This week’s Flashback takes us to 2010 and another major milestone of the Vancouver International Jazz Festival – the 25th anniversary. In the opening pages of the program guide, Artistic Director Ken Pickering tried to explain how integral Coastal Jazz had felt to its legacy and connection to Vancouver.
“For 25 years, Coastal Jazz has built an international reputation for the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Through a unique programming vision that is based on pushing musical boundaries, Coastal Jazz has maintained the delicate balance between established traditions and new and innovative impulses.
“Over the years we’ve successfully achieved a strong and highly respected international profile within the jazz festival milieu while making a major contribution to the cultural life of our city. Vancouver is a very different city than it was when we began the festival in 1986, and we are extremely proud of our role in the development of and growth of our city.”
These words are just as relevant today as we celebrate our 40th year
We are proud of the impact we’ve had on Vancouver, and excited for where we are going. We plan to continue bringing community together, fostering music education and making live music accessible across the city for another four decades.
Back to 2010, the Festival guide cover art was a reconstruction of a deconstructed instrument, taken from a Han Bennink original, and includes his own handwriting noting the 25th Anniversary.
The Marquee Series kicked off the Festival’s opening weekend with George Benson. “The VIJF has never shied away from safe bets, or smooth jazz for that matter, and the 67-year-old singer-guitarist delivered.” (Globe and Mail) Kellylee Evans and Nikki Yanofsky with John Pizzarelli also headlined with shows at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre.
Other jazz legends that year included Chick Corea with his Piano Solo Concert billed alongside Terry Clark Trio. It was one of eight nights of double bill performances at Classic Sounds of The Centre Series that featured John Scofield, Martha Wainright – singing songs of Piaf, and the Bill Frisell Trio featuring Eyvind Kang and Rudy Royston, on a double bill with Norwegian trumpeter/composer Nils Petter Molvaer.
Fixed Fragmented & Fluid, a collaboration between British bassist and composer Barry Guy, Vancouver-based animator Michel Gagné, and an all-star band opened the Innovation Series. “Gagné is about to go where no animator has gone before: on-stage with an all-star band, improvising in real time. And in Guy, who’s creating an hourlong sequence of musical structures the cast can jam on, he’s found an ideal collaborator. The bassist and composer’s graphic scores are works of art in themselves, incorporating geometrical figures and sweeping curves in addition to the usual notes and staves. (The Georgia Straight)
Vancouver boasted a surplus of local talent who would be visible in numerous configurations during the Festival, including clarinetist Francois Houle, saxophonist Coat Cooke, cellist Peggy Lee, guitarist Tony Wilson, pianists Paul Plimley and Chris Gestrin and drummers Terry Clarke and Dylan van der Schyff.
Ken Pickering was incredibly proud to present the Vancouver debut of the Globe Unity Orchestra. It was another all-star configuration, and the band that triggered the his passion for the music’s European offshoots more than 40 years ago. Arranged as a central part of the VIJF’s 25th-anniversary celebration, this was the second stop on Globe Unity’s first Canadian tour – a late coming out for a group formed in 1966. (The Georgia Straight)
“And Vancouver programmed the 11-piece in its inimitable way – mixing and matching German pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach’s ensemble in a variety of configurations over the weekend. There were seven performances in all, culminating in a full orchestra concert Sunday night at the Roundhouse.” (Globe and Mail)
Head to our Instagram or Facebook to view the entire 2010 Festival schedule.
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Mark your calendars for the 40th anniversary Vancouver International Jazz Festival this June 20 – July 1, 2025. Catch up on all our festival flashbacks here. Do you have a great festival memory? Share your story with us.
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