Last night, The 2011 TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival hosted a casual jam session at Pyramid Cabaret. The concert – featuring Steve Kirby, the U of M Jazz Faculty, and other local musicians – served as an unofficial kick-off to the festival, and was a great way for Jazz Winnipeg to thank festival volunteers and sponsors.
However, the jam session really kicked into high gear when members of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra – who are in town for their concert tonight at the Centennial Concert Hall – arrived to sit in with the band!
U of M students and faculty, as well as other local musicians in the audience, all took turns jamming with world-class players Marcus Printup, Vincent Gardner, Victor Goines, Chris Crenshaw, Dan Nimmer, and Ali Jackson.
Wynton Marsalis himself even made an appearance at the fabled downtown club to watch Winnipeg’s amazing young talent trade solos with his band mates.
The 2011 TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival begins next week, and before we get into full swing, we’re gonna kick things off with a jam session at the Pyramid Cabaret on Monday, June 13!
We’ll have performances by the University of Manitoba All-Star Band as well as special guest appearances too! Doors open to the general public at 8:30 pm and it’s only a $10 cover!
Stones Throw recording artist Dam-Funk will plat the Pyramid Cabaret on June 21.
As with all major festivals, there are bound to be a few cancellations. We were hit with a couple last week.
First off, The Appleseed Cast will no longer be appearing on Saturday, June 18 at Old Market Square. However, we are happy to announce that Born Ruffians will be taking their place. The Ruffians sold out the Park Theatre for us back in March, so we are thrilled they we’re available last minute to fill in.
We are also sad to report that Quintron has also cancelled their June 21 appearance at the Pyramid Cabaret. But by an incredible stroke of luck we have been able to book Stones Throw recording artist Dam-Funk for the evening! As the ambassador of west coast boogie funk, Dam-Funk has been one of the biggest musical taste-makers of the last few years. We are thrilled to have him!
Some more good news: we’ve added singer/songwriter Ash Koley as the opening act for Pink Martini! Ash (and her bandmate Phil Deschambault) is a local girl, but has made quite a name for herself on the national and international scene. We are so happy to have her as a part of the festival for the first time.
Also don’t forget that we’ve added late shows for Jennifer Hanson on Friday, June 24 and Friday, June 25 at the Winnipeg Free Press Café. The early shows are now at 8pm, and the late shows are at 10:30 pm.
That’s all for now. Thanks for your patience and understanding!
The moment we’ve been planning for the last six months is finally here: The launch of the 2011 TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival!
From June 16 to 25, downtown Winnipeg will come alive for more than 10 days of incredible live music featuring the best local, national and international artists!
Phew! What a busy–but fun–few days! Friday brought Elizabeth Shepherd to town followed by Born Ruffians on Saturday and Emilie-Claire Barlow (pictured above) on Tuesday. All three shows were unique and wonderful. Thanks to all three groups, The Park Theatre team, and most of all the great audiences who came out to support the shows. Thanks also to Paolo Porquez for the great shot above.
We’ve got a super-fun mid-summer concert announcement coming up on April 4 and then we announce the complete line-up for the 2011 TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival on April 15.
We are thrilled to have Elizabeth Shepherd, one of our favourite Canadian jazz singer/songwriter/pianists, returning to Winnipeg for a performance at the Park Theatre on Friday, March 18.
Jazz Winnipeg is excited to announce the first two concerts confirmed for the 2011 TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival: Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis will perform a special festival preview concert on Tuesday, June 14, while Portland, Oregon’s Pink Martini will close out the festival on Saturday, June 25. Both highly-anticipated concerts will take place at the Centennial Concert Hall.
One of the hits of the 2009 Winnipeg Jazz Festival, Keys N Krates return to Winnipeg with a new batch of live remixes to get the dance floor jumpin’!
Keys N Krates combine live instrumentation, turntablism and live sampling to remix existing pop music and samples from MGMT to Jay‐Z right before your eyes.
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