MUSIC PREVIEW: Festival season begins!
It’s a big weekend for festivals, but none in town are bigger than the Edmonton International Jazz Festival, which gets underway Friday. Once again the organizers have done a stellar job attracting a magnificent array of talent in a vast variety of sub-genres and instrumentation from around the world. You might think they’ve put together a special lineup because it’s the 40th anniversary of jazz festivals in the city – but truthfully, they do this grand a job each and every year.
The festival’s biggest venue is the Winspear Centre, which hosts a double bill of the Joshua Redman Quartet and Cecile McLorin Salvant (above) next Tuesday. Tickets are exceptionally reasonable, thanks to a fairly hefty surplus the festival is sitting on. California-born Redman is a famed saxophonist, as was his dad, and is also a graduate of Harvard. Since winning the Thelonius Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition in 1991, he’s focused on his musical career. Salvant also won the Thelonius Monk competition, in 2010, and a Grammy in Best Jazz Vocal Album in 2016.
Other notable gigs include The Shuffle Demons (Saturday at Polar Park Brewing), Edmonton pianist Andrew Glover (next Wednesday at Bellamy’s), and Poly Pocket (Saturday at Café Blackbird). There are weekday shows at the Legislature Grounds from noon to 2 pm for those of you working downtown, and of course, the legendary Yardbird Suite hosts spectacular talent all week long: LSD (Lindborg, Sjostedt & Daniel), who perform next Thursday, are an explosive saxophone trio from Europe. The Joanna Duda Trio (Tuesday) finds the frontwoman playing both acoustic and electronic instruments, stacking layers upon layers of sound, backed by drums and a double bass. And Sunday night features the Amina Figarova Sextet. Figarova is from Azerbaijan, and after training as a classical pianist dove into jazz headfirst. Her journey from there found her ending up in Manhattan, with her partner Bart Platteau (who plays flutes in the sextet).
More details, schedules, and ticket information can be found on the Edmonton International Jazz Festival website.
Thursday 20
Mariel Buckley – This Calgary alt-country artist has been refocusing her efforts over the last few years on eschewing traditional country music in favor of a new, grittier, “fringy” sound. Continuing to forge her own way, though with heavy influences from her brother Tim (of the T. Buckley Trio), she makes a stop in Edmonton to support her most recent album Driving In the Dark, on her way to a set at the North Country Fair on Friday. Aviary, 8 pm, $10. BUY
Friday 21
Matthew Good and The Watchmen – The first day of the Beaumont Blues and Roots Festival gets underway with these two headliners. The festival concludes Saturday with Bif Naked and Big Wreck. More details at their website.
Corey Hart – Never one to be put in a box, and certainly never one to surrender, this Canadian icon released hit after hit after hit in the mid 1980s, with Sunglasses At Night, Eurasian Eyes, and Never Surrender, among others. A couple of hiatuses, some work for his own label and executive producing, and now Hart is back on stage with a cross-Canada tour, and a brand new EP, Dreaming Time Again. Rogers Place, 7 pm, $53 and up. BUY
Saturday 22
Soundtrack Music Festival – Boyz II Men headlines the sophomore run of this music festival in Kinsmen Park. The legendary R&B vocal group has a total of four Grammies to their credit, in a career that spans from 1991 (their debut album Cooleyhighharmony) through their most recent release Under the Streetlight. They’ve had four songs reach the No. 1 spot, and countless others crack the top ten. Two of those also hit No.1 on this side of the border, 1994’s I’ll Make Love To You and On Bended Knee. A dizzying array of other incredibly talented artists are also featured at the event, starting at 1 pm, including Shaggy, Ludacris, and Maestro Fresh Wes. Passes $99, BUY
Sunday 23
Steel Panther – This glam metal band from Los Angeles was founded back in 2000; their latest effort is 2017’s studio album titled Lower the Bar. With Striker. Union Hall, 7 pm, $32.50. BUY
