With Day Three of the 2017 Guelph Jazz Festival, Friday 15 September, there is an intensification of activity (and fun!), especially as programming at the Market Square Stage, Carden Street next to City Hall, commences. Highlights include New York’s Pocket Brass Band, led by the amazing trombonist Ray Anderson, a frequent winner of the Downbeat…

Day Two of the Guelph Jazz Festival features a second full day of activity at the Colloquium, University of Guelph, convened by the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation (IICSI) including a keynote address by Prof. Eric Lewis; several panels; a live interview of festival artists John Butcher (UK), Thomas Lehn (Germany), and Matthew…

On Day One of the 2017 Guelph Jazz Festival, new artistic director Scott Thomson reflects on Peter Brötzmann, whose solo concert – Wednesday 13 September, 8pm, Guelph Little Theatre, $10 – launches the festival’s concert program: “The first time I heard Peter Brötzmann live was in a bookshop in Rotterdam in 2000, a duo with…

This year’s festival promotional materials – website, posters, brochures – feature Toronto artist Michael Hood’s painting, “Cycles 1.” He has kindly donated the original painting to the festival, for which we are very grateful. Festival attendees can buy $10 Art Draw tickets at concerts at the River Run Centre and Guelph Little Theatre for a…

Artistic Director Scott Thomson has produced the last in a series of ten podcasts (he calls it a “trombonist’s dozen”) in which he discusses and plays the music of the superb artists and groups that are part of this year’s program. Check out this episode featuring two groups playing the Market Square Stage on 16 September: Bank…

Local writer and broadcaster Vish Khanna has written an in-depth article in his ‘Guelphlandia’ column about this year’s festival in the 5 September Guelph Mercury Tribune. The piece features an interview with new Artistic Director, Scott Thomson. Read the article online.

Tickets for Guelph Jazz Festival concerts, as well as Full Festival Passes and Saturday Passes are still available for next week’s event. See the full schedule here and box office information here.

Artistic Director Scott Thomson has produced the ninth in a series of ten podcasts in which he discusses and plays the music of the superb artists and groups that are part of this year’s program. Check out this episode featuring two groups headlining the Market Square Stage: Ray Anderson’s Pocket Brass Band and Pierre Kwenders. New…

We regret to announce that the Charter Bus program, a new initiative for lower-waged and/or car-free music fans in Toronto, offering roundtrip Toronto > Guelph > Toronto transportation on 16 September, has been canceled due to lack of interest. The Saturday Pass program, originally offered in conjunction with the Charter Bus program, remains available (and…

This year’s festival starts with a very special event, An Evening with Peter Brötzmann, featuring a solo concert followed by a live interview with Mack Furlong. This event is at 8pm on Wednesday 13 September, at the Guelph Little Theatre. In the interests of making this concert by this legendary septuagenarian improviser accessible to as…