Spaces and faces of Jazz Fest 2019
On a fundamental level, music exists where time and space meet. As sound waves move from each instrument to your ears, they take time to travel through space to reach your brain.
Each song has a rhythm that is organized by time signature, which determines the length of time between each note. And while that rhythm is played, each note fills the space around you. That space determines how long the note will ring for,how fast it dies away, or how many times it echoes
.This essay turns the camera lens to some of the spaces where music happened during this festival.
From the many rooms of the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, to the specially-designed RAW:Jazzfest venue, to the well-known and loved living room surrounding the Cube, these photos aim to demonstrate what shapes a show: the spaces and faces.
What’s a room full of music without listeners, too?
JAZZFEST x CMHR
1 – A photograph of the building from outside as a couple arrives for the opening of the festival.
2 – Spectators in the Hall of Hope during trio telfaer’s set
3 – trio telfaer performing in the Hall of Hope for the opening of the fest. They played at the bottom of a multi-level vertical hallway that has bridges leading from one floor to another. The band was placed in an area typically not open to people. This led to their music spreading easily throughout the stone-walled structure, so people could hear the performance from the entrance of the museum.
4 – Adrian Wildsmith (right) and Linda Harlos (left) typically come to some events every year. Linda remarked that the infrastructure of the CMHR makes the event more intriguing.
5 – The main room on the first floor during Brian Blade and the Fellowship’s performance.
6 – Ryan Haughey (right) and his grandfather, Bernie Pechiwa (left) attended the festival together. Ryan lives in Winnipeg, and Bernie came in from Thunder Bay to see the show with him. Bernie is also a jazz musician who played tenor saxophone and keyboards in his career. He started the first jazz festival in Thunder Bay.
“Not big enough in Thunder Bay for a jazz fest,” Bernie said. “First one happened but didn’t get high enough attendance. About three years later we started it again and it went okay, then ended again.”
7 – Beverly Glenn-Copeland performs in the Garden of Contemplation with a large geometrically organized window behind him.
8 – A festival volunteer watches Glenn-Copeland from a hidden vantage point near the top of the elevators. These multi-level viewing spots are unique to the CMHR shows.
9 – Audience in the garden of contemplation with plants in the foreground.
10, 11 – photos from behind the band at the Garden of Contemplation, showing the large stone walls of the building with reflections from the large windows superimposed on top.
RAW:JAZZFEST
1 – Rayannah performing in the opening night for the RAW structure. The bare boards in the ceiling make for good leading lines.
2 – Audience members departing the venue.
3 – Melody (right) and dione (left) came to enjoy Saul Williams’ set.
4-6 – Views of the structure. It’s a V-shaped room where the artist performed at the tip of the V. This made for a more intimate concert viewing experience with a large crowd, but also had performers taking turns performing to each side of the room in some sense.
7 – Photography coordinator Travis Ross at the festival on his many days of work. A face behind the face of Jazz Fest!
THE CUBE
Old Market Square becomes the living room of the Exchange District during Jazz Fest. In this photo collection is a variety of photos of people simply enjoying the festival – laughing, dancing, spending time with friends. As an outdoor stage, the Cube allows for people to listen for free, for people to enjoy the fresh air and night sky while at a show, and for the sound to travel wherever it wants.
1-3, 5 – Photos from Makaya McCraven’s performance at the Cube. The geometric build of the Cube as a series of smaller cubes forming a big cube makes for an interesting frame.
4 – Barney Morin (left) and Melanie Bedard came to the Cube to catch Liam Duncan, but stayed for the music and the community and the fun.
THEATRES
Common performing at the Winnipeg Concert Hall. The space was built for the acoustic instruments of a symphony orchestra, so sound travels easily and readily throughout the room. Bringing amplified music into an acoustic space definitely changes the sound and feel. Traditionally, to stand during an orchestra performance, a ballet or an opera, would be awfully disrespectful. Here the venue sees a change in pace with the modernity of the musical style.