We're number two, we're
We're number two, we're number two When Second Cities steal the scene by Phi1 Ehrensaft Make no mistake, the limelight from fielders etc. to assemb~e a first-class New York, Lorxlon, Paris and the like team to back any number of touring is very bright. So when Second Cities superstars. What interests me more is like Chicago, San Francisco, Boston howToronto'sonceVIbrantexperirnefr and Toronto take a prominent chunk, tal scene which wound down after the it's not by reputation but for accom- 1970s is rising from the ashes. plishments that are mambiguously bril- Granted, there is a way to go from liant. Toronto's jazz scene, I predict, aninformalnetworkofavant-gardeim- . is poised to take a rightful bow. provisers, iocluding both jazz and other Between this past April's Opera streams, organizing perfonnances in America conference here and the In- varying venues and lofts. But I fully ternational Association of Jazz Edu- expect the phoenix to rise. The frecators' meeting scheduled for Toronto quent talk about Toronto's purported in January 2003, eight months will musical conservatism flies in the face have~ - eight months that could of fuels. TO is one of the North Amerimark a turning point in terms of continental awareness of Toronto's musical excellence. Most of the opera comt>ciny directors and staff who flowed into To- can nodes for composed new music. On the jazz side of things, Glen Hall, David Mott, Marilyn Lerner, and VictorBatemanareseniormoversandshak ers continentally, and I documented the ronto had heard the buzz that the coc ' up and coming younger cohorts ofToranked right up there with Chicago's ronto,improvisers in the June 2001 is~ Lyric Opera and the SanFran:isco Op- sue of WholeNote. era. They not only saw the COC in There is already sufficient depth in action, but also went away impressed this network to allow for the mounting with the network of smaller compa- oflastmonth's first "Jazz Fringe" fespies and the new operas being turned tival, as well the upcoming 416 Festiout by Toronto's comp0sers and Ii- val which runs June 26-30 with fifbreuists. OperaAmerica'sdelegatesleft teendifferentgroupsperformingatthe our city with the sense that opera (not Oasis, 294 College St. just one opera company) is alive and Gooo OL I DEMOGRAPHY well in our town. What fuels my personaloptimismaboUt PARALLEWNG o~'s RISE, Toronto thecity'sjazzfuture, is whatlseein has quietly beoome one of the centres thedemographicsofjazzaudieoceshere. of North American jazz. Nex,t Janu~ Jazz was already changed from its ary's IAJE delegates will experience Storyville, South Side, and Harlem Toronto as ajazz city, not just a festi- shady past by the time Goodman and val town, a phenomen that Jim Gallo- Ellington performed in Carnegie Hall way and I documented in last Novem- during the 1930s and 40s. The shift ber's WholeNote. They will fly out was all but complete when Parker, of Pearson with a sense that Toronto Gille)pieandcomµmyeamx:lforbebop has joined Chicago and San Francisco and jazz the sobriquet of "America's as the happening places for jal.z out- classical music." A misnomer? side the Big Apple. Maybe, but it makes the point: bebop Toronto now hosts one of the con- -complex sophisticated (and thankfully tinent's mos~ important concentrations swinging) was every bit as demanding ofprofessionaljazzmusicians. Onany as classical music. In some ways, it given night· of the year, and not just was. closer to the spirit of Beethoven during festival season, you can hear than how his music is played today. more jazz in TO than you are likely to Point is, the demographics of the hear in the similarly sired cities of core audierx:e for jazz have become not Washington, Boston, Dallas, Philadel- terribly different than that for cla8sical phia or Detroit. music,: on the average, higher age, in- Toronto's jazz accomplishments, to come, and education. (This holds date, have been baSed ona mainstream equally for African-American and Afhome team with an exceptionally deep rican--Canadian audiences as it does for bench. There are jazz equivalents of the white majority.) moretha1tseveralgoodshortstops, left But there's a distinction, I think, be- JAZZ & BAND Marilyn Lerner BAND .STAND PY Merlin Williams Musicfest Calgary Trip Diary , Thursday, May 16- It's 3am Calgary time, and ~·m finally turning in for the the nite. It's been quite an operation tween lifelong jazz boomers and their getting 60 members of the Brampton classical counterparts. If you came to Concert Band and instruments here. jazz let's say in the first half of the Those of us lucky enough to play seventies, it was when the jazz greats smaller instruments were able to carry were treading paths never before trod" them onto the plane - at the other exden - when Miles and Omette were treme, our tuba players had to open going electric. Youmadethetransition - their cases in the airport and play for to adulthood with a jazz great blowing · security before they could get on. And your mind. once boarded, we sat on the ground Developing a p~ion for that kind for two hours because ofa storm. Minor of jazz at that time was likely tied into hassles! Everyone is psyched for the how you defined yourself in relation competition. to the .w~rld. E~en if the jazz audi- Friday, May 17.- We left at 8am for ence, like Its class1cal counterpart, now Lord Beaverbrook High School in Calconstitutes only 3 ~ 4 percent of the gary. Played a concert for the students, purc~rsofrecordingsand~:£0nn- then were coached by Capt. David ance.uckets, that~upt_Omillmnsof Jone8. Bowled over by the school's p:iss1onate fans. If Jazz IS your pas- excellent facilities and equipment; an s10n, a commute from Osha.wa, enjoyable and instructive morning. Guelph, or Hamilton to hear Sonny Back on the bus and off to Lake Rollins is no J?ig deal. My guesstimate Louise, we find the lake still frozen, would be that Toronto's potential jazz and the weather dismal, but the band audience has roughly tripled during the gets their uniforms on to pose for phopast three ~ecades. , , tos in front ofone of the great views in . Isthe~gheraveragea~eof~y s Canada. Next stop is Banff, where it Jazz audien~ a ~roblem; Only ifthe . seems you're completely surrounded art form dies with them. Down the by the Rockies. Every time I turned road, ~e fact that 500 s~dents are en- around there was another magnificrnt r~lled m on~ of Toronto s three post- vista. We; head back to Calgary after highschoolJazzprogramsaugurswe.ll dinner, and have (for this band for ~e future. TJ_ie real ~ope ~or me IS anyways!) a light night of partying. the nse here of mnovauou: 1t means jazz is ready as always to catch, for a Saturday, May 18-Competitionday! lifetinie, the ears, minds and hearts of We didn't perform until 6:30pm, so young adults in the process of defining who they are and will be. or'shopping and m,ost of the band headed off for a day sightseeing. Iii Long & McQuade .- MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS• www.lon11-mcqu•d•.com SALES - RENTALS - REPAIRS - IN STORE flNANCING TRADES - USED INSTRUMENTS BOUGHT & SOLD Toronto North York Scarborough Oshawa Brampton Burlington , I 925 Bloor St.W, 2777 Steeles Av.W. 1133 Markham Rd. 380 Simcoe St.S. 370 Main St.N. 3180 Mainway Dr, (416)588-7886 (416)663-8612 (416)439-8001 (905)434-1612 (905)450-4334 (905)319-3330 , Where the Music Begins. 22 www.thewholenote.com June 1 - July 7 2002
JAZZ & BAND by Ralph Vaughan Williams. It's regarded as one of the cornerstones of band repertoire, and is a study in polyphony to the nth degree. Finally came the piece the band has been waiting for: "Horizons" by Fred Stride, commissioned by the Brampton Concert Band. It's an impressive new work for band. The full resources of tonal Brampton Concert Band colour and rhythmic excitement avail- I arrive at the Telus Convention able in the modem band are utilized in Centre at 9am to find that one of the this piece. At the conclusion of the other Brampton groups, Beatty piece, we saw something I've never Fleming P.S. had already played and witnessed before: members of the adwon a gold standard for their efforts. I judicators and clinicians panel giving was delighted to see th\! Mayor of the band a standing ovation. Brampton, Susan Fennell there to con- · We left the stage for the clinic room gratulate the band and pose with them where we were treated to an infonnafor photos. The third Brampton group, rive and entertaining clinic by Keith Notre Dame S.S .. played later in the . Kinder ofMcMaster University. Had day. Interesting to note that most of agoodchuck!eoverthefactwe'dtravthe Ontario bands attending were from elled half way across the country to the 905 area. have a next door neighbour critique us. Atabout5pmourbandheadedover After the clinic, we did the to the convention centre en masse. sightreading fest. The band clearly im Milling about in the lobby, waiting for pressed the adjudicator OIJ. this one - he our warmup room, some of us chatted said we were the only band to play the· with members of the St. Albert Com- piece we selected correctly. All told, munity Band from E.dmonton. I think we received gold staOOard from all four our two groups were the only adult adjudicators. We had a great celebrabands at Musicfest this year. tion at dinner, and Mayor Fennell After our warmup, we're led intri boughrdinner for the entire band! the performing room. It's an odd venue This was such a great event for the for a band. It's a convention centre band. The performance level, morale ballroom. For some reason that I can- and spirit have never been higher. I'd not fathom, the floor is covered in car- personally like to thank our conductor, pet. Yuck! It's beyond me why they Darryl futon for his musical leadercouldn't have rolled back the carpets ship. Moving sixty people and their and let the bands play on the wood horns is a massive undertaking, and floor. The band tunes up and launches my hat is off to Cathy and Dave into "Valdres", a concert march by Harmsworth and all the members of 1 Loras Schissel. This is one of the most the boord of the Brampton Con:ertBani difficult marches I've ever played ' I . who put it all together. doubtthatmostpeoplecouldeverper- It's my fervent wish that we'll see form this piece while actually march- more GT A bands in the Musicfest ing. Nextupwas ¥1. "ToccattaMarziale"_ Nationals next year. Christ Church Deer Park presents Featuring some of Toronto's best jazz musicians with a· brief reflection by Reverend Tim Elliott. Sunday, June 2 - 4:30 pm DAVE YOUNG, bass JOEL QUARRINGTON, bass BERNIE SENENSKY, piano Sunday, June 16 - 4:30 pm ALEX DEAN, saxophone Rickard's Club Series featuring over 30 Clubs & Restaurants including The Montreal Bistro 65 Sherbourne St. • 416-363-0179 MARIAN McPARTLANO TRIO Friday, June 21 to Sunday, June 23 • ·9 P.M. DICK HYMAN Solo Piano Monday, June 24 • 9 P.M. DICK HYMAN & PETER APPLEYARD Tuesday, June 25 • 9 P.M. DICK HYMAN/ PETER APPLEYARD QUARTET Wednesday, June 26 • 9 P.M. GIANLUIGI TROVES! & GIANNI COSCIA Thursday, June 27 • Noon IOHN ALLRED & AL KAY QUINTET Thursday, June 27 • 9 P.M. D.D. JACKSON TRIO Friday, June 28 & Saturday, June 29 • 9 P.M. Toronto Colony Hotel Dewey's lounge - 89 Chestnut St. - 9:30 P.M.. • •••• SPANKY DAVIS with The fan Bargh Trio Friday, June 21 & Saturday, June 22 ROBIN NOLAN TRIO Sunday, June 23 & Monday, June 24 HILARIO DURAN TRIO Tuesday, June 25 & Wednesday, June 26 BARRY ELMES QUINTET Thursday, June 27 MARGIE EVANS Friday, June 28 to Sunday, June 30 Dewey's Late Night lazz lam 1 A.M. to 4 A.M. • June 21 • June 30 ~ 416~87.0·8000 JAGUAR toronto1azz.com @iiW Christ Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge Street (north of St. Clair at Heath St.) 416-920-5211 Admission is free. An offering is received to support the work of the Church, including Jazz Vespers. June 1 - July 7 2002 www.thewholenote.com
