As the 20th Century drew to a close, 1999 opened with a few major events that would leave a lasting mark on the world. The year began with the introduction of the euro currency, easing trade and investment across European countries. The Columbine shooting (and the copycat killings it inspired) brought school safety and gun control into the spotlight. Napster, which allowed users to download and trade music off the Internet for free, made its debut. It’s credited with spawning a decade known as the “second golden age of piracy” – to the dismay of record labels and artists everywhere.
Closer to home, Nunavut became Canada’s third territory. Eatons went bankrupt. Female Canadian artists Céline Dion, Alanis Morissette and Shania Twain dominated the music charts. And Vancouver’s jazz festival continued along doing what it had always done best. But for the first time in its 14 history, a rain-soaked Festival didn’t see a single ray of sunshine.
Welcome to Vancouver! Sooner or later, it’s gonna get you.
By its 14th year, the Coastal Jazz & Blues Society continued to outdo itself with 1,500 artists performing at 40 venues around Vancouver. While the constant rain kept crowds away from free outdoor shows like those in Gastown and David Lam Park, ticketed shows sold well. In fact, roughly a third of the Festival’s revenue came from hard ticket sales – a success story and a boon to a bottom line already in the black from corporate sponsorship and government funding. (The Festival budget has been discussed in previous posts; we’ll revisit again soon as du Maurier’s sponsorship ends in the early 2000’s.)
Coastal Jazz had cultivated “one of the most sophisticated jazz audiences” over the years, who revelled in the near limitless choices of jazz, funk, bebop, blues, R&B, world beat, dance and swing on offer. Opening night at the Opheum featured Pat Metheny in his first Festival appearance as a trio featuring Larry Grenadier and Bill Stewart. In celebration of what would have been Duke Ellington’s 100th birthday, the Smithsonian Jazz Masterworks Orchestra performed his works from the Cotton Club era.
Other highlights included Bossa nova king Charlie Byrd, Herbie Hancock and Wayne Shorter, Bill Frisell with his new band the Willies, Keb Mo, and pianist Oliver Jones, in his last Vancouver show before his official retirement. The Festival’s broad programming offered a platform for acts that may have lived outside the jazz scene, but could no less draw the crowds, like Canadian artists Cowboy Junkies and Esthero, who both appeared.
Of course, no Vancouver jazz festival would be complete without a healthy dose of creative music. The roster of improvisers in 1999 was deep – from Festival stalwarts like Paul Plimley, François Houle, Peggy Lee and Dylan Van der Schyff to a diverse group of artists representing something called the New Dutch Swing.
“Each year they have presented a series of concerts that not only illustrate the similarities and differences between improvisational approaches in in various countries, but also bring together instrumentalists in ad doc settings to allow them to explore the relationships between their individual styles and sensibilities.” (Musicworks)
“In former years, the non-paying public may have squirmed in their chairs upon hearing an unfamiliar musical language. Now they stay and listen hard. They don’t just politely applaud at performances of improvised music, they often cheer.” (Misterioso, 2011)
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