Infidels Jazz Festival Showcase!
The Vancouver International Jazz Festival is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. Infidels boss Tim Reinert has been involved with the festival in one way or another for 29 of those years, and is so excited that we have been asked to will be produce our very own showcase series, in coordination with Coastal Jazz and with the Jazz Festival.
The heart of the showcase will be at the Zameen Art House, a beautiful new performance space on Granville Island. A lot of the main festival shows are on the island this year, making it easy to attend these shows.
Ruthie Ha and Harmeet Kaur Virdee are two of the city's burgeoning young Jazz scene's brightest stars. Not only are Ru and Harmeet incredible instrumentalists on tenor sax and bass respectively, but they are strong composers. Their band features Noah Franche-Nolan on piano, Parmela Attariwala on violin and viola, and Karl DeJong on drums.
One of the most talked-about new groups in the scene over the last year has been Asef, led by West Coast saxophone sensation Saul Berson. Featuring Itamar Erez, Sam Shoichet, and Liam McDonald, this group fuses Middle Eastern melodies with jazz rhythms and sensibilities.
Percussionist/Drummer/Vocalist Kahil El'Zabar is a bonafide American jazz legend, having been part of the Chicago scene since the late 1960s, and becoming the AACM's chairman in 1975. He's performed with everybody from Dizzy Gillespie to Stevie Wonder, and played most recently in Vancouver with David Murray. He'll be joined this year by Tenor Saxophonist Isaiah Collier, a truly gigantic new voice in American free and spiritual Jazz. He was last seen at our jazz festival at his sold out Performance Works show in 2023. This is a very rare opportunity to see musicians of this caliber in such a small venue.
One of Infidels Jazz’s most popular series has been our long-running collaboration with the Vancouver International Film Festival Centre. These shows combine the best of music with the best of cinema, and most of them sell out weeks in advance. We wanted to make sure one of these shows was part of our Festival Showcase, and as such, we've asked violinist Jesse Zubot to perform. Jesse is one of Canada's most acclaimed film composers, and he'll be performing a rare solo set, in tandem with a screening of one of his newest scored films, Inedia.
Every Sunday afternoon, Infidels Jazz hosts a show at Hero's Welcome, shining a spotlight on the best of Vancouver's straight-ahead jazz scene. For the festival, we've asked three musicians who have led numerous great bands for us over the years to team up, as the Jazz Salvation Organ Trio. Mary Ancheta (organ), Chris Fraser (guitar), and Biboye Onanuga (drums) will be performing together for the very first time, playing a selection of their favourite gospel tunes.
Frankie's After Dark is one of our longest running series, and we've put together four exceptional shows that really show how special that series can be. Julian Borkowski, Graham Villette, Todd Stewart, and Maiden Voyage are our featured performers this year, and these shows are only $10!
The Jennifer Scott/Rene Worst performance that was previously announced has had to be cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. All ticketholders for this performance will be reimbursed automatically. The performance will be rescheduled for later in the year.
We sincerely wish everybody a great jazz festival, and we hope to see you at the shows.