Saturday, July 08, 2006

Uptown Waterloo Jazz Festival

Janice & I went to the UpTown Waterloo Jazz Festival last night.

The night openned with Isaac Agyeman: what an awesome saxaphonist. He was nominated for "Jazz and Blues Album of the Year" - 2004 Vibe Awards.

Later in the evening Eugene Draw also known as Dr. Draw and his band finished the evening. Check out his schedule for upcoming concerts. He is well worth hearing. It's not traditional jazz - but it's real jazz. What a band: Eugene (a Russian born Canadian) plays electric violin; he has a new band member, Andrew (an Asian Canadian) who plays electric 36-string Celtic Harp; awesome dummer; a bassist who used to play metal; keyboardist; and a powerful guitarist.

What a slection of songs. When was the last time you heard you heard Danny Boy; Hayden: Schevernadze; Donna Summer: I Feel Love; and Franz Schubert: Ave Maria at a jazz concert?

Some interesting statements made during the concert.
Isaac Agyeman played a song entitled grace. In introducing it he said something to the effect of "grace, forgiveness and mercy... essential for healthy community as we choose to give them to others."
& then, Dr Draw dedicated a song to those "who give their lives to serve others".

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

i went by the Jazz festival last year, couldn't stick around for long though. In Winnipeg there is the Folk Music Festival. Had I been here any earlier I probably would have bought tickets.

oncoffee said...

the Winnipeg folk festival is one of the classic folk festivals in north america - may be next year