A YOUTUBE Pick (#2) – “This is just stupid good”

Posted on 2013-12-31 by Rod Wilson

Treat your self and click on the above link for some of the most amazing foot stomping joyous music you are ever likely to hear. The musicians are Troy MacGillivray on keyboard and fiddle and Tim Edey on button accordion and classical guitar. This is an extended 12 minute set of about eight tunes that includes Silver Spear, Moving Cloud, Road to Errogie, MacArthur Road, Lad Obeirne’s and the great Quebecois tune Mouth of the Tobique (at minute 7:18). This is an amazing set of great tunes, blazing runs, stomping rhythm (just listen to the audience), great variations, instrument switching, and some sly capo repositioning by Tim. These guys are so good that they sound like they are from another planet. The two musicians are obviously having great fun and Tim’s comment mid set “what’s the next hymn Troy” is priceless. This link was passed to me by local fiddle player Angus (‘Gus’) MacDonald. It is from the Cape Breton Celtic Colours Festival that is held every fall in Nova Scotia. ‘Gus’ has been taking fiddle lessons from Troy MacGillivray………….. This is amazing stuff.

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Apre Ski with The Rosie Brown Band

Posted on 2013-12-29 by Rod Wilson

The Rosie Brown Band at the Stemwinder Bar and Grill (Kimberley Ski Hill), Sunday December 22, 2013, 3-6pm

Paige Lennox – banjo & vocals; Cosima Wells – vocals, guitar; Janice Nicli – bass and vocals; Shauna Plant – mandolin & vocals; Heather Gemmell – guitar, dobro & vocals

The Kimberley Ski Hill and the Stemwinder Bar and Grill are once again back in the Apre Ski business. This time with the bluegrass collective known as The Rosie Brown Band. These local ladies are the step children of the Sorrento Blue Grass Camp in Salmon Arm. At one time or another they have all attended the camp and workshops to learn, polish their skills, jam and have a good time playing acoustic music. From their experiences they bring to the stage a wealth of traditional and original songs and tunes that they reinvent in a unique vocal style.

Here are some images from Sunday’s performance:

The Rosie Brown Band would like to thank Dave Prinn for coming to their rescue as a sound tech for the Sunday session.

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Jim Hall – R.I.P. December 10, 2013

Posted on 2013-12-25 by Rod Wilson

“A light snow falls today on the wonder that is New York City. As I walk the streets and ride the subway, I glance at the faces around me. Young jazz student firebrands blow be-bop in the West 4th St. station. A young woman wearing earbuds mouths the words to a song and does some dance steps down Sixth Avenue. It is another day, a new day. But as I ponder the news received this morning that Jim Hall, one of the greatest musicians of all time and a monumental influence on me and many of my elders and colleagues, has passed away, it’s not just the blessed arrival of a new day and all its possibilities that assails me. It is the sad fact that one of the great ones has moved on, and that feeling always affects everything as I/we move forward…. “ – Nels Cline

Jim played some of the most innovative and visionary jazz throughout his career, From the late-50s, he blazed trails and made history with the Chico Hamilton Quintet (Chico, R.I.P.), the Jimmy Giuffre Three, Paul Desmond, Sonny Rollins, and in duet with Bill Evans, among many others. – Nels Cline

Jim Hall Wikipedia entry

Jim Hall Documentary

It seems like the jazz guitarist Jim Hall has been around forever. The first time I heard him was on a Jazz Anthology LP in the mid-1960`s that, unfortunately, also featured the superb Herb Ellis. I say unfortunately because Herb was a blues oriented player with an edge that, at the time, had more appeal to my youthful rock&roll sensibilities. I tended to overlook Jim Hall. He was more laid back with a very mellow approach. It took me many years to develop a real appreciation for Jim`s approach and realize that he is one of the true giants of jazz guitar. My appreciation grew exponentially when I first obtained the Mosaic Box Set of The Complete Capital and Atlantic Recordings of Jimmy Giuffre. Recorded from 1954 through 1958. Jimmy Giuffre was a clarinetist, saxophonist and composer with a somewhat experimental approach that proved to be a perfect fit for Jim Hall. The Complete Recordings of the Paul Desmond Quartet with Jim Hall was another milestone in my developing appreciation. Paul Desmond was definitely one of Jim’s musical soul mates and this collection features a fairly straight ahead jazz approach to many jazz standards as well as a wealth of Bossa Nova tunes. The material was recorded between 1959 though to 1965. Like a lot of true musical giants Jim Hall recorded prolifically throughout his career and constantly evolved from one project to the next. He was not a dramatic figure; no prima donna acting out; no drug abuse issues; just a solid ordinary guy with a family, a career, and a very professional approach to his craft. Throughout his life he played exceptional music in a plethora of circumstances. He was still actively performing, and I don’t mean just going through the motions, right up to his death. He died peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday December 10th, 2013.

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Jazz at The Heid Out

Posted on 2013-12-21 by Rod Wilson

Ferdy Belland informs me that way back in the 1960’s Cranbrook was a jazz town (“don’t judge Cranbrook by the sawmill”). I didn’t arrive in Cranbrook until 1976 so I can’t vouch for that but I do know that in the 1980’s there was jazz around town. The big band, The Sounds of the Forties was a going concern as was the band Wham Go the Ducks. I don’t recall any significant local jazz groups since those bands stopped performing. There have been the occasional touring groups that have dropped into the Studio / Stage Door to take part in Gord & Jill Johnston’s Swing Street concert series. The the Key City Theatre featured jazz and blues on an infrequent basis. But, by and large, the town went over to mostly Classic Rock in the bars and now, of course, that scene has largely dried up as well. Over the past 18 months there has been a resurgence in live Jazz in the area. There have been two mini-festivals run by the Kimberley Arts Council that featured jazz groups from as far away as Poland and Belgium. Two local bands, The Jazz Council and The Little Jazz Orchestra, have also kept the jazz flame alive and burning during that period. The Little Jazz Orchestra (featuring Dave Ward on trumpet and Flugelhorn, Jim Cameron on Guitar, Janice Nicli on Bass and Graham Knipfel on drums) is still around and holding down a regular gig (every first Thursday of the month) at the Heid Out in Cranbrook. This was the basic core group for the special Christmas session on Thursday, December 19, 2013. They were Joined by vocalist Shauna Plant, keyboard player Evan Buekert; Bernie Primbs on Baritone Sax, Ferdy Belland on Bass, Stu Taylor on Trombone and Sven Heyde on drums and Congas. In other words it was an all-star cast of local jazz musicians.

Fittingly the band kicked off the evening in a bluesy mood with Miles Davis’ All Blues from the classic album Kind of Blue. That album was recorded in 1959, has never been out of print, has sold over 20 million copies and, nearly fifty years after its original release it is still selling at a rate of about 5,000 per week. “In the church of jazz, Kind of Blue, is one of the holy relics“. With it`s innovative modal approach it forever changed the face of jazz. If there is a need to have only one jazz record in your collection then this is the one. But, I digress, this tune was a classic start to a classic evening and it set the stage for what was to follow. A wonderful evening of live, free wheeling jazz that leaves one pondering “how do they do that?”. Mostly working from lead sheets the group played a wide selection of Jazz, and non-jazz standards. From time to time the guest musicians took centre stage for tunes such as Besame Mucho, My Funny Valentine, St. Thomas, Lagrima Negras, some Christmas ambience in Let it Snow, Let it Snow, I Wish you a Merry, Merry Christmas, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. The country tune Walking After Midnight featured the wonderful voice of Shauna Plant and Janice Nicli (also on vocals) rocked it out on Jump N’ Jive. The old time jazz classics featured during the evening included Bill Bailey Won’t You Please Come Home, Ja Da (written in 1918) and Duke Ellington’s C-Jam Blues. The stand out tunes for me were Sonny Rollin’s St. Thomas and, with its shades of a New Orleans funeral, the old Gospel tune Take a Closer Walk with Thee. Classic Rock and Blues are fine but there is nothing quite like the snap and crackle of straight up jazz in a wonderful venue like The Heid Out. Thanks should go to Heidi, the staff and the musicians for a wonderful night of music. Here are some images from the evening:

And now for a touch of the surreal – The Condensate on the High Windows

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Don Davies Quartet at BJ’s

Posted on 2013-12-20 by Rod Wilson

Don Davies Quartet at BJ’s Creekside Pub, Saturday December 14, 2013, 7:30pm

I never really think of Kimberley as a jazz town and yet at Centre 64 the Kimberley Arts Council has run several very successful mini-festivals. They have featured jazz artists from across Canada and from as far away as Belgium and Poland. Closer to home The Don Davies Quartet (Don Davies – piano and vocals; Stu Taylor – trombone, Bill Visintin – bass; Steen Jorgensen drums and alto sax) always attracts a good audience. Especially at BJ’s Creekside pub. I guess the selection of great old tunes, the food and refreshments, performers who are having fun and the ambience of this wonderful neighborhood bar always seems to pull an audience in the door. Last Saturday evening was no exception. The Quartet spent the evening running through such favorites as The Lady is a Tramp, I’ve Got You Under My Skin, Bye Bye Blackbird, Night Train, Girl from Ipanema, When Your Smiling, Georgia on my Mind, Satin Doll, Besame Mucho, Don’t Get Around Much Any More, Autumn Leaves, New York New York and a few seasonal tunes such I Wish you a Merry Christmas. “Lyndell” sat in on drums for a few swing tunes and a lady bounced up on stage to do a duet with Don on the old country favorite Please Release Me. Here are some more images from this cosy night of music.

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Read any good books lately (#3) – John Clarke: Explorer of the Coast Ranges

Posted on 2013-12-16 by Rod Wilson

John Clarke – Explorer of the Coast Ranges, by Lisa Baile, published by Harbour Publishing 2012, ISBN # 978-155017-583-7, 287 pages including many wonderful photographs. This is a wonderful book that can be found in the Cranbrook Public Libarary.

I came across this book by accident when I was researching material on Wade Davis. It turned up in a Cranbrook Library search of Wade’s books. He wrote the introduction to this biography. This is a story of the extraordinary British Columbian climber, explorer, conservationist and educator, John Clarke. Over the years I became vaguely aware of John Clarke from numerous fragments of literature in climbing magazines. This gentleman, originally from Ireland, while growing up in Vancouver, developed a passion for the Coast Mountains that became the central theme of his existence. Every summer for over 25 years he would literally pack his gear and wander off the down town streets of Vancouver to head off into the wilds of British Columbia. He would return in the winter to find work, accumulate funds and plan and prepare for the next summer’s adventure. More extraordinary is the fact that for the majority of these expeditions he traveled alone. Later on, for a number of years, he did hook up with fellow climber and explorer John Baldwin. We tend to forget that there are huge swaths of our province that are a literally unmapped “jungle”, albeit, wet, snowy, glaciated, and over grown with Devil’s club and Slide Alder. This book, coming hard on the heels of the Wade Davis Amazonian lecture at the Key City Theatre was a reminder that we live on the edge of a geographical wonderland that, in some ways, is just as magnificent and awe inspiring as the Amazon. John’s legacy is the filling in of details of the landscape in The McBride Range, The Misty Icefields, Mt. Mason, The Manatee Range, Toba watershed, Whitemantle Range, Kingcome-Knight Traverse, Klinaklini & Silverthrone Glaciers, Mt. Willoughby / Machmell, and the Jacobesen Bay / Chuchwall River area. He also explored ranges north of Bella Coola. His explorations resulted in over 250 first ascents. His climbing career morphed into that of a conservationist and educator. The loss of his friend Randy Stoltmann in an avalanche right in front of his eyes precipitated a career change for John Clarke. Randy was a noted conservationist and his death left a gaping hole in the conservationist community. John stepped into that gap. His passion for the mountains was a natural catalyst for working with the many conservation groups and aboriginal communities. The mountains and explorations are not his only legacy. He also had a passion for the preservation of historical buildings in Vancouver. It seems that during his winter months he photographed and catalogued the disappearing buildings of Vancouver. His work as a conservationist, historical and environmental, also led to a career as an educator. This may have been the beginning of his “settling down”, although by our criteria his new life was still a life of passion, commitment, ideals and excitement. The changes provided him with some stability and assured income. Because it would have taken him away from his central obsession with the mountains, John had always steered clear of romantic commitment. That came to end with his obsession and marriage to Annette Lehnacker and the birth of his son Nicholas. Also around that time he was awarded the Order of Canada for his lifetime of exploratory mountaineering in the Coast Mountains and his recent achievements as an educator and conservationist. When Nicholas was born in 2002 it would seem that John’s life was complete. However, and here is the emotional kicker, shortly after the birth of his son, John Clarke at the age of 58 years was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumour. John died February 23, 2003. This is a man we should all thank and remember.

John Clarke’s first ascents in the Coastal Ranges of British Columbia

ps. Note on the map that despite John Clarke’s extensive explorations there are still great swaths of the province that are still “unexplored jungle”.

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A YOUTUBE Pick (#1) – “Eleanor Rigby”

Posted on 2013-12-14 by Rod Wilson

“Eleanor Rigby” performed by Chick Corea and Gary Burton, to see the video click on the link Eleanor Rigby

I’m not a luddite. It’s just that I have lived through so many technological changes in the recording industry that I am ready to take a pause for a while. I have had 78s, vinyl, reel-to-reel, cassettes, discman (minidiscs) and CDs. I have successfully avoided the 8-track disaster and the more recent SDAC (Super Audio CD) format failure. I don’t own an iPod and for some unfathomable reason the format doesn’t interest me – maybe because I don’t like the micro earphones that are used to access the sound. My recording medium of choice for over 25 years is the CD. There is the great sound, the great selection of material and recordings that are not going to disappear with the press of the wrong button. Also I don’t have to spend time downloading material. However, having now taken a pause I am ready to move on and I concede that YOUTUBE is impacting my listening (viewing) habits. There are disadvantages to the media. In my instance I have to use a computer to access the videos but still that is working for me. I jump on the exercise bike and crank up some YOUTUBE videos. Erasing the boredom of riding an exercise bike is a distinct advantage for me. In addition to all first class performances there is all the music tutorial material out there (just check out all the stuff on playing Congas – amazing). For those interested in Jazz it seems that the Europeans have documented and continue to document all the important European Jazz Festivals. So an uninterrupted 60-120 minute video of some of the world’s greatest jazz performances is not unusual.

Having said all that, why this particular YOUTUBE selection? It is not necessarily the best or the brightest. It just happens to be the one I stumbled across this week. First of all “Eleanor Rigby” is a great tune by the Beatles. It is well known and for a “pop” tune it is in the unusual meter of 6/8. I do not know of any other “pop” tune in 6/8. In Irish/Celtic music it is the predominant rhythm and turns up in many dance tunes and traditional songs. One wonders if the Beatles, coming from Liverpool, were exposed to lots of Irish music in their youth. It might explain the melodic strength of their music. Now the performers in this instance are not “pop” musicians. They, dare I say it, are more than a step above the average “pop musician”. And the performance is not a standard jazz treatment – play the melody then mash it up until it is time to revisit the melody. It is a duo – piano and vibes – no bass, no drums – and it is a format these two master musicians have been polishing for over 40 years. Their first duet recording Crystal Silence was recorded and released on the ECM label in 1972 and subsequent duo recordings won Grammy Awards in 1979, 1981, 1997, 1999, 2009 and 2013. Chick Corea was not Gary`s only partner is the duo format. Gary also worked with the pianist Makoto Ozone and others, including, most notably, the guitarist Ralph Towner on the CDs Matchbook and Slide Show (two of my favorite recordings). Both Chick Corea and Gary Burton have been staples on the jazz scene for over forty years. Chick Corea is “an American jazz and fusion pianist, keyboardist, and composer”. Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis’ band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever. Along with Herbie Hancock, McCoy Tyner and Keith Jarrett, he has been described as one of the major jazz piano voices to emerge in the post-John Coltrane era (excepts from a Wikipedia entry). Gary Burton is a Vibes player (a juiced up xylophone) who was born with the gift of perfect pitch. He was performing as a professional at the age of eight, he joined the the Stan Getz Quartet when he was still in his teens shortly there after forming his own groups that included the likes of Pat Metheny and, of course, Chick Corea. There were other jazz vibes payers on the scene long before Gary strode onto the stage in short pants. Lionel Hampton and Milt Jackson were the two noted vibes players of the earlier generation. Technically, what sets Gary apart from his predecessors is his four-mallet technique. Musically and visually it is astounding to see and hear him navigate the complexities of the music with incredible speed and agility using four mallets. He may not have been the first to use this technique but for every player that came after him there was no choice but to use four mallets. Music came easy to him and he gives lie to the saying “that those who can`t , teach“. Besides being a player of giant status he was an educator of the first order for over 30 years at the Berklee School. By his retirement he was a major administrator in the organization. All of that time he was in the fore front of jazz performance and this performance of Eleanor Rigby indicates that he is still at the top of his game.

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Who is Wade Davis?

Posted on 2013-12-08 by Rod Wilson

In a nutshell he is the real deal. For the full profile check the Wikipedia entry for Wade Davis .

There was time when Natural Scientists (Anthropologists, Botanists, Geologists, and Explorers) were the heroes of their day. This was before rock stars, politicians, computer geeks and celebrities usurped their place in the pantheons of significant individuals. In the 1700’s the botanist Sir Joseph Banks, besides his academic contributions to the world of science, was noted for his ground breaking discoveries while tripping around the world with Captain James Cook. He is still remembered to this day, especially by me because I grew up in a suburb in Sydney Australia named Bankstown. And who can forget Charles Darwin and his voyage of discovery that ultimately led to the publication of his Origin of the Species? His revelations and speculations are still rocking the world. His theory of Natural Selection is still denied and hotly debated. And yet despite the fact that it is only a theory it is still the cornerstone of our basic understanding of the natural world. Yes, in another time and place Wade Davis would be right up there. My first hand knowledge of the man is only through his book, a book that I have recently re-read, One River – Explorations and Discoveries in the Amazon Rain Forest. This book was Wade’s personal immersion in the legacy of Richard Evans Schultes a Harvard Scientist who virtually invented the science of Ethno-botany. Ethno – what? I know it sounds a little strange but Schultes in 1936 was the first man to really investigate the peyote cultures of the North American Indians and the role of hallucinatory substances in the ethnic societies of Central and South America. Schultes was no office bound academic he was very much a field scientist who was not above sampling the products of his investigations. He spent many years collecting, cataloguing and exploring. In this day of super-expeditions his equipment and mode of transport would be considered spartan, if not foolhardy. Pants, shirt, pith helmet, penny loafers, a hammock and his collecting gear was about all he carried. He walked, canoed, rafted and, very rarely, flew all over the Amazon basin. Wade Davis and a fellow student Timothy Plowman retraced some of Schultes travels and by doing so have become part of the legacy. Unfortunately Tim Plowman died in 1989 but Wade continues on in the tradition. The book is a fascinating look at Schultes legacy through the modern eyes of two of his students. It is full of interesting observations of today’s attitudes, including the misguided attempts to eliminate the coca crops in South America, our basic misunderstanding of the role of the coca chewing by tribal societies, the misguided efforts of Evangelical missionaries, and the impact and history of natural rubber harvesting in the Amazon basin. The book is a little weighed down by technical botanical names but despite that it is definitely still on my short list of books that demand to be re-read. On a different subject but one that is just as interesting as the Amazonian book is his Into the Silence: The Great War, Mallory and the Conquest of Everest. This is also another “must read”. I believe both books are available in the Cranbrook Public Library.

So, if you want to see and hear “the real deal” Wade Davis will be at the Key City Theatre on Monday night – see the poster below.

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And the “real deal” it turned out to be. Not only because of Wade’s lecture but also because of Joe Pierre’s retelling of the Xtunaxa creation story. A wonderful tale that gave context to our familiar geography and place names. Of course Wade took us way further afield than the Kootenays. He delved into the legacy of the ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes and a very different way of looking at our essential humanity. He explored why we should care about the environment and indigenous societies and perhaps we should explore alternative ways of doing things. Accompanied by a wonderful collection of images and a spirited delivery of tales that are from, literally, off the map, this must rank up there as one of the most entertaining and informative evenings in quite a while. Wade must have been better known than I thought because the The Key City Theatre was as about as full as it gets. If you ever have another opportunity to hear this extraordinary individual then treat yourself. You will not regret it.

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Symphony of the Kootenays: A World of Joy – rehearsals

Posted on 2013-12-02 by Rod Wilson

Symphony of the Kootenays Rehearsal, Cranbrook Alliance Church Saturday November 30, 2013, 12md – 13:30.

Inviting patrons to the rehearsal, what a great idea. I think the Symphony has come up with a winner with this one and I think the patrons at the rehearsal would agree. There was a good crowd in this spectacular church for the snippets of what was promising to be an outstanding concert. The orchestra and choir look great and the lighting and sound was excellent (thanks to Dean Siewert and Len Palajak). I would go so far as to the say that the lighting, in particular, was more than a notch above similar efforts at the Key City Theatre. Visually the black backdrop with the lights on the musicians gave depth, contrast and definition to the scene. I know it is probably a lot more work to present the Symphony in the Alliance Church but I feel it is a more suitable venue than the Key City Theatre. I am sure I missed a great concert later that evening but, because of prior engagements, unfortunately I was unable to attend. Definitely my loss. However, here are some images of the rehearsal that I would like to share with fellow patrons.

and sharing his special brand of joy, the conductor Jeff Faragher.

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WINTERSONG at The Driftwood Concert House

Posted on 2013-12-01 by Rod Wilson

The question is often asked. Why do they do it? In most instances it is not for fame, fortune and/or fringe benefits. The answer is very simple. Painters paint, writers write, musicians compose and perform for no other reason than they just have to. It is just the nature of the artistic beast. They are not complete until they follow their compulsions. This somewhat self indulgent approach is one that we should be thankful for, particularly when, in this instance, there is such a positive outcome. Four singer / songwriters of The Kootenay Singer-Song Writers Circle got together to raise funds for the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund by performing a concert of their original music at the Driftwood Concert house in Kimberley. The musicians included (the nice looking) Heather Gemmell, (the youthful) Clayton Parsons, (the wisdom of the ages) James Neve, and (the mature) Darin Welch. The venue was, of course, the Driftwood Concert House operated by Jen and Darin Welch on this their first year anniversary of presenting sustainable music programs for both musicians and patrons. The format of the evening was basically a traditional singing circle with each musician performing a piece before passing the “torch” onto the next performer. Yours truly, Rod Wilson, was the MC. Darin Welch kicked off the night with Simple City, followed by James Neve’s Blue Girl, Clayton Parson’s Everybody Knows my Name and Heather Gemmell’s global warming song. Through out the evening, five times around the circle, with a grand finale group rendition of Wagon Wheels, the only non-original song of the evening. The list of original songs performed included Pretty Water, Wilderness, The Last Wild Wolves (by Darin Welch); Please Take the Wheel, Candle by the Window, Come on Back to My Love, Passing Through Your Heart (by James Neve); Midnight Moon, Going on Down, September Sunday, Stay (by Clayton Parsons); and the outstanding instrumental The Tap Song (by Heather Gemmell). It was a night of memorable music in a perfectly intimate venue with superb light and sound and a very receptive and respectful audience. I know Darin likes to bring into town great touring performers for this venue but without a doubt this particular evening proved that local performers are more than a match for the imports. Well done guys – you raised over $400 for the Phillipines and with matching government funding that puts us well on the road to $1,000.