Experience the natural and captivating blend of violin and piano in jazz, masterfully performed by Regina Carter and Kenny Barron. Their latest album, Freefall, recorded in New York in 2020, has been praised as ‘close to flawless’ by JazzTimes.

Freefall showcases a tremendous range of styles, combining Afro-Cuban flavours with a delicate Sting cover and a bluesy take on Thelonious Monk. The duo ventures into intriguing territory with the quirky Barron original What If and the improvised title track, reminiscent of early 20th-century classical composers like Bartók and Stravinsky.

Kenny Barron, hailed as one of the top jazz pianists worldwide, is an eleven-time Grammy nominee known for his work with legendary musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, Freddie Hubbard, and Stan Getz. Regina Carter, recognized with prestigious awards, including the National Endowment For the Arts Jazz Master, has collaborated with esteemed artists like Wynton Marsalis and Dolly Parton.

Freefall presents not only technical excellence but also emotional richness, captivating listeners with the duo’s genuine class and spontaneity. Don’t miss this extraordinary musical experience presented as part of Kit Eakle’s Jazz’N’theViolin Concerts.

Presented as part of Kit Eakle’s Jazz’N’theViolin Concerts.

Trapped. 4,000 feet underground. With no food, little air, and even less hope of survival. Remarkably and against all odds, the indomitable spirit and song of coal miner Maurice Ruddick served as a lifeline for his fellow miners over nine unimaginable days.

This is the inspiring true story of the African-Canadian “singing miner” that emerged from the 1958 Springhill, Nova Scotia, mining disaster. Journey with this award-winning one-person show that recalls the tense historic events and celebrates hope, courage and community.

Created by Beau Dixon
Music and lyrics by Rob Fortin & Susan Newman
Originally directed and developed by Linda Kash

Content Advisory
This performance contains mature and racially charged language. Theatrical devices such as water-based fog and haze and flashing lights may occur in this production.

An Arts Club On Tour Production.

Featuring:
Tony Levin – bass
Pete Levin – keyboards
Pat La Barbera – sax
Joe La Barbera – drums

Old friends, legendary brothers Tony and Pete Levin and Pat and Joe La Barbera, have joined forces to go back to their roots: Jazz.

Before Tony Levin founded Stick Men and played bass for Peter Gabriel and King Crimson (with side gigs including recording with John Lennon, Pink Floyd, Lou Reed, Paul Simon, Dire Straits and many others), he racked up major jazz credentials, playing with Buddy Rich, Steps Ahead, Chuck Mangione and others. Brother Pete’s keys and synthesizer performances have graced hundreds of pop recordings, by the likes of Paul Simon and Annie Lennox, but he has also recorded with jazz musicians such as Miles Davis, Dave Brubeck, Charles Mingus and Wayne Shorter.

By comparison, the La Barbera brothers have remained more anchored in jazz. Canadian horn player Pat most notably played with Buddy Rich for six years, while in 2000, he won a Juno Award for Best Traditional Jazz Album for Deep in a Dream. Joe is an American jazz drummer and composer, who has enjoyed stints with Woody Herman, Chuck Mangione, Bill Evans and Tony Bennett. He also worked as a sideman for Art Pepper, John Scofield, Rosemary Clooney, Michael Bublé and Rod Stewart.

Yungchen Lhamo was born and raised in Lhasa, Tibet. Her name, which translates to “Goddess of Melody and Song,” was given to her by a holy man at birth.

In order to continue her Buddhist spiritual practice, Yungchen trekked across the Himalayan Mountains to Dharamshala, India. Eventually, she moved to Australia.

After her first CD, Tibetan Prayer, won best world album at the Australian Recording Industry Awards, she was signed to Peter Gabriel’s Real World Records label and began to tour around the world.

Yungchen has performed alongside renowned artists like Peter Gabriel, Bono, Philip Glass and others. Her music has been featured in films and documentaries related to Tibet. Her latest album, Awakening, explores music’s power to heal and provide spiritual enlightenment, aiming to bring inner peace and happiness to listeners.

Multi-time Grammy nominee Kate McGarry – “one of the country’s premier jazz singers today,” according to NPR – and renowned guitarist and life partner Keith Ganz (Harry Connick Jr), offer imaginative and fresh perspectives on the indelible pop standards of the ‘60s and ‘70s on their latest album What To Wear In The Dark.

McGarry offers up her distinctive take on Steely Dan’s “Barrytown,” The Eagles’ “Desperado” and George Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun.” On Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” her delivery is angelic. Then there is “Life, I love you,” a line from Paul Simon’s “The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy),” one of Simon’s happiest tunes. She picks her composers well, opening with the one Great American Songbook tune of the set, “Dancing in The Dark.”

McGarry has the rare ability to deliver a tune with remarkable immediacy—like she is singing it just for you. With Ganz and CapU Jazz ensembles guiding her delivery, expect to be swept away.

Double Juno-Award winning band Le Vent du Nord is a leading force in Quebec’s progressive francophone folk movement. The group’s repertoire draws from a broad range of influences as well as original compositions to deliver hard-driving, soulful music.

Featuring button accordion, guitar and fiddle, the band’s sound is defined by the hurdy-gurdy. This adds an earthy, rough-hewn flavour to even the most buoyant dance tunes.

Performing for more than 20 years, these five virtuoso musicians create intense, joyful and dynamic live performances that expand the bounds of tradition in striking global directions. This is the modern sound of tradition, a music of the here and now.

Meet Francesco Mantini, a second-generation Italian teen struggling to find his place in Jasper, Alberta. Inspired by pop culture icons Rocky Balboa and John Travolta, he reinvents himself as Frank Martin: crooner and ladies’ man. As buoyant and bubbly as a glass of Prosecco, Made in Italy is a celebration of music, food and family that’s so delightful you won’t soon fuhgeddaboudit.

Based on the Western Canada Theatre production.

Content Advisory:
This production may contain theatrical devices (e.g., water-based fog and haze) and mature content.

An Arts Club On Tour Production.

England’s Justin Adams and Italy’s Mauro Durante released an award-winning debut album, Still Moving, in 2021. A thrilling, spontaneous affair that swerves between the laments and love songs of southern Italy and the gritty blues of North Africa and North America, its raw, stripped-back sound is truly singular and mesmerizing. Adams (producer of Tinariwen’s breakout albums and music director guitarist with Robert Plant) plays with a post-punk guitar approach enriched by his passion for Arabic music and African trance blues, while Durante (a sought-after violinist and percussionist and leader of Italy’s acclaimed Canzionere Grecanico Salentino), gravitates toward the trance rhythms of Taranta and the pizzica style of Southern Italy.

Lheidli T’enneh singer-songwriter Kym Gouchie’s traditional hand drum, acoustic guitar, full-bodied voice and authentic storytelling are a powerful force. Her performances are known for their lasting impact, instilling messages of inspiration and hope.

“I really gravitate towards women in music,” says Gouchie. “Patsy Cline, Linda Ronstadt and Lucinda Williams were huge [influences] for me. Lucinda Williams was the one who inspired me to want to play guitar.” Buffy Sainte Marie is another strong influence.

Based in Prince George, BC, Kym is also a renowned visual artist as well as a cultural ambassador, who is called upon by national and international organizations to offer Indigenous insight, acting as a healing bridge connecting hearts and minds for positive growth.

“I’ve seen Kim Gouchie mesmerize an audience and inspire fellow artists. She imparts messages and truths in songs that need to be heard.” – Peter North, Salmon Arm Roots and Blues

Toronto-based singer-songwriter Abigail Lapell has been compared to iconic artists like Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, Sandy Denny and Beth Orton.

Over the past five years and three albums, Lapell has garnered two Canadian Folk Music Awards and accrued a staggering 20 million Spotify streams, while touring widely across Canada, the U.S. and Europe.

Lapell’s most recent album, the spare and evocative Stolen Time features bass, drums, horns, strings and steel. But many of the record’s standout tracks are solo guitar or piano songs, backed by little more than her ghostly accordion or harmonica playing. The result is Lapell’s most confident album to date.

At the BlueShore, she’ll perform two sets of her haunting and gorgeous modern folk songs with her three-piece band.

Here’s what folk website For the Rabbits says about Lapell’s Stolen Time: “The record opens with the striking “Land Of Plenty,” which is such a classic piece of North American folk, you’ll be almost convinced you’ve heard it somewhere before while perusing the back catalogue of Woody Guthrie or Hank Williams. Elsewhere, Abigail shows her ability at the piano on the Carol King-like “Pines” and “I See Music” which wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a Joanna Newsom record. Elsewhere the title track has a touch of Neil Young-like twang, while “Scarlet Fever” fits neatly into the Karen Dalton renaissance.

“While much of Abigail’s music might cast a glance back to influences of years gone by, it never feels like a pastiche of anyone else, just a songwriting talent spinning new songs from old sounds, and making them entirely in her own rather magical image.”