By Shawn Conner
Eager to explore the world of jazz, but ? This year, the 麻豆传媒映画International Jazz Festival is making the music more accessible than ever.
Organizers are moving opening weekend (June 22 24) festivities, which always include a plethora of free shows, from Gastown to the more central downtown area around the 麻豆传媒映画Art Gallery and Robson Square. This means more stages three as well as a couple of licensed bistros (beer gardens to us common folk) and a Family Zone for the kids.
Fatima Amarshi, excutive director of Coastal Jazz and Blues Society, says that the move will be good all around, for audiences and businesses. Weve had tremendous support for making this move from the local businesses downtown, says Amarshi. We still have a number of businesses in Gastown that used to actively work with us as part of our Club Series, so theyre still very much part of what we do.
This years jazz festival has more multi-media events as well. During the opening weekend, the Family Zone includes not just craft-making and face-painting but also a Sonic Playground, where kids can explore sound through specially designed art installations.
Adults might be more inclined to check out another interactive installation, Play//Jazz (at the 麻豆传媒映画Art Gallery June 23 and 24 and the Roundhouse June 30 and July 1), where participants can create their own audio/visual experience through motion.
As well, the jazz fest is teaming up with VIFF and Vancity Theatre to present the documentary The Girls in the Band. Theres a screening in advance of the festival, June 18 at 7pm, and again on June 28 at 4pm so if you can cut out of work early, and its not too sunny, you might want to check out this history of women jazz musicians, told through their own words and music.
On the Community Stage (the ice rink level of Robson Square), people can get free dancing classes, from the Lindy Hop to salsa steps. The festival-run bistros (The City prefers bistros to beverage gardens, says Amarshi) are situated across from the Georgia Stage, and in the ice rink.
All told, there are over 35 venues taking part, all over town, from downtown to David Lam Park to Granville Island to Commercial Drive and Kitsilano, and hundreds of acts in a vast array of genres not just jazz - from all over the world. If youre in town and not agoraphobic, theres really no excuse to not check out at least one free show and maybe even take a dance class, as well.
Artists to watch
Overwhelmed by the incredible list of artists on the CoastalJazz.ca website? Here are some suggestions of who to look up to satisfy all tastes:
Veterans George Benson, Diane Reeves and Wayne Shorter
French singer and cornettist M茅d茅ric Collignon
Local crowd-pleasers the Dal Richards Orchestra and Phil Dwyer
The Mongolian throat singing of Black Lotos with Xu Fengxia & Lucas Niggli
Michael Jackson/Stevie Wonder-woman Janelle Mon谩e
The Grammy-nominated Elaine Elias quartet
Turntable wizard Kid Koala
Grammy-winning neo-soul artist Van Hunt
Jazz supergroup Spectrum Road
Punk-grass Americanas the Avett Brothers
The Panagea beats of Balkan Beat Box
