Jazz Masters

Jazz Festival sponsors a series of concerts

This year would have been the twentieth season for the Prince Edward County Jazz Festival, but the COVID- 19 pandemic forced a cancellation of all the planned events. Live music concerts, both large and small, indoors or outdoors, ground to a standstill. The scope of the closure went from single musicians playing in downtown bars, to musical theatre, classical opera and symphony orchestras. It was not only the musicians that lost their livelihoods; it was all of the support staff too—technicians, road crew, makeup artists, wardrobe, set builders. Some musicians went to an online presence, streaming live music from their living rooms. But for many, playing with their peers in front of a live audience is a dream still to be realized. However, small steps are being taken to bring musicians together, sometimes with a small live audience, but more often for a h i g h – q u a l i t y recording to be broadcast later. Such was the case last Thursday afternoon for the first in a series of jazz concerts at the Empire Theatre in Bellville sponsored by the Prince Edward County Jazz Festival. “This is not the Prince Edward County Jazz Festival. This is giving us an opportunity to bring in some of the finest jazz musicians in the world to do these concerts,” said Festival creative director Brian Barlow. “We decided we would record these concerts and then broadcast them. We’re calling the series Jazz Masters. That’s in reference not only to the musicians we’re bringing in, but also to the material we’re going to be doing.”

Dave Young plays the bass during a jazz concert featuring the music of Oscar Peterson at the Empire Theatre in Belleville.

The concert last Thursday was a tribute to Oscar Peterson called Aspects of Oscar, and featured Dave Young on bass. He played and toured with Peterson for over 35 years. Joining Young was guitarist Reg Schwager and pianist John Sherwood. The trio played a number of compositions by Peterson, including Nigerian Marketplace and Cakewalk, as well as tunes by other jazz composers. Barlow joined the trio on drums for the final two numbers—this was only the second time since March that he had played live with other musicians. The concert was also a way to thank the sponsors for their long-term commitment to the Festival. A number of sponsors were invited to attend the concert, and were presented with a commemorative vase made by Wellington glass artist Mark Armstrong. “Without the generous sponsors we would not have been able to maintain and improve the Festival through the years,” said John Puddy, chair of the Festival board. “We agreed it would be important to recognize the people who have enabled us to continue upon this journey together.” The committee wanted an item that was unique, made in the County and symbolic of excellence in a craft, and Puddy found these qualities in a vase made by Armstrong using the process of glue chipping. It’s a labour-intensive processing of applying small daubs of hide glue to a glass surface—the glue shrinks as it dries and flakes off a shard of glass, leaving a fan-like pattern on the surface. Armstrong is just one of three artisans who have the skill to do this process on a curved surface, and he typically only makes two of these vases each year. The Festival commissioned him to make seven of them for their sponsors: Catherine and Lanny Huff, Peter and Celia Sage, Janet and Ken Harnden, Norah and Chris Rogers, Libby Crombie, Mark Rashotte, and Terry Sheard.

Barlow is very excited to be playing music with his peers again, and they in turn are very enthusiastic about the jazz series. Initially Barlow was considering a bi-weekly series of concerts, but now expects it will be a weekly event. “We’re just thrilled with this opportunity, and it allows us to do what we do again, and it keeps the crew here busy, the theatre busy,” he said. “The next one we’re doing is Dave Brubeck’s Take Five. We’re doing a tribute to Cannonball Adderly, we’re doing Miles Davis and—I’m really thrilled about this— we’ll be doing Duke Ellington’s Nutcracker Suite with my full big band on the stage. And we’re going to do A Charlie Brown Christmas and a tribute to Chet Baker. I’m from Belleville, I was born here and I used to come to this theatre as a kid when it was called the Mc- Carthy, so it’s very meaningful for me to come back here and do this. I’m really happy to be able to do this, and Mark Rashotte is a real hero of live theatre and music here, and he made this happen, and he deserves a great deal of credit.”

The first concert is set for broadcast on October 18 at 2 p.m. It is a ticketed concert, and viewers are encouraged to make a donation via a virtual tip jar on the screen. For more information, please visit pecjazz.org or theempiretheatre.com