Coastal Jazz | Vancouver International Jazz Festival

Unwritten Thursdays: City Poems
2024-04-18 21:00 - 23:30 (America/Vancouver) | Tyrant Studios, 1019 Seymour St, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6B 3M3, Canada
Unwritten Thursdays Vol.8: April 18th @ Tyrant Studios (1019 Seymour st.)
City Poems: Seasoned jazz performers will improvise music to accompany four acclaimed local spoken word artists as they perform pieces inspired by the city.
9pm doors
9:30pm show (two sets)
$15-20 suggested donation (NOTAFLOF)
Presented by Coastal Jazz and Barking Sphinx
Musicians: Feven Kidane, John Gross, Lisa Cay Miller, Théo Girard, Josh Zubot
Poets: Tawahum, Jillian Christmas, Johnny Trinh, RC Weslowski, Fiona Tinwei Lam

Tawahum is a Łutselkʼe Dene and Plains Nehiyaw spoken word poet from unceded Musqueam, Squamish & Tsleil-Waututh Territory (CKA Vancouver). Their Two-Spirit, Nonbinary Scorpio-moon angst boils over to showcase their sadboi rage. With a BA in Creative Writing from KPU, Tawahum has performed poetry and hip-hop at countless festivals with poems featured in numerous publications. Cut to Fortress was published by Nightwood Editions in 2022 with this new collection to come 2025.
Jillian Christmas is a queer, afro-caribbean writer, artist, educator, curator and consultant, the long-time spoken word curator of the Vancouver Writers Fest, the former artistic director of Verses Festival of Words and the inaugural poet-in-residence at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Jillian is the recipient of the 2021 Sheri-D Golden Beret Award for Spoken Word Poetry and the 2021 Dayne Ogilvie Prize for LGBTQ2S+ emerging writers. She has won numerous Grand Poetry Slam Championship titles and represented both Toronto and Vancouver at eleven national poetry events, notably breaking ground as the first Canadian to perform on the final stage of the Women of the World Poetry Slam. Her debut collection, The Gospel of Breaking (Arsenal Pulp Press 2020), was shortlisted for the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award, and the Pat Lowther Memorial Award.
Johnny D Trinh is the Artistic Director of Vancouver Poetry House and Founder of Stage to Page Performance Society. Additional highlights: a 2024 Writer-in-residence at the Historic Joy Kogawa House, Artist-in-residence at the Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre, Banff Spoken Word Residency Alumnus. Johnny holds a MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies focusing on Community-Engaged Art and Autoethnography. “It takes a community to build an artist … whether we are nurtured by it, or resist against it.”
RC Weslowski is an award-winning poet, broadcaster, podcaster, clown and MC. He’s performed at and led workshops at festival across Turtle Island and parts of Europe.

Emcee: Fiona Tinwei Lam is Vancouver’s 6th poet laureate, and the author of 3 collections of poetry and a children’s book.

Myriam Gendron + Jim White & Marisa Anderson
2024-05-23 20:00 - 23:00 | St. James Community Square, 3214 W 10th Ave, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6K2L2, Canada
Myriam Gendron
Prior to her debut album, Myriam Gendron’s primary musical focus was busking in Paris Metro stations, performing the songs of Leonard Cohen and others, accompanying herself on guitar. Her critically acclaimed albums, Not So Deep As A Well (2014) and Ma délire – Songs of love, lost & found (2021) have explored a vast geography of inspiration, from the poems of American writer Dorothy Parker to the complex folk traditions of Quebec and beyond.
The Montreal-based artist’s third LP, Mayday, is an even more syncretic fusion of the elements she uses to create her sound. Most of the songs are original, sung in both English and French, and they blend traditional and avant elements with abandon. Myriam is often accompanied on this album by Marisa Anderson guitar and Jim White (Dirty Three) drums, whose work provides a quietly aggressive sort of free-rock base.

Jim White & Marisa Anderson
Jim White and Marisa Anderson share an abounding appetite for musical exploration. White, as a member of Venom P Stinger, Dirty Three, and Xylouris White, is well-known for his creative and idiosyncratic drumming. His singular abilities have also led to collaborations with Cat Power, PJ Harvey, and Bill Callahan among others. Anderson’s prolific output as a solo performer, her mastery of traditional folk and blues forms and her abilities to make them entirely her own has established her as one of the most exciting and forward-thinking guitarists of the last decade. White and Anderson’s considerable technical skills are used in the most inventive and unconventional manner on their debut duo recording, The Quickening.
Co-presented by Coastal Jazz and the Vancouver Folk Music Festival.
This show is 19+. No refunds.

Todd Stewart Trio
2024-06-13 20:00 - 23:00 | Parq Vancouver Casino & Resort, 39 Smithe Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6Z 2X8, Canada
Enjoy a Jazz at the Parq performance by the Todd Stewart Trio with complimentary admission by BCLC.
Drummer Todd Stewart is known for his tasteful interpretation of both bebop and contemporary drumming idioms, as well as his ability to bring out the greatest characteristics of any tune with his expressive orchestrations and his appreciation of the melody.

Thad Bailey-Mai Trio
2024-06-19 18:00 - 20:00 | British Columbia
Thad is a prolific composer, improviser, and trumpet player based out of Vancouver, B.C. His playing can be found on over a dozen albums, and his projects have been featured in numerous festivals and venues in Canada. Having a diverse musical background, Thad’s performances evoke a colourful mosaic of harmonic choices, all while remaining deeply rooted in the traditions of jazz improvisational language. He will be joined by Nicholas Bracewell on drums, and Chris Fraser on guitar.
Coastal Jazz & False Creek Ferries present: Band on a Boat. The event takes place by Canoe Bridge pedestrian bridge in Olympic Village. Approximate start time adjusted from 6:30pm to 6:00pm. The timing of this event is only as exact as the tides.

Journeys to the Bandstand - A Conversation with Author Chris Wong
2024-06-21 16:00 - 17:00 | Ocean Artworks, 1531 Johnston Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V3E 2T1, Canada
1531 Johnston St, Vancouver, BC V6H 3R9
Rhythm Changes writer, podcast host, and musician Will Chernoff hosts a conversation with author Chris Wong, whose new book, Journeys to the Bandstand: Thirty Jazz Lives in Vancouver, chronicles the creative lives and musical journeys of 30 extraordinary artists who have helped shape Canada’s West Coast jazz scene. Wong dedicates each chapter to one remarkable artist, or a small group of impactful musicians mostly based in Vancouver, as well as some American musicians who have made an indelible impression on the city’s jazz community. Journeys to the Bandstand weaves a first-person perspective with extensive written and audio-visual history gathered from articles, books, letters, recordings, films, and more. It is a compelling collection of long-form portraits and an incomparable chronology of key events in Vancouver’s jazz history. A self-professed lifelong music nerd and aficionado of jazz and other genres. Journeys to the Bandstand is Wong’s first book, a passion project honed over more than a decade.

Shannon Thue
2024-06-21 16:30 - 17:30 | 2nd Floor Gastown (at the Water St. Café), 300 Water St, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6B1B6, Canada
Happy Hour Piano Lounge.
Pianist/vocalist Shannon Thue, discovered her passion for jazz in high school in Regina, SK. She moved to Vancouver, BC in 2000 to study jazz at Capilano College and had the opportunity to learn and draw inspiration from local jazz greats Chris Sigerson, Ross Taggart, Lorne Kellett, Alan Matheson and Réjean Marois to name a few. In addition to performing, Shannon enjoys teaching, arranging and composing. The “Shannon Thue Trio” released an album in 2007 entitled “The Road Less Travelled,” consisting mainly of original material.

Jennifer Scott, Karla Mundy, and Dawn Pemberton
2024-06-21 18:30 - 23:00 | 2nd Floor Gastown (at the Water St. Café), 300 Water St, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6B1B6, Canada
Jennifer Scott
Considered the finest Jazz Vocal Improviser in Canada by her peers, her fans and by the musicians who work with her, Jennifer Scott is an important Jazz Voice. She has sung with such Jazz Greats as: Gene Bertoncini, Clark Terry, Tommy Banks, Paul Horn and Kenny Wheeler to name a few. She has been nominated for a Juno and Jessie Awards with ‘Mythos’ and theatre production ‘War of the Worlds’.
Karla Mundy
Karla has recorded on eight CDs, has performed throughout BC and Alberta, the Pacific Northwest, Ontario and Quebec and has been featured regularly on CBC. She currently keeps herself busy with directing three choirs, performing with ‘The Shirleys’ ‘Plough’ and ‘TriVo’, completing a Conducting Certificate from Capilano University, teaching piano privately, accompanying the Vancouver Bach Youth Choir, under the direction of Paula Kremer, accompanying violin recitals and offering harmony singing workshops throughout the year.
Dawn Pemberton
Vancouver vocal dynamo Dawn Pemberton has a deep musical foundation rooted in tradition. Those roots take her powerful voice from gospel and soul to jazz, funk, and world music. Heavily influenced by rhythm, she’s drawn to the percolating undercurrent of soul-jazz and funk which infuses everything she does: “I’ve got a rhythmic stream running through me at all times. It’s all about the groove for me.”

Matt Storm
2024-06-21 19:00 - 23:00 | Guilt & Co., 1 Alexander Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6A 1B2, Canada
Matt Storm is an Indie Soul singer/songwriter hailing from Vancouver B.C. Stepping on the scene around 2014, Matt has been writing, recording and performing his own work, and collaborating with other artists for quite some time. His sound can be described as indie soul, playing on classic references such as Bill Withers intertwined with new sounds like Emily King, and Ray LaMontagne.
2 sets – $6 per set.

Mary Ancheta Quartet
2024-06-21 19:30 - 23:00 | West Vancouver Memorial Library, 1950 Marine Dr, West Vancouver, British Columbia, V7V 1J8, Canada
Inspired by the likes of Squarepusher, The Meters, John Scofield, and Prince, Canadian/Filipina keyboardist and composer Ancheta knows what’s up when it comes to arresting melodies and irresistible groove. Ancheta’s quartet, featuring Trent Otter (drums), Dominic Conway (sax), and Matt Reid (bass) will perform songs from their EP Level Up.

SUMAC with Moor Mother
2024-06-21 19:30 - 23:00 | Fortune Sound Club, 147 E Pender St, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6A 1T5, Canada
147 E Pender St, Vancouver, BC V6A 1T5
SUMAC
In a time of significant social upheaval, SUMAC pushes further into the extreme polarity of their expressionistic metal, fluctuating between meticulous discipline on one end, and untethered feral energy on the other. This navigation of chaos and control is a testament to the technical skills and tour-honed collective intuition of guitarist/vocalist Aaron Turner (Isis, Old Man Gloom, Mamiffer), drummer Nick Yacyshyn (Baptists), and bassist Brian Cook (Russian Circles, These Arms Are Snakes).
Their humanistic lyrics strike a compassionate tone that stands in stark contrast to the misanthropy of some heavy music, and their sonic approach is akin to free jazz or abstract noise, where the emotional resonance isn’t bound up in melody as much as in performance. Fusing heavy riffage, knotty structures, and expressionistic forays into epic, wildly dynamic narrative arcs, the music of SUMAC is by no means a salve or anodyne, but neither is it nihilistic. Rather, it’s like a confrontation, a baptism by fire, a therapeutic razing. Ultimately, it’s a reminder of the life force that binds us together, and a clarion call to be an active participant in an evolving world.

Moor Mother
How do you engage the stunning, evocative, haunting gift that is Moor Mother’s latest album The Great Bailout? Only by following the trail of potent verbal and sonic poetry. Only by letting Moor Mother be your guide.
Released March 8, The Great Bailout is Moor Mother aka Camae Ayewa’s ninth studio album, and third with ANTI- Records. Called “the poet laureate of the apocalypse,” by Pitchfork, Ayewa’s music contains multitudes of instruments, voices, and cacophony that take on themes of Afrofuturism, colonialism, commerce and collective memory with the forebearers of jazz, hip hop, and beat poetry in mind.
Moor Mother is presented by Coastal Jazz in association with Queer Arts Festival.
Please note this venue is stair access only. 19+. No refunds.

FROM NEW YORK: LEZLIE HARRISON
2024-06-21 20:00 - 23:30, 2024-06-22 20:00 - 23:30 | Frankie’s Jazz Club, 755 Beatty Sreet, Vancouver, BC, V6B 2M4, Canada
Lezlie Harrison is her own personal renaissance. Her constant state of evolution and growth brings with it, gifts for those paying attention. As a vocalist both bold and subtle, her vulnerability attends to the fragile matters of our collective human affairs while her optimistic momentum inspires us to rise above any tribulation to rejoice. Be it Jazz, Blues, Gospel, Soul, The American Song Form, original compositions, or any song in ANY form, Ms. Harrison will imbue it with her distinctive stamp and make a very personal delivery.
In 2023 Harrison recorded Let Them Talk for Vancouver’s Cellar Music Group. “The songs I selected for this album share a message of bringing us together in our collective human experience. The music moves us in the way a preacher moves their congregation. We get up off our feet and hold on to the words and what they stir in us. We are transported to the absolute truth of the moment where we can join in the experience together. This is what the world needs right now, and it is what I want…”
With Chris Gestrin hammond organ, Alvin Brendan guitar, and Jesse Cahill drums.

Garret T. Willie
2024-06-21 20:30 - 22:30 | Ocean Artworks, 1531 Johnston Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V3E 2T1, Canada
1531 Johnston St, Vancouver, BC V6H 3R9
“Canada’s next big thing in down-and-dirty rockin’ blues guitardom” — Toronto Star
Garret T. Willie’s gives rock ‘n’ roll a formidable 21st-century kick in the ass with his heartbreaking and hilarious stories, hardscrabble blues, and hard-stomping rock ‘n’ roll. Hailing from Kingcome Inlet, off the coast of BC, the uncommonly wise, witty and weathered 23-year-old’s heavy back story gives him more right than most to sing the blues, but there’s a helluva lot of raunchy fun going on alongside the exorcisms of tragedy and trauma.
Willie knows what makes the blues tick. Schooled in all the right source material, from Howlin’ Wolf, Albert King, and Muddy Waters, to Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee, to the Stones, AC/DC, and George Thorogood, with a little outlaw country flavour on the side, Garret T. Willie doesn’t just rip it up on the guitar, he does it with the gut-busting honesty of someone who understands that if you ain’t lived it, you shouldn’t sing it.
Presented in association with Talking Stick Festival.

Bryan Chung & Co.
2024-06-21 21:30 - 23:30 | Tyrant Studios, 1019 Seymour St, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6B 3M3, Canada
Bryan Chung & Company was founded in 2023. The group features Jamison Ko on drums, Brad Pearson on bass, Jimi James Fraser on piano, Spencer Drody on trumpet and flugelhorn, and Bryan Chung on the tenor saxophone. Bryan Chung & Co. will be exploring music from the hard bop to post-bop era of jazz, including music by Larry Willis, Joe Henderson, and Dave Holland.
Stay after the set for an open jazz jam.

Big Easy Funk Ensemble
2024-06-21 22:00 - 23:30 | Guilt & Co., 1 Alexander Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6A 1B2, Canada
Big Easy Funk Ensemble celebrates the amazing variety of music that has grown out of the Jazz, Blues and Snazzy Grooves of New Orleans. The 9 member band includes a 3-piece horn section comprised of Andrew Benton Sax, Kevin Tang Trombone and Ryan Naso Trumpet. The rhythm section includes Reece Worth on Guitar, Eric Stephenson on Bass, Tyler Gibson on Keyboards/Organ, Ryan Davis on Drums, Jeffrey Kornblum on Percussion, and last but not least the mesmerizing Chris Berry on Vocals.
3 sets – $6 per set.

DJ Paisley Eva
2024-06-21 22:30 - 23:30 | Ocean Artworks, 1531 Johnston Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V3E 2T1, Canada
1531 Johnston St, Vancouver, BC V6H 3R9
Hailing from the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nation village of Eslha7an, Ta7talíya Paisley Eva’s been filling local club, party, and festival dance floors with a high energy mix of obscure underground tracks and beloved classics for over ten years. Her choice, chance-taking selections are plucked from house, disco, new wave, pop, and whatever keeps people moving.
Presented in association with Queer Arts Festival.

Jesse Cahill Trio
2024-06-21 23:00 - 23:30 | Frankie’s Jazz Club, 755 Beatty Sreet, Vancouver, BC, V6B 2M4, Canada
The Infidels presents Frankie’s After Dark.
The Jesse Cahill Trio presents the organ group not simply as a momentary phenomena or musical novelty of the past but as an updated vehicle for contemporary musical expression. For this performance the groups explorations will include music from George Dunning, Dimitri Tiomkin, Ferde Grofe, Neil Young, and perhaps others. For this Frankie’s After Dark performance the trio features Chris Gestrin on organ, David Sikula on guitar, and Jesse Cahill on drums.

Miles Black + Dave Say
2024-06-22 11:30 - 13:00 | 2nd Floor Gastown (at the Water St. Café), 300 Water St, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6B1B6, Canada
Based in Vancouver BC, multi instrumentalist, jazz educator, composer and arranger Miles Black has been performing, recording and touring professionally since 1980. Since then, Miles has worked with many jazz luminaries, including Harry Sweets Edison, Maynard Ferguson, Max Roach, Lew Tabackin, Paul Horn, Skywalk, George Coleman, Mark Murphy, Sheila Jordan and Dee Daniels.
Joining him is Vancouver Island-native Dave Say who loves jazz and all its variations. Multi-talented across genres and reed instruments, Dave regularly headlines at major west coast venues, Canadian jazz festivals, and is a first-call side musician to a variety of award-winning performers.

Sounds of Youth: Day 1
2024-06-22 12:00 - 18:00 | Downtown – Robson Street Stage
Come hear BC’s burgeoning young talent! Music education is an essential part of the Jazz ecosystem, and this initiative showcases ten of the best high school jazz combos and big bands from Metro Vancouver and around the province. With great young players and dedicated educators stepping up to the Festival stage, it’s always a highlight of the Downtown Jazz weekend.
Schedule:
12:00pm – Cambie Secondary Jazz Ensemble
1:15pm – Fleetwood Park Secondary Jazz Ensemble
2:30pm – Archbishop Carney Secondary Jazz Ensemble
3:45pm – McRoberts Secondary Jazz Ensemble
5:00pm – UBC Jazz Ensemble

The Jason Winikoff Hot 5
2024-06-22 12:30 - 13:30 | Downtown – Georgia Street Stage, 850 W Georgia St, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6Z 2H7, Canada
750 Hornby St, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2H7
The Jason Winikoff Hot 5 plays early swing and New Orleans trad jazz from the seminal 1900-1930s era, pulling influence from pioneers like King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet, and Jelly Roll Morton, as well as contemporaries like Shannon Powell, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and Herlin Riley. Bandleader Jason Winikoff cut his teeth playing and studying Black American Music in New Orleans, where he lived for seven years. In 2018, the ethnomusicologist, drummer/percussionist, and educator moved to Vancouver and became a fixture in the trad and swing scenes, quickly gaining notoriety for his bouncy grooves, high energy drumming, raspy vocals, and focus on the long-form New Orleans repertoire. Expect barn burners, bluesy ballads, irresistible grooves, polyphonic horns, and – most importantly – fun! Winikoff’s Hot 5 keeps tradition thriving with in-demand Vancouver swing musicians Bonnie Northgraves trumpet, Joe Abbott reeds, Dean Thiessen keys, and Noah Gotfrit bass.

Lamia Yared
2024-06-22 13:00 - 15:00 | Civic Plaza (North Vancouver), 126 14th St W, North Vancouver, British Columbia, V7M 2M9, Canada
Lebanon-born, Montreal-based Lamia Yared specializes in traditional Arabic, Turkish and Sephardic repertoires. She has trained with renowned masters in Lebanon, Turkey and Greece, honing her technique of Eastern chant and oud playing. With cellist Sheila Hannigan, clarinetist François Houle, percussionist Hamin Honari, and guitarist and oud player Gordon Grdina.

Jillian Lebeck Trio
2024-06-22 14:00 - 17:00 | La Fabrique St. George Winery, 7 E 7th Avenue, Vancouver, British Columbia, V5T 1M4, Canada
Pianist Jillian Lebeck’s Starlight Trio is inspired by cinema, European classical jazz, and modern jazz. Featuring Conrad Good on bass and Jon Bentley on tenor saxophone.

Parlour Panther
2024-06-22 14:15 - 15:15 | Downtown – Georgia Street Stage, 850 W Georgia St, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6Z 2H7, Canada
750 Hornby St, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2H7
Parlour Panther bursts with irresistible charm, expressive emotional chemistry, and exceptional vocal and guitar skills. Frankie and Raider, a trans non-binary couple, have been creating music together for 10 years. They made a splash in the Vancouver music scene with their 2018 debut Hot Magic, and followed that album’s success with Retrograde, recorded entirely in their home studio during the pandemic, and released to critical acclaim in 2021 on Coax Records. Now, with Saadi on synth and guitar and Jen on drums, the enchanting indie rockers are embarking on a new musical journey with their album BLOOM, an apt title for a band that’s always growing!
Presented in association with Queer Arts Festival.

Itamar Erez Quartet
2024-06-22 15:45 - 16:45 | Downtown – Georgia Street Stage, 850 W Georgia St, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6Z 2H7, Canada
750 Hornby St, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2H7
​​Guitarist/pianist/composer Itamar Erez “expands the musical cultures and geographical borders of the Middle East with passionate flamenco and Latin music themes, the lyricism of Brazilian bluesy Choro and, obviously, the freedom of jazz” (Salt Peanuts).
Erez has released six albums and performed at renowned venues like the Barbican in London, Sydney Opera House, and that mountaintop of arts performance, New York’s Carnegie Hall. As far-ranging as he is, both musically and geographically, “it’s hard to locate Itamar Erez’s music in any particular place or time, other than here and now” (Stir). Playing selections from his engrossing new album Mi Alegria, Erez’s quartet features some of the Canadian jazz scene’s boldest, most sensitive players including Sam Davidson clarinets, Jeff Gammon bass, and Kevin Romain drums.

Biboye Onanuga Quartet
2024-06-22 16:00 - 17:00 | Ocean Artworks, 1531 Johnston Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V3E 2T1, Canada
1531 Johnston St, Vancouver, BC V6H 3R9
Biboye Onanuga is an imaginative British-born, Nigerian-Canadian drummer and composer. A recent MacEwan University Music graduate, Biboye has quickly become a key figure in the Edmonton scene through his instrumental hip-hop/jazz band Good Information and the two-year (so far) tenure of his weekly music series, New Standards.
Inspired by innovators like Ambrose Akinmusire, Jamire Williams, and Mikel Patrick Avery, Biboye uses instrumental music’s abstract, ephemeral essence to reflect life in a modern world built for speed, with a heart built for the calmer pace of human connection. Finding its voice somewhere between jazz and hip-hop, Onanuga’s quartet bends and leans into a spiritual aesthetic and submits itself to the moment. With Christopher Fraser guitar, Chad Galpin bass, and Josh Krushel keys.

Juana Molina
2024-06-22 17:30 - 18:45 | Downtown – Georgia Street Stage, 850 W Georgia St, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6Z 2H7, Canada
750 Hornby St, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2H7
Though it may sound hyperbolic, The Wire deemed Juana Molina’s music “essential for all humans on planet Earth.” We assure you that this is not an overblown assessment. A master of mysterious experimental pop, Juana Molina is one of modern music’s most original and visionary artists. Her career trajectory has been unique, from massive success in the 1990s as a comedic actress in her native Argentina, to the forging of an inimitable, off-kilter style of music that contains—but is not constrained by—elements of folk, ambient, and electronica.
“Creating a slippery soundtrack for the subconscious” (Spin), Juana Molina’s hypnotic performances combine live loops, effects created on-the-fly, and deft guitar playing that “dips deep into the unknown and brings back unexpected brilliance” (MOJO).

The Dean Thiessen Trio
2024-06-22 19:00 - 22:00 | Guilt & Co., 1 Alexander Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6A 1B2, Canada
A powerhouse funk and groove organ trio playing guilty pleasures from Cher, to Billy Joel, to Dr. John. Featuring some of the best talent in the Vancouver Jazz scene playing music that just makes them happy: Dean Thiessen on Organ/Keys, Marcus Abramzik on Bass, and Jamison Ko on Drums.
2 sets – $6 per set.

Kassa Overall
2024-06-22 19:30 - 21:00 | Downtown – Georgia Street Stage, 850 W Georgia St, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6Z 2H7, Canada
750 Hornby St, Vancouver, BC V6Z 2H7
“Raw, underground, and chaotic,” Kassa Overall is “one of modern jazz music’s most audacious futurists” (Pitchfork). The GRAMMY-nominated emcee, singer, producer and drummer melds avant-garde experimentation with hip-hop production techniques to tilt the nexus of jazz and rap in unmapped directions. Since his 2019 debut, Overall has established himself as a rhythmic innovator and a visionary poet who addresses the injustices of the carceral system, the pharmaceutical industry, and anti-black racism, while wrangling with the perils of his own mental illness. On ANIMALS, his 2024 album on Warp Records, Kassa pushes his kaleidoscopic, subversive vision further, layering Roland 808s against avant-garde drumming—in the vein of his mentors Elvin Jones and Billy Hart—alongside all-star collaborators like Danny Brown, Lil B, Nick Hakim, Laura Mvula, Vijay Iyer, and Shabazz Palaces. ANIMALS pushes Kassa’s lyrical message further, too. As an entertainer and as a black man in America, he reckons with the two-sided truth that to perform one’s freedom for an audience can mean succumbing to life inside a cage.
Kassa’s joined by Tomoki Sanders soprano sax, drums and percussion, Bendji Allonce congas and percussion, and Matt Wong keys.

Irreversible Entanglements
2024-06-22 19:30 - 21:00 | Performance Works, 1218 Cartwright Street, Vancouver, BC, V6H 3R8, Canada
1218 Cartwright St, Vancouver, BC V6H 3R8
A free jazz quintet with an experimental punk mentality, Irreversible Entanglements is “the most thrilling band in jazz right now” (NPR). Driven by poet/vocalist Camae Ayewa’s (aka Moor Mother) searing narrations of Black trauma, survival, and power, Irreversible Entanglements brings first-wave free jazz’s tradition of resistance acutely into the now. This is deeply improvised rhythm music full of love, protest, and social commitment; IE are honouring the past, speaking to the present, and making sonic claims on the future. Featuring bassist Luke Stewart, saxophonist Keir Neuringer, trumpeter Aquiles Navarro, and drummer Tcheser Holmes, their new album Protect Your Light — on the legendary Impulse! Label — is “a major statement from artists who are as much the new wave of jazz as John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Archie Shepp et al were in their day.” – The Wire
IE came together spontaneously, organically, in April of 2015 at Musicians Against Police Brutality, a day of protest sound and discussion in Brooklyn. All were artists and activists of varying degrees: Philadelphia-based Ayewa and Neuringer, and D.C.-based Stewart as veterans of the Mid-Atlantic noise-hardcore-experimental scene, while Holmes and Navarro as recent New England Conservatory grads. The studio albums that followed—2020’s Who Sent You? and 2021’s Open The Gates—developed this legend further.
In 2023, IE signed to Impulse! Records and released its most accomplished work to date, Protect Your Light, primarily recorded at New Jersey’s historic Van Gelder Studios. It features eight examples of how IE’s collaborative composition strategies and Ayewa’s in-communion verses result in some of the most potent music being made in the now, music with communal light and love at its heart.
No refunds.

Feven Kidane Sextet
2024-06-22 20:30 - 22:30 | Ocean Artworks, 1531 Johnston Street, Vancouver, British Columbia, V3E 2T1, Canada
1531 Johnston St, Vancouver, BC V6H 3R9
Feven Kidane is a dynamic Vancouver-based trumpeter, composer, and bandleader. A member of several of the city’s music scenes ranging from jazz to spoken word to psychedelic country, Feven’s well-known in circles both underground and above. Feven brings her newly-formed sextet, true poets in their own right and voice, to this year’s Fest: Nebyu Yohannes trombone, Noah Franche-Nolan piano, John Nicholson tenor saxophone, Milo Johnson bass, and Edmonton’s Biboye Onanuga drums.
