The kids are alright

Prince Edward County Jazz Festival puts its focus on youth

The Prince Edward County Jazz Festival (PECJF) will be making its annual visit to the County from August 14 to19 and this year’s lineup still has surprises up its sleeve, with some big names still to be announced. The festival has also added some new venues, with Three Dog Winery and The Mill in Consecon joining the eclectic mix of concert locations around the County. What makes this festival unique is that Creative Director Brian Barlow and the team spend an enormous amount of time carefully curating each season of the PECJF. Throughout the year the team will scout musicians, meet with any young prospects and their families, check in with developing talent. All under the watchful eye of Barlow, who every year digs deep into the jazz community to bring together an exciting mix of old friends, hot new talent, and internationally renown artists for jamming, concerts, dinners and more. This year an exciting addition to the festival will be an afterhours jam session being hosted in the loft at the Regent Theatre in Picton. Doors open at 10 p.m. Thursday to Saturday and will be hosted by the Adrean Farrugia Trio. Look for the jazz players participating in the festival that evening to possibly end up at the jam session.

In a time where it’s becoming harder and harder for youth to disengage from screens, the PECJF has spent the past few years focusing on the youth of the jazz world and how to help. It’s something that has become important not only to the festival, but to young players looking for a future and possibly a career in jazz music. Barlow’s commitment to bringing young, emerging talent to the festival is one he takes very seriously. The youth are expected to rise to the occasion, and it takes guts. If you are chosen to perform as a youth at PECJF, you would have had to go through a couple of frank discussions with Barlow about whether or not you could handle the pressure. But those conversations also come with a wealth of support and knowledge that Barlow and the team impart on the kids they’ve chosen. Many of the youth come back to the festival as feature performers. So many in fact, that after a few years, Barlow and the festival committee started to notice an interesting trend developing in the programming of the festival.

“We realized that a lot of the performers at PECJF we had met earlier as youth in high school, then again through Young Jazz or Rising Star programs, and once again for a mainstage concert. We thought that it was really cool to have youth come up through the ranks and stay committed to our programs for so long” says Barlow.

This year’s lineup at PECJF features four former Rising Young Stars with Marika Galea (2014), Hannah Barstow (2016), Andrew McAnsh (2017) and Brad Eaton (2015).

The festival has three youth initiatives, the first being the PECJF Jazz Education Program. Currently in its eighth year, the program brings four high school jazz ensembles to Isaiah Tubbs for an intensive three-day program in April, culminating in a concert at the Regent Theatre. Students are given the unique chance to work closely with some of the country’s top jazz performers and music educators. The second is the Young Jazz Series, which features post-secondary jazz students in paid performances. The Young Jazz Series will host two concerts in the PECJF at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church.

Juno-nominated jazz singer Barbra Lica performs with the Brian Barlow Big Band at the Regent Theatre during last year’s Jazz Festival.

The Andrew McAnsh Trio plays on Thursday, August 16 and Laura Angelade Trio plays on Saturday, August 18. Both shows are at 4:30 p.m. and are free.

The third initiative is the Rising Young Star program, where each year a talented jazz student is afforded the opportunity to participate in the festival. It’s no easy gig. The chosen youth will perform each night as a guest with the main stage artists at the Regent Theatre in Picton, as well as a featured concert at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church. The candidates are chosen by the PECJF Board of Directors and the award is generously sponsored by Betsy Kidd. This year’s Rising Young Star Award recipient is Emily Steinwall, a saxophonist from Toronto, Ontario who just graduated from Humber College and already has several awards under her belt from various jazz combos she has been involved with. Previous Rising Young Star winners are Andrew Mc Ansh in 2017 and Hannah Barstow in 2016. All three initiatives continue to grow and be successful. For Barlow and the PECJF, the talented youth of the jazz world will always be a focus for the festival.

“What it shows is that we have this connection with young performers right now, and that this program is getting us somewhere with the kids of today. The Committee and I truly feel that the most important work that we will have done, when looking back, will be our work with young people. We are trying to encourage their careers,” says Barlow.

Barlow also stresses that he doesn’t treat the youth performers as a novelty in the festival. A lot of times youth talent in festivals like these will be put together in a band or ensemble. But Barlow makes the point that all that’s doing is piling youth with other youth at their level. The youth that are chosen to play at PECJF get the chance to play with the best of the best in the jazz world, and a lot is expected from them. What the festival gives back to the youth in return for doing their best is a long-lasting relationship. They try not to lose track of past youth performers that have been involved in PECJF programs. A lot of former participants are asked back again. That Barlow takes the time to weave talented young jazz performers throughout his festival programming is testament to the fact that a big part of the festival’s identity has become supporting and encouraging the young jazz players of the world. Barlow jokes that all this “working with youth” happened by accident, but there is a real sincerity behind what PECJF is doing to encourage the youth of today. For Barlow and the committee, it’s a big workload. Even though this year’s festival is still weeks away from starting, they are already meeting about the 2019 season. For Barlow, his passion for the PECJF is undeniable.

“This is a festival like no other. There are many things that make this unique. We steer away from huge, bigname acts and in turn focus on creating our own curated programming every year designed for the audience to enjoy. Our goal is always to have the past, present and future of jazz represented in our programming,” says Barlow.

The festival opens Tuesday August 14 with Barlow hosting a talk and film presentation of Just Call Me Miles at 7 p.m. in the Regent Theatre loft. There is no cover. Other highlights of the PECJF will include the Carol Welsman Quartet at the Regent Theatre on Friday, August 17 and the Jazz Van with the Chameleon Jazz band on Saturday, August 18. The Jazz Van will make four stops across the County at The Mill in Consecon, Rosehall Run, Huff Estates and the Bloomfield United Church. The Featured Artist for 2018 is Tara Davidson, who is a nine-time Juno nominated alto and soprano saxophonist and has performed in some of the biggest venues around the world. Davidson will be playing every day of the festival at various locations.