Day Two of the 30th Anniversary Guelph Jazz Festival is jam-packed with activity. Three ticketed concerts culminate with the 8pm concert, Royal City Mission, 50 Quebec Street, by Montreal’s exceptional 20-piece Ratchet Orchestra, led by and playing the compositions of Nicolas Caloia. This ensemble is without peer among creative music large ensembles in Canada. Preceding that, at 3pm, River Run Centre, Studio Theatre, 35 Woolwich Street, a special double bill investigates and celebrates the legacy of American composer Steve Lacy: Coastlines Duo (François Houle & Jorrit Dijkstra, woodwinds) and the duo of Tania Gill (piano) and Kayla Milmine (soprano saxophone), two-thirds of the superb Susanna Hood Trio, whose leader cannot make it due to illness. And at 1pm, ImprovLab, room 108, MacKinnon Building, University of Guelph, Certain Crafts (Yves Charuest, alto saxophone & Alanna Kraaijeveld, dance) will perform their rhythmically dynamic improvisations in sound and movement.
Meanwhile, the Friday Night Street Music Party will animate Market Square with four amazing groups playing ‘human-powered’ dance music in and among the audience: Lemon Trubaci (Serbian ‘wedding music’ brass band), Alpha Rhythm Roots (West African percussion), Big Smoke Brass (New Orleans-style brass band), and Samba Squad (Brazilian percussion). The first two groups delighted audiences this past weekend at preview concerts, ‘GJF in the Parks’ (Norm Jary and York Road Parks), and the other two will complement them, in sum offering electrifying street music from geographically and culturally diverse sources. Each band plays two 30-minute sets, with sets by one group segueing into the next: 7-9pm and 9:45-11:45pm, or maybe later, especially if the musicians start sitting in with the other bands!
Furthermore, the morning will feature two more panels as part of the 2023 GJF Colloquium, “The Third Decade: Forging a Legacy of Improvisation at the Guelph Jazz Festival.” This event celebrates and reflects on the thirty-year history of the GJF with four panels over two days, including, at 9am, “Researching Jazz: Researchers discuss their relationship with the GJF and the role it has played in helping shape a new field of scholarly inquiry, with Eric Lewis, Jesse Stewart, and Ellen Waterman,” and, at 10:30am, “Playing Jazz: Artists/Performers (past/present) discuss their relationship with the GJF and its impact on the field in Canada and beyond, with Douglas Ewart, Lori Freedman, and François Houle.” These events are free and take place in the MacKinnon Multipurpose Room, adjacent to ImprovLab.
Enjoy Day Two of the 2023 GJF, and see you at these events!