Music in the County

Plenty of music from PEC Jazz Festival and BIGLAKE Arts

Music lovers in the County had a deliciously wide array of music choices over the past week, with more to come in the next few days. The Prince Edward County Jazz Festival kicked off its 25th anniversary on August 12 with an afternoon of jazz from the Brian Legere Quartet at Closson Chase Vineyards and a sold-out evening performance by Big Smoke Brass at Huff Estates Winery. The Jazz Festival offered six main stage shows as well as 15 shows at satellite locations across the County. Festival Committee chair Alan Weekes said they wanted to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the festival with something special. “We have the ‘American Songbook’ jazz and we also have the raise-the-roof jazz. Every day has been completely different and the crowds have just been stunning. We wanted to make it a more inclusive festival and bring in new jazz fans. It’s been spectacular and I’ve had a phenomenal time,” he said.

The Festival Committee does the fundraising and advertising for the annual event, but the music is curated by artistic director Sarah Kim Turnbull. This is her second year as artistic director, after taking over from Colleen Allen who succeeded Festival founder Brian Barlow. Ms. Turnbull came to the position after working as an international booking agent followed by seven years as the artistic director for the Markham Jazz Festival, and she has brought her dynamic energy to the PEC Jazz Festival. “This is so much fun,” she said. “It’s the best job in the world to program music at all these beautiful places in the County.” She approached this year’s lineup by asking herself what it means to make jazz and improvised music today. “Why is jazz important to us today, 50 or even 100 years on from jazz music? My theme and my focus of the lineup this year was thinking about contemporary players that I think are saying something really interesting,” she said.

“I heard the description that the epitome of jazz is a raucous dialogue. It’s incredible to witness the conversation that’s happening on stage and that creates the magic that we get to experience.”

This year’s lineup had an international flair. There was Iraqi- African jazz from Ahmed Moneka, gospel, jazz and funk from Doghouse Orchestra, Alana Bridgewater and Christopher played the music of the legendary Quincy Jones at the Regent Theatre, there was Mexican jazz from the Paco Luviano Quartet in Milford as part of a fundraiser for the South Shore Joint Initiative, and flamenco at the Grange of Prince Edward. Classic and improvisational jazz was also well represented by local performers including Lenni Stewart, Gord Sheard and Colleen Allen, Spencer Evans, and the Brian Coughlan Trio. These satellite jazz offerings were curated by PEC artistic director Brian Legere, and many were free to attend. The jazz festival concluded on Sunday night with a scintillating performance by Cuban pianist and composer Dánae Olano and her band at the Waring House.

This week also saw the start of the BIGLAKE Arts Festival. Pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico opened the festival last Friday at the Wellington Music Hall celebrating works by women composers. On Saturday the SHHH!! Ensemble of Zac Pulak on percussion and Edana Higham on piano played a selection of music inspired by the vastness of space and the motion of celestial bodied. In one interesting piece they used each other’s body as percussion instruments. They also played the ethereal Resonant Bodies in Space by Paolo Griffin. In this piece Ms. Higham placed two e-bows on the piano strings to create a constant underlying drone and then she and Mr. Pulak slowly drew a violin bow across the edge of a pair of cymbals, creating a dynamic spectrum of resonant sound. On Sunday there was a full day of music at the Wellington Music Hall with three successive concerts. The music continues today with David Maracle at the Wellington Music Hall, and The Fretless accompanied by singer Madeline Roger plays at the Regent Theatre on Thursday. There’s a Gala Concert by the BIGLAKE Chamber Ensemble on Friday at the Wellington Music Hall and the festival concludes on Saturday with the performance of two octets, also at the Wellington Music Hall. For more information, please visit biglakearts.com