For 麻豆传媒映画jazz fans, Ken Pickering鈥檚 legacy is that he brought the world鈥檚 top and emerging musicians right to their front door.
For 麻豆传媒映画jazz musicians, it鈥檚 the numbers of doors he opened for them, all around the world.
鈥淗e believed in us,鈥� says Gregg Simpson, a former jazz drummer who, for the past three years, had also been Pickering鈥檚 neighbour on Bowen Island. 鈥淗e loved the music and cared about the scene. He was the scene for local musicians.鈥�
Pickering died of throat cancer on August 10, 2018. A co-founder of what鈥檚 now the TD 麻豆传媒映画International Jazz Festival, he also provided jazz fans with their musical fix as owner of Black Swan Records, , and was the long-time artistic director of Coastal Jazz and Blues Society, which hosted the festival.
In 1985, Pickering asked Simpson鈥檚 band, Lunar Adventures, to play at the first 麻豆传媒映画jazz festival at Granville Island and kept asking them back for the next 10 years.
Almost as important as giving musicians exposure at festivals and concerts, Pickering was instrumental in providing local jazz musicians with work when big names came to play in Vancouver. He was committed to giving young musicians every opportunity he could.
鈥淥nce you got someone with Ken鈥檚 connections and administrative abilities, that鈥檚 when the scene really took off, especially for free jazz,鈥� says Simpson. 鈥淗e always liked the newest things that people had never heard of. He was very eclectic. He put it all together and kept it together.
鈥淎nd he was very erudite. He knew what the real stuff was.鈥�
In in the Westender, Pickering said 鈥淚 think the jazz discovery, for me, happened around the age of 15, and I was immediately proselytizing for jazz. It was just the biggest thing in my life, and I became a bit of an evangelist.鈥�
He was childhood friends with John Orysik, one of the festival鈥檚 other co-founders. They鈥檇 met in Grade 2 and, as teenagers, would wax philosophical about music on their walks to high school.
鈥淛ohn lived down by Rupert and Williams and I lived by Renfrew and Parker, and he would roll by and we would talk all the way to school about music and life and all that. I think John鈥檚 passion for jazz music began almost coincidentally with mine, just because I think we were very influenced by each other鈥檚 tastes 鈥� in music and life 鈥� in those tender teenage years.鈥�
鈥淚t was a time of great discovery,鈥� Orysik, the society鈥檚 media director, told writer Kristi Alexandra, noting that their developing values happened to parallel the basic values of jazz music.
鈥淚t was about searching for meaning, it was about creating community, it was about being creative and expressing your humanity through music,鈥� Orysik says. 鈥淲e were attracted to that, and there was so much variety, and it was coming from all over the world. Jazz is a global music, and we were listening to the artists that were coming to town that were important.鈥�
Pickering, Orysik, fellow co-founder Robert Kerr and a handful of the fledgling organization's board members personally financed the first jazz festival, organizing it in the back office of Pickering鈥檚 Black Swan Records at West 4th听and Bayswater in Kitsilano. (It鈥檚 now a Starbucks.)听
鈥淲e tend not to count our 1985 event, which was very small in nature, but it did enable us to attract corporate sponsorship and enabled us to really do a proper, full-size festival at Expo 86,鈥� Pickering said in the Westender profile.
An 18-year corporate relationship with Du Maurier began the next year and ended in 2003 when tobacco companies were barred from advertising through sponsorship in Canada.
With such financial backing, the 1986 festival brought in acts such as Charlie Haden, Billy Higgins, Cedar Walton, Wynton Marsalis and Miles Davis.
The inaugural festival made headlines worldwide after the infamous showdown between Miles Davis and Wynton Marsalis, in which the young trumpeter rushed the stage during Davis鈥� set.
鈥淲ynton more than anyone was feuding with Miles and calling him names in the press, and then he basically tried to crash [Miles鈥橾 show and Miles wasn鈥檛 having anything to do with it. Next thing you know, calls were coming in from New York saying, 鈥榃hat happened? What鈥檚 going on there?鈥� And then Miles put the incident in his autobiography. They鈥檙e still talking about Miles Davis and Wynton in 麻豆传媒映画30 years later, so that is something that I just love to hear about,鈥� Orysik said.
鈥淚t was the major international jazz incident of our time,鈥� Pickering added, 鈥渂ut here鈥檚 the irony: I think I was at the Jim Byrnes show across town because we divided up.鈥�
This year鈥檚 festival was the first one that Pickering missed.
鈥淢any of you know by now that I鈥檓 dealing with another round of health issues that surfaced in early May,鈥� he wrote on Facebook. 鈥淎fter weeks of tests of every kind it鈥檚 become clear that the cancer has come back aggressively. Strangely with very little in the way of obvious symptoms, but they are coming to the fore now. I鈥檓 into another round of chemo this week 鈥� probably more 鈥� but the goal is to qualify and move to immunotherapy as soon as possible. So that鈥檚 where we鈥檙e at. Chris [Fedina, his partner] is strong and we have lots of good support in the immediate vicinity here on Bowen. Because of my new reality I鈥檒l almost certainly miss my first festival since 1985. A strange feeling. Rainbow [Robert, his replacement as artistic director] her team have put together a doozy and there鈥檚 nothing I wish more than to see everyone take in some live music and enjoy themselves.鈥�
He did manage to take in one show and, ever the jazz evangelist, used Facebook to encourage people to do what he couldn鈥檛.
鈥淚f I was in town today, there鈥檚 so much good shit, at the Roundhouse, David Lam Park, tonight at Ironworks with Eric Revis Quartet (Vandermark, Kris D, Chad T) and Jaime Branch鈥檚 Fly or Die will be an evening to die for 鈥� well maybe bad choice of words, but it will be awesome! If you鈥檙e in town don鈥檛 miss it. Thanks again for all the love as I battle this illness thing.鈥�
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