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JazzEast Releases Its Winter Season for 2012

JazzEast’s Winter Season 2012 is designed to give Halifax 16 reasons to get out and explore! At least once a month there is an entertaining concert or community event for music lovers to enjoy.

“I always want to bring artists that I know will impress those who take the chance and come out,” says Laura ‘Lulu’ Healy, Artistic Director of JazzEast. ‘And, I also look at what music Halifax loves and mix it with what the city hasn’t heard yet. I think that JazzEast has been very fortunate to have lined up some very significant artists for 2012 and I’m excited to see how people will react to the music.”

The most prominent jazz concert coming to Halifax in the winter of 2012 is Armenian-born, solo pianist Tigran Hamasyan (New York), on Saturday, February 11 at the Music Room.

His almost intimidating virtuosity is the first remarkable attribute to note (and possibly his close resemblance to a young Bob Dylan!), and then his compositional voice. At times, and especially on record, Tigran offers gracefully refined pieces that are either gentle Armenian folk melodies or poetry reformed by dazzling instrumental variations or Satie-esque classical explorations of new or recovered songs. In performance, his energetic experiments with rhythmic and harmonic diversity has been described as dips into Keith Jarrett-style gospel, country and funk. Check out his latest album, A Fable, if you need proof for your purchase. (8pm, $20, $15 members, all ages).

Tonight, The New Standard monthly concert series begins at The Company House! On Wednesday, January 18, Jared Farney's High Sobriety Band (Antigonish) takes its high energy improvisation to the JazzEast stage. Jared Farney (drums), Devin Hart (piano) and Carter Lee (bass) have recently stretched out beyond their St. FX digs and have impressed Halifax jazz fans with their ability to blend elements of rock and hip hop with modern jazz, in a way that seems effortless.

On Wednesday, February 22, piano man Sageev Oore and Tim Crofts (Halifax) open the portal to their world of complex compositions and uncontainable darkly fringed joy. This pairing is new and is already expected to be unrepeatable. On Wednesday, March 28, bassist Tom Easley, guitarist Jeff Torbert and drummer Mark Adam host an E.S.T. Tribute Concert (Halifax, Wolfville), which is also the kick-off to the 2012 Out like a LION music festival. The Esbjörn Svensson (E.S.T.) Trio was a music fan’s, chart topping favourite due to its ability to perform a bit of electronica, funk, pop, rock, fusion and Western classical music in an open-minded style, while retaining its roots in jazz. This night is history in the making! Finally, on Wednesday, April 25, before the TD Halifax Jazz Festival takes over the JazzEast schedule, the Booty Boppin’ Brass Band (Halifax) livens up the new Spring air with the sounds of New Orleans wrapped up in Halifax style. Rick Waychesko (trumpet), Mike Cowie (trumpet), Martin Davidson (tenor sax), Dan Martin (trombone), Pierre Devillers (sousaphone) and Dave Burton (drums) are the masters that promise to make you move! (8pm, $8, 19+)

Also in January, JazzEast partners with a sister music festival, In the Dead of Winter, as a means to blur some of those unnecessary boundaries surrounding music. On Thursday, January 26 at 2053 Gottingen, local and young jazz favourites are paired with a rising Canadian folk songwriter. Jazz pianist and vocalist, Zoe Leger (Halifax), brings her soft’n’powerful vocals, extraordinary arrangements, and a mix of ECM-grooves, contemporary classical and funk to the stage. Folk guitarist, Joe Grass (Montreal) follows with a welcoming manner, gentle voice and smart guitar playing. Then, to bridge the gaps, guitarist Jeff Torbert (Halifax) demonstrates his cross-over appeal with songs and compositions that never deny his jazz background, but always rests assured in catchy melodies and instrumental joys (8pm, $15, all ages).

Into the community, at a selection of Halifax Public Libraries, there is a set of free concerts that honour African Heritage Month and the contribution local musicians lend to its importance. On Tuesday, February 7, Harvey Millar (Halifax) shows the Woodlawn Public Library crowd how funk and jazz are best friends (7pm, free, all ages). At the Cole Harbour Public Library on Sunday, February 12, KOJO (Halifax) tells its audience about the members’ musical journey from Africa and about their instruments (2:30pm, free, all ages). Then, on the day marked for sweethearts, Tuesday, February 14, the queen of words with a voice made of honey and spice hosts Wordrhythm featuring Shauntay Grant (Halifax). Stand witness as her guests weave wonders with stories and performances at the Spring Garden Public Library (7pm, free, all ages).

 Finally, but certainly not least, Out Like a LION returns for its third year, March 28-31. The opening night party on Wednesday, March 28 is the E.S.T. Tribute aforementioned as a part of The New Standard monthly concert series. On Thursday, March 29, bringing the Maritimes further East, is kelzmer jazz duo, Der Heisser (Halifax) performing at a downtown house concert. Bassist Adam Fine and violinist Gina Burgess form breathtakingly dramatic moments as they move from aching melodies to leg-lifting jaunts effortlessly and most beautifully  Cancelled and changed to: The Modern Grass, a genre melding, good time quintet whose love for improvisation and form lets everyone have the best of both worlds, the unknown and the familiar. (8-10pm, $15, $10 members, all ages). The energy keeps rising the next night with speakeasies, flappers and red hot jazz! The Lion is dipping into the music of the prohibition and it is set to roar on Friday, March 30 at the Olympic Community Centre. The Prohibition Swing Night with the Jubilee Swing Orchestra and Swingology (Halifax, Truro) promises to sweep you off your feet and onto the dance floor. Halifax has not seen this kind of stylin’ dance party yet! (Doors open 8pm, $25 for one, $40 for two, 19+).

On Saturday, March 31, the Jazz Brunch: Paul Tynan Quartet (Antigonish, Halifax) starts the day off perfectly in a room where the stone walls and wooden fixtures inspire a warm and moody vibe, where food is fine and plenty, and the music is today’s jazz at its best! Origin label artist, bebop classroom guru and award winning musician, Paul Tynan (trumpet) along with Jake Hanlon (guitar), Tom Easley (bass) and Tom Roach (drums) turn The Carleton into that jazz club you have been looking for (11am-1pm, $10 plus brunch cost, 19+). Musicians and the musically curious have a chance to go inside the music of The October Trio at 1313 Hollis (2:30-3:00pm, $10, all ages).

This year’s special visiting performers is an EastVan trio of former classmates Evan Amtzen (saxophones), Josh Cole (bass) and Dan Gaucher (drums), who are known for their interplay of emotion-rich, improvisational freedom and musical form as well as their tendency toward polyrhythmic back beats and funk rock infusions. They are a perfect fit for The Company House (8:00-10:00pm, $15, $10 members, 19+). Then, to ensure no whimper comes in the end, Boots the Cat brings jazz and funk to a new Halifax club, La Trinidad (5171 Salter St.). Bursting open the night is local Extremities DJ, Uncle Fester (Halifax) and his jazz re-mixes, afro-beat and hip hop sounds (10:30pm-12:00am, $8, 19+).

Let the Springtime triumph begin!