2024 Canadian Jazz Summit
February 9 + 10, 2024

 

The Canadian Jazz Summit is an annual two-day event celebrating Canadian jazz, featuring practical workshops with artists and educators to get students thinking creatively about performance, composition, promotional skills, and more, plus a wrap concert celebrating the U of M's jazz faculty, students, and guest musicians. The Canadian Jazz Summit is open to the public - join us on February 9 and 10 at the Desautels Faculty of Music for this year's summit.

 

2024 Canadian Jazz Summit Daily Schedule*

Friday, February 9
Desautels Faculty of Music, VOCAL ARTS ROOM T2-266

  • 11AM - 12:15PM Masterclass
    Approaching Songwriting Freely with Rayannah
    Songwriting is a deeply personal practice that can be driven by a variety of methodologies and motivations. This workshop will explore various approaches to songwriting across genres while connecting them to jazz methodology. Participants will be encouraged to consider different writing frameworks that suit their skill sets and motivations as artists with the aim of approaching writing from a playful standpoint.  

  • 1PM - 2:15PM Masterclass
    Student Ensemble Open Rehearsal with Ernesto Cervini

    A chance to work on bandleading, ensemble playing, arranging, time, dynamics, and other performance-related skills.

  • 2:45PM - 4PM Masterclass
    Using Rhythmic Groupings in Improvising with Ernesto Cervini

    Finding interesting and unique ways to group notes and rhythms to create more interesting lines that cross bars (and eyes). Bring your instruments!

  • 4:30PM - 6:30PM Open rehearsal
    Masterclass attendees are invited to watch a rehearsal for the wrap-concert

Saturday, February 10
Desautels Faculty of Music, VOCAL ARTS ROOM T2-266

  • 11AM - 12:15PM Masterclass
    Real Life After University with Amber Epp

    Let's talk about what life is really like for local musicians after university. Hear about Amber's experience - the good, the bad, and the ugly - and discuss what to start doing now in order to have a shot at earning a living as a musician after university. Expect to learn a few tips and tricks for the business side of music in Manitoba as well.

  • 12:45PM - 2PM Masterclass
    A Musician’s Toolkit with Ernesto Cervini

    A conversation about techniques to help get the most out of your time and your efforts as a musician, as well as treating your music career as a business and marketing it as such. Think of this as promotion 101!

  • 7:30PM - 9:30PM Wrap concert (Doors 7PM)
    The first set will feature the Canadian Jazz Summit’s guest faculty with the University of Manitoba’s jazz faculty, and the second set will feature the University of Manitoba Jazz Orchestra, led by Jon Challoner.

*Schedule is subject to change

2024 Canadian Jazz Summit Guest Faculty

JUNO Award winner Ernesto Cervini is a sought-after drummer, composer and bandleader and an influential presence on Canada’s modern jazz scene and beyond. He has documented his vision with the Ernesto Cervini Quartet (featuring Joel Frahm), the innovative sextet Turboprop, numerous co- led trio projects including MEM3, Myriad3 and TuneTown, and also the quartet Tetrahedron, featuring acclaimed guitarist Nir Felder, electric bassist Rich Brown and alto saxophonist Luis Deniz. Cervini’s album Abundance won the 2020 JUNO Award for Jazz Album of the Year: Group.

In addition to his performing career, he founded Orange Grove Publicity in 2014 and has quickly become one of the most sought-after jazz publicists in Canada. He is also co-founder of TPR Records. Cervini is on faculty at the University of Toronto.

Ernesto Cervini

Rayannah

Rayannah is a Franco-manitoban artist, producer, beat-maker and artistic director based in Winnipeg.

Innovative on stage and in the studio, Rayannah unveiled her first full-length studio album Nos repaires (Our Haunts) in March of 2019. She went on to be named Francophone Artist of the Year and Producer of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards in 2019.

Born and raised in Winnipeg, Rayannah has toured her electro-alternative project across Canada, Europe and Latin-America and opened for international acts including Esperanza Spalding and Cœur de Pirate.

As a producer, Rayannah has worked on a variety of projects including studio albums and sound design for theatre and film. In 2021 she stepped into the role of artistic director with her immersive multi-disciplinary project Afterglow which saw artists from different disciplines collaborate on an innovative virtual performance. She went on to found and spearhead HYPERART, a Winnipeg-based multidisciplinary festival featuring collaborative performances and installations.

Whether performing solo or working on multidisciplinary projects, Rayannah shares something raw, intimate, and transcendent all at once.

Amber Epp performs uplifting vocal jazz music with a rhythmic beat. She has performed across Canada, and won a Western Canadian Music Award for one of her four albums. Her music conjures up New York loft parties, Brazilian beaches, and Cuban salsa nights. Amber sings and plays piano with Papa Mambo and Trio Bembe, and has been a guest with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra, the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, and the Manitoba Chamber Orchestra.

Amber enjoys performing everywhere from outdoor stages for thousands at the TD Winnipeg International Jazz Festival and the Winnipeg Folk Festival to intimate backyard concerts and celebrations. Her most recent project reinterprets songs with a jazzy feel from the Great Canadian Songbook.

Amber Epp