Stephen Robb

Friday was a day of contrast with two great but very different concerts featuring faculty. The arts centre was packed for Jazz for kids as we performed a number of jazz favorites from the era of those seven dwarfs, Fred and Wilma, and Linus and Lucy. We ended with our sponsored mascot “Salty the Seagull” parading through the isles with the kids to a spirited rendition of the Saints go Marching in . Friday night featured Len Aruliah and the quartet transported into the post- John Coltrane world with a suite of tunes inspired by Canadian trumpeter Kenny Wheeler. It is performances like these that indicate how wide the spectrum for jazz really is at the dawn of the 21st century, from Dixieland to post-modern avant guard

As we head into the final weekend of the festival, we would like to thank our audiences and supporters for coming out to our events this week.

Today features the student concert at 2pm. This will feature workshop participants who have spent the last 4 days at the arts centre learning about jazz improvisation and the skills required to master their instruments. Tonight at the Coast Tsawwassen Inn will feature local Vancouver guitarist Ross Bliss with Djangophllia. This is a straight ahead 1940’s approach to traditional swing featuring the music of Django Reinhardt .

On Sunday at All Saints Anglican Church Ta-Ki-Ta will be performing in the final event of the festival. This is group creates a fusion of classical Indian music with jazz. The trio consists of two traditional Indian instruments with tabla player Hari Pal, Kenneth Wells on Sarode, together with the western influence of Jared Burrows on guitar. A beautiful and easy to listen to mix of sounds that you will enjoy. Admission is free.

Today features two unique performances as Tsawwassen Arts Centre. First off at noon is Jazz for Kids, which will feature our faculty performing and interacting with our young audience in a performance that will outline just what this “jazz” thing is. Look for us to get our audience involved in the performance and get everyone involved in the “jazz” thing.

Friday evening will feature Len Aruliah, our resident workshop saxophonist for this year’s workshop. He will be performing with the faculty quintet a new suite of his own compositions inspired by Kenny Wheeler, the great Canadian trumpeter and composer who also resides in England. Both of today’s concerts are at the Tsawwassen Arts Centre. Admission is Free. Thanks to Vancouver Port Authority and Terminal Systems for sponsoring today’s concerts.

Today is Friday and the festival is well underway. We have had a good audience for the first three days of festival concerts. Tuesday brought Brad Muirhead to perform and work with our workshop students on listening and improv skills. Karen Graves was in fine form Wednesday performing on various woodwinds and working with vocals. Thursday brought our first double bill with trumpeter Al Matheson performing and working with our students through a series of three masterclasses on improvisation in the afternoon, offering some great advice to our students. Thursday evening featured vibrophonist Marty Franklin with Nino DiPasquale in a concert of jazz standards and a tribute to Milt Jackson.

Here is a picture of Marty Franklin performing at Beaches in Tsawwassen on Thursday evening. We had a good crowd for the event despite some confusion in location.