Thursday, September 29, 2016, 7pm: Opening act “Mac”, followed by Stacie and Bud Decosse and the main act “Colourful Language” (Zoe Fitch & Dave Warne).
Here are some images from the evening:
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Elizabeth Shepherd Trio at the Green Door in Kimberley, Tuesday November 17, 2015, 8pm. The trio features the talents of Michael Occhipinti on guitar and Scott Kemp on acoustic fretless bass.
Elizabeth and a number of her band mates are on a cross Canada tour and perhaps the tour could have been named the “The Almost Famous Tour”. Between them, Michael Occhipinti and Elizabeth Shepherd, two of the finest musicians on the Canadian scene today, have scored 10 JUNO Nominations (Elizabeth – 2; Michael – 8). I guess that is as close as you can get without actually becoming famous. A small audience in The Green Door were very fortunate to hear the trio in a very intimate setting as the trio stopped off for a brief respite from the larger sites on the tour. In the press Elizabeth has been hailed as “a jazz virtuoso blessed with a pop sensibility”, ” praised by critics worldwide for her arrestingly original writing and soulful delivery. Along with artists like Esperanza Spalding, Robert Glasper, and Jose James she is seen as part of a wave of jazz musicians bringing the art form to a new generation of music fans”. That’s pretty high praise indeed. But that’s not all. Elizabeth has released four widely acclaimed records and toured extensively in North America, Europe, Japan and Mexico. She has sold out legendary clubs from Tokyo to Detroit, played major festivals like Montreal and North Sea Jazz Festivals, shared the stage with Victor Wooten, Branford Marsalis and Christian McBride, and opened for Jamie Cullum at The Hollywood Bowl. Elizabeth is also the only jazz vocalist to ever have been long listed for the Polaris Prize – Canada’s most prestigious music prize.
If you have ever spent any time listening to CBC radio and TV Michael Occhipinti will 
be a familiar name. Michael is a cross-cultural “dabler” with projects that have explored the music of John Lennon, Pink Floyd, Bruce Cockburn (Creation Dream) – and more recently the music of Sicily in Muorica. Michael has collaborated with many jazz musicians of note and in his spare time he is an educator at Humber College in Toronto.
Scott Kemp is nominally an upright Bass player originally out of Manitoba but now resident in Toronto. On this tour he is using an Ephiphone fretless Bass Guitar that he managed to pick up almost as gift on Craig’s list. The original owner felt that such a great instrument need to be played. It is easier to transport and more robust that an upright bass. It has taken it’s share of beatings on the road but is still holding together.
Like a lot of jazz influenced musicians and music today Elizabeth’s music is hard to define. She is a jazz singer but not in the classic senses of say Dianna Krall. She doesn’t dive too deeply into the “Great American Song Book” but rather delivers highly original material in a somewhat soul tinged timbre. Songs from her new album Signal include Willow, What’s Happening, BT Cotton, The Signal, Lion’s Den, This, Another Day, and Baby Steps.
Here are some more images from an intimate evening of Jazz behind The Green Door in Kimberley.
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Music behind the Green Door, July 22, 2015, 7-10 pm
The opening act on this particular night was another nod to Cranbrook’s cadre of youthful performers. This time it was the duo Wizzard Lizard. Kyle Albrecht was the guitar wizard and I guess Maddi Keiver is supposed to be the lizard in this organisation. That is most unkind. No lizard I have ever come across looked as pretty nor sang with such a strong voice. In fact I have never heard a lizard sing. Kyle kicked off the evening with an unnamed slide guitar blues in open E. Throughout the evening , with the exception of one cover tune, Van Morrison’s Moon Dance, it was mostly original songs that seem to have been written mostly by Maddi Keiver. She has an exceptionally strong voice that she uses to deliver her musical messages with great confidence. Kyle is no slouch either. His guitar playing is very smooth. I am constantly amazed by the number of outstanding musicians in this area that emerge from the woodwork. Or more correctly the number of talented performers who can probably trace their origins back to Evan Bueckert’s excellent music program at the Mount Baker High School. Here are some images of Wizzard Lizzard’s performances behind the Green Door in the Kimberley Platzl.
And now, all the way from Montreal, we have Corinna Rose (vocals, open back banjo, guitar) and Leah Dolgay (vocals, Autoharp, and Harpsicle). I like music that is different so these two ladies made my day. Once again for the evening the music was mostly original material performed in a highly original way. With her open back banjo, Corinna was the front “man” of the duo. I hesitate to describe the banjo and her style of playing as clawhammer because, apart from a couple of instances, she did not go very far 
down that road. Rather she used a more full blown finger picking approach using the standard G banjo tuning. There were some nice dissonant chords in there now and again that added to the uniqueness the the music. From time to time she picked up the Larivee guitar that she has had since she was seventeen years old. Like most small body Larivees it was beautiful to look at and a pleasure to hear. 
Leah Dolgay played an autoharp built by the luthier George Orthey . Leah manipulates the EQ of the instrument so that, when played in tandem, with Corinna’s banjo they end up with the banjo’s sound floating on top of the Autoharp’s melodic picking, 
strums and very solid bass runs. Leah is a recent convert to the rather large Celtic Harp, but while traveling she has to leave the full sized instrument at home. Instead she uses a more airline friendly “Harpsicle”. In reality the Harpsicle is a small lap harp that can just fit in the overhead compartments of the average airline. Here are some images of their performance:
The duo did mostly original material that seem to draw inspiration from broken relationships. That included the cover tunes they did. Although Shady Grove was done in an upbeat hoe down clawhammer style but it was out classed by their cover of the Hank Williams classic I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry. I loved the textures of the interpretation.
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The Green Door presents the Music of James Neve – Thursday May 7, 2015 – with an opening act of Dariynn and Zack Silver
It used to be called the Green Phoenix. But like a Phoenix it has risen from the ashes of the original establishment to emerge as The Green Door. So if you are wandering up the Platzl in Kimberley, on the opposite side to the library, just before Chef Bernard’s, you will notice a sturdy green door. Don’t be intimidated, just wander on in. Particularly on any given Thursday evening. Duane Funk (is that your real name Duane?) has implemented a live music policy and is always willing to support local, and on certain, occasions imported talent. Duane has remodeled and improved the stage area and for musicians who may require it he has a sound system. On this particular evening it was evening of mostly originals music opened by the husband and wife team of Zack and Dariynn Silver. It was mostly music in an acoustic / pop vein featuring Dariynn on vocals and guitar supported by her husband Zach on drum kit. Also in a more folk/rock vein Dariynn was followed by James Neve on guitars, vocals,and effect pedals, including a Fisher midi-interface. He was supported by Rod Wilson on percussion (Congas, Djembe, Darbuka, Shakers, etc). The music of James Neve is well known for his work with the folk/rock group 60 Hertz. Unfortunately 60 Hertz is no more but Jame’s music lives on as a solo act with some adventurous electronic interactions. Dariynn and Zach performed from around 6:30pm to 8:00pm and James kept the music flowing till after 11pm. Here are some imaged from the evening——
and the allusive percussionist: Rod Wilson
Musicians wishing to perform at the Green Door should contact Duane at duanefunkmusic@gmail.com
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