Tag: jazz

Buy a Record, Make a Difference 20: Kristin Fung

Buy a Record, Make a Difference is a new series we have created to help local musicians generate income during COVID-19. It is based on the principle that we should support and reward the hard work local artists have already put into recordings, as it is an immensely difficult undertaking to be creating new material under current circumstances. There is currently a lot of emphasis on livestreaming and innovation in our industry, and while those things absolutely have their place, we think it’s also important to boost projects that have already been completed.

In each post, we’ll ask a local artist a series of the same questions, give them the opportunity to talk about recordings they’re proud of, and ask them to talk about other local musicians whose work they admire. It’s our hope that you’ll take the time to listen to & purchase the work of local artists, or at the very least share their work with others.

KRISTIN FUNG

Photo by Glass Half Delicious
1. Who are you? 

I’m Kristin Fung and I’m an ice cream inhaler, midnight cyclist, and lover of dancing anywhere. I’m also a vocalist, keyboardist, composer, and ukulele player who loves building community, especially through music education. I lived in Toronto for the past seven years and I loved the very colourful life I had there — from recording and performing my original music with amazing collaborators who have been my greatest teachers — to busking in the subways with my ukulele duet, K Funk and Lady Ree, to playing piano in ballet classes, 5-star hotel lounges, and improv comedy shows. I’m grateful to be back in Vancouver, where I was born and raised, during this very strange time of flattening the curve of the covid-19 pandemic, and I believe very strongly in helping people in vulnerable communities rise and thrive.

2. Describe your music as best you can.

It’s a fusion of the sounds I’ve fallen in love with since I was a kid: 90s R&B, 70s soul, jazz through the lens of musical theatre, and experimental improvised music. People say it’s full of zeal and that it’s earnest, outpouring, lyrical, dramatic, groovy, and joyful. The music I make empowers people, draws them into deeply heartfelt places, and makes them feel warm inside.

3. What’s your latest recording (or a recording you’d like to promote)? Where can people get it?

I just released my latest single, “You For You” on all digital platforms on June 21, which was the day my band would have performed at this year’s Vancouver jazzfest (I still thank you and love you and miss you all at Coastal Jazz very much).

This song is an uplifting anthem about loving yourself and others despite capitalist pressure to continually chase what’s ‘shiny and new.’ It’s actually been the perfect song for the pandemic, not only because you can feel the happiness oozing out of the track, but that it reminds us to go back to who we are at our core, know that we are loved, and get through this twisted life journey together.

You can find it on Spotify, YouTube, Apple Music, Google Play, etc… but I’d really rather you buy it on Friday July 3rd on Bandcamp because I’ll be donating 100% of the revenue earned that day to The Hogan’s Alley Society, an important advocate for rebuilding the communities of Black Canadians in Vancouver whose homes were destroyed and erased in the 1970s.

4. Is there another local musician whose work you’d like to give a shout out to? 

All the Canadian heavyweights who played on my track “You For You.” Sarah Thawer, who is a monstrously talented percussionist. Rich Brown, Canada’s national treasure who takes the electric bass above and beyond. Anh Phung, the fiercest flute player you’ll ever know. Eric St-Laurent, the most perceptive guitarist I’ve ever played with. Tyler Emond and B.Morales for being musically compassionate and irreplaceable in the mixing process.

Local to Vancouver at the moment, I am really excited about the musical offerings we’re receiving from KeAloha Noelani, Kai Basanta, and Ben Brown – all of them play the drums but each person has such a distinct creative voice!

FESTIVAL TALES: HILARIOUS STORIES & CONNECTIONS MADE

While we cannot gather for a 2020 Festival this year, we can still celebrate what the Vancouver International Jazz Festival means to our community. Festival Tales showcases stories and memories from people who love our Festival—artists, volunteers, audiences, staff, donors, and community members.

This is a collection of those stories that are about relationships that started at the Festival and about some of the hilarious hijinks that happen when the Festival is in full swing.

CONNECTIONS MADE

A Jazz Festival love story from Kemila Zsange:

I met Tim, my current partner, on Canada Day 2007, at the Jazz Fest in David Lam Park. Tim had gone into the Roundhouse for other concerts, while leaving his blanket laid out in the park. I was new to the country and I didn’t know to bring a blanket to an outdoor festival. I went to sit on his empty blanket when the next show started. And the rest, as they say, is history. It’s our favourite festival, and we miss it dearly this year.

Kemila and Tim at David Lam Park in 2017
Kemila and Tim on the blanket where they first met!
This story of a festival friendship from volunteer Tamara Flick-Parker comes from sometime between 2006 and 2008:

I was volunteering for a late shift at the Roundhouse. No idea for which performance, but might have been Peggy Lee & Friends. I had never done a shift there, and there was no Canada Line yet. One of the other volunteers, Sharron, and I began talking. We kinda clicked. I wasn’t sure if the bus I needed to take home was still going to be running (no smart phones yet, at least not for me, let alone transit apps). Sharron had briefly mentioned the area of Vancouver she lived in, and I asked her if she could possibly give me a ride home. She said sure. By the time we got to my house, we had agreed we’d like to hang out again and exchanged phone numbers. When possible, we’ve been hanging out at the Jazz Fest, seeing shows together, but our favourite has been the David Lam Park weekends. We are still good friends to this day all because of the Jazz Festival. In fact, I just Zoomed with her last night. She’s probably about 15 or more years older than I, but she is like a Super Volunteer. She’s really missing all of the volunteering she normally does. I’ve had to pull back from volunteering over the last few years, as I’m in grad school right now.

And a festival love story from 2002 by Bruce Suttie, former volunteer & transpo coordinator:

I had a seat in the balcony of the Vogue and was sitting with several volunteers that I had crossed paths with in my role as Artist Transportation and the intermission began. I suggested we go up the Commodore Lanes Bowling alley as they had craft beer on tap and there was never a lineup. Four of us, all from different crews, got up and I asked a woman in the aisle seat if she could please save our seats. We made it back in time for the headliner and as I thanked the woman for saving our seats I found she was a volunteer as well and she was working a shift the next day at an afternoon show at Performance Works.

We met and shared festival stories and found we had much in common in music and life and ended up crossing paths regularly over the course of the festival, some planned and some by chance. It has been 18 years together and both still involved with the Festival and we celebrate our anniversary of meeting during the best part of summer. Different kind of summer this year but we still have a reason to celebrate.

HILARIOUS STORIES

Our first funny story comes from John Wayne MacEachern, a volunteer:

The 2007 volunteer party was at a place with a pool on South Granville. Great times there! So this one year I took my son—he was 6-7 at the time and had recently taken some swimming lessons—but as far as I knew he hadn’t quite gotten the hang of it yet. Throughout the party prizes were being given out. I was sitting on a chair chatting with my friend Liz when all of a sudden I heard the woman on the microphone say, “First one in the pool gets this Official Jazzfest Briefcase!”. I was fully dressed as I was supposed to be going out on a date after the party, but I looked around and there was my son, running towards the pool. Next thing I know he was jumping in. In a fit of panic I ran after him and dove in to try and save him. Turns out he was a pretty good swimmer. They gave us the briefcase and set of tickets to an upcoming concert. I, on the other hand, had to borrow some trunks and a t-shirt while my clothes dried off in the host’s laundry room. Great memory!

Francoi Depey first volunteered for us in 1993, and shares his surprising love for being on the environment crew:

Freshly arrived in Vancouver and just moving from Europe, I was not familiar with the concept of volunteering for a music festival. There was no doubt that, beside love, one of the reasons why I had moved to Canada was its wild environment. When I realized that not only I could volunteer for a music festival, but I could do it in the “environment” team, I fell in love with the whole country! I quickly realized, that “environment” in the context of a music festival essentially means picking up garbage. I never had so much fun picking up garbage with the background sound of great jazz music in Gastown! It inspired me to volunteer for our local music festival in Smithers for many other years when I moved there that same summer! I returned to volunteering for the Vancouver Jazz Fest several times. Nice environment for sure!

An ill-timed fire alarm story from Betty Perverzov, volunteer:

Sitting in the warm dark night in the cozy confines of the Vogue Theatre, watching the always wonderful Patricia Barber and her trio, when all of a sudden, the fire alarm goes off!! Right in the middle of a song she was playing!! The entire place, me included, jumped to their feet when the word came down that it was a false alarm. Patricia Barber asked if there was actually a fire and the Vogue staff said no. Some guy from the audience called out, “Finish the song!” and she did! Didn’t miss a note either.

A surprisingly festive memory from Renée van Stiphout:

A saw this gentleman in 2019 in the audience outside the Vancouver Art Gallery on the Georgia Street side. He reminded me of Santa Claus. It put a smile on my face as I have always wondered what Santa does on his time off! He’s a cool dude – he enjoys the TD Vancouver Jazz Festival, of course!

And another great story from Bruce Suttie, former volunteer & Transpo coordinator, from the early 2000s:

I was on artist transportation and one of my runs was to pick up Han Bennink, the wonderful free jazz virtuoso drummer and his band of merry men from a sound check at the Cultch. I arrived early and was entertained by the amazing creativity that was taking place as they used anything and everything to make a contribution to the sound. It was time to head back to the hotel so I rounded them up and secured them in the van. Driving along I heard a tap tap tap, and then a seat belt rhythm, and before I knew it my vehicle was a rolling musical instrument as anything that could make a sound was being played. All of a sudden a gush of wind and I looked in the rear view mirror to see the side door of the van wide open as we traveled down Terminal Ave. Everyone in the band was sitting bolt upright and staring straight ahead and looking completely innocent and still. I suspect someone thought the door handle would make a nice sound. I tapped the brakes just hard enough for momentum to close the door and we continued on in silence. I do not believe it was more than a minute when I heard tap tap tap. Good fun!

 

FESTIVAL TALES: ARTIST ENCOUNTERS

While we cannot gather for a 2020 Festival this year, we can still celebrate what the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival means to our community. Festival Tales showcases stories and memories from people who love our Festival—artists, volunteers, audiences, staff, donors, and community members.

This is a collection of those stories that are about memorable encounters with some of the incredible artists who are at the heart of our Festival.

This story from about 18 years ago comes from Scott Aitken, a local artist:

I remember walking on a Saturday in between seeing some of Ken’s amazing improv groups that were formed to be seen for free! Free music! Experimental, improvised free music from players who are living their lives immersed in this! As a younger man in Vancouver, it was very metropolitan.

Lo and behold, there was the wonderful bassist Wilbert de Joode, sitting in the sun and eating sushi! I stopped and gently interrupted his moment alone, feeling shy and sheepish for bothering him. He was not having any of that, and invited us to sit and chat. I remember marveling at him—his hands! Those cool glasses and that handsome jawline with his short cropped salt and pepper haircut…. a true European musician! Hipness and cool personified. I told him how much I’ve enjoyed his playing during the festival and loved his unique instrument (Italian I think and halfway between a cello and a double bass).

For those of you that don’t know, he’s self taught and extolled the values of being a lifelong learner—as most musicians are. That’s the fun and most humbling part of playing improvised music. I’m self taught as well but had some early classical training that I promptly forgot, well before picking up the double bass several years after moving to BC. I was renting a student one. We talked about getting the right instrument and more importantly about listening to music you are not just playing but also engaging with as a listener in the audience! The ideal of being an engaged and present audience with the music you’re creating—being willing to be humbled by it as a force as it passes through you and each player you’re with in that moment… Very spiritual and profound insights to my young and impressionable mind!

Sitting there in the sun it was like hearing confirmation about this beautiful mirage in the horizon now coming into focus. His experience and kind words of encouragement allowed me to this day approach all my creative practices in this way.

Seeing Tony Wilson play for the first time; marvelling at the sheer power of Torsten Muller’s full on commitment to the moment; Peggy and Ron’s amazing group Talking Pictures; playing a short duet in class with Han Bennik at 2007 VCMI…. the moments stack up! Needless to say I’ve also become a lifelong listener to the wonderful community of jazz musicians that we are so grateful to have in British Columbia and in the world that have come to our amazing festival!

Photo by Sara Anke Morris
Community member Michael Ford shares an encounter that inspired his son:

I took my 12-year old son Griffin to see the Julian Lage Trio on June 26, 2018 at Performance Works on Granville Island. Griffin, a budding musician himself, was transfixed throughout. We were both so impressed by Julian and his band that we stuck around after the show until Julian came back on the stage after pretty much everyone, but a handful of fans, were gone. Julian came up to us, shook our hands and had a short conversation with my son. We will always remember the night as a father-and-son moment, and another important influence on my son’s musical life, to be added to his music education trip to Cuba, along with his Beatles tribute band with three of his buddies, which they call The Boytles. Thanks to the Jazz Fest and to Julian, it was a night to remember!

A heartening story from one of our regular volunteers, Bill Brooks:

While working backstage at Pyatt Hall during the 2019 TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival, one of the acts that came in was Laila Biali, the Vancouver-born pianist and singer. During my career I have met and dealt with many artists, famous and not so famous. Some were gracious and acknowledge the existence of other human beings, some were conceited and pretended that anyone not immediately important to them was invisible, and some were just Assholes with a capital A.

Laila was so warm and genuine—it was a total breath of fresh air. Time to move the piano? Place the bench? Re-arrange a music stand? She asked so nicely we would have carried the piano on our shoulders.

Somehow during the sound check Laila managed to learn everybody’s name: mine, the sound tech, the front of house people, everybody. Conversation was a breeze, sound check was like a party, all good. The performance that night was wonderful and intimate—exactly the kind of experience I signed on for as a volunteer. At the end of the concert, I was just blown away when she made her closing remarks she thanked us all by name in front of the audience.

May she have a long and wonderful career.

A memory from Marioka Ball about a show that has really stuck with her:

I have many wonderful memories of the Jazz Festival but the one that stands out from the rest was Kenny Wayne. The concert was called An Old Rock On A Roll. His singing and piano playing had St. Andrew’s Wesley United Church a-rocking and a-rolling. Those of us lucky enough to be present had the most amazing and fun time listening to the “Blues Boss” and his band. I bought a CD and Kenny Wayne kindly autographed it, I am listening to it now and smiling as I write this letter. During these difficult times this CD has never failed to lighten my mood and has me dancing in my living room. Thanks for the opportunity to tell my story.

And former volunteer Sarah Bennett on how meeting an artist led her to discover (and love) his music:

I volunteered for seven years in the 90s. For several of those years, I handled the media room at the Listel on Robson Street and had the opportunity of meeting the wonderful saxophonist Ernie Watts and his wife. Absolutely one of the nicest people you could meet. I started really following his music and was blown away with his skill and musicality. Saw him after this at Cory’s Cellar on Broadway and he brought the house down! A wonderful memory.