Keith Ganz and why I love their music so much.

Kate and Keith perform what I call “music without glam or glitz”. It’s all about the soul, the story, the improvisations.  Those who know, really KNOW about these two great musicians and are well aware of their exciting musical chemistry and the high level of artistry they present in concerts and on recordings. Kate and Keith dig deep within songs you may have heard before but will hear again for the first time as new meaning announces itself within the lyric interpretation and harmonic development and soundscape. They seem to dig deeper still into their own souls and reveal some fragility while remaining strong at the same time (yes, that might sound like a contradiction) The duo remain confident in their exploration of the human condition. Their candor and truth allows us to experience our own personal stories and emotions and reactions. We are gently led on a type of journey that lays it all out on the table: this is life, this is love, this is sorrow, this is beauty, this is in the moment, this happened, this is connection…

It’s not all a deep chasm of serious stuff. There’s joyful abandon in the musical motifs and rhythms and improvisations.  There’s exhilaration in the energy release in the faster burning grooves and the interplay between voice and guitar. Above all there remains this truth seeking within each song interpretation. We breathe more deeply, we listen, we dance, we experience, we think, we identify, we remember.

Tickets are available now at Brownpapertickets.com  or follow links at www.joyofjazzconcerts.com You can also buy tickets at Red Cat Records on Main Street in Vancouver.

Special thank you to The Georgia Straight, Stikjazz Music, The Rogue Folk Club, Oceanwest Construction and to Coastal Jazz and Blues Society.