Sounds of spring

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 22/03/2025 (231 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As Ella Fitzgerald sang, “It might as well be spring.”

In that spirit, Jazz Winnipeg has announced its spring iteration of Jazz at the Fort Garry Hotel, held in the swanky Club Room, which offers a respite from the still wintry outdoor weather.

Running through to May 11, the series features local luminaries, such as rootsy belter Sheena Rattai, dummer-composer Tetyana Haraschuk, veteran vocalist Marcie Campbell, saxophonist up-and-comer John Greene, piano whiz Carter Graham, Nova Brasil Collective and Juno-winning drummer Fabio Ragnelli.

You could call it an appetizer before Jazz Winnipeg’s famous summer festival, but the series feels more like a full-course meal.

“This is probably, for me, my favourite piece (of Jazz Winnipeg’s programming) because it goes so much further to actually developing the cultural landscape of Winnipeg,” says programming director Zachary Rushing of the series and the many Sunday concerts at the Fort Garry Hotel throughout the year.

“We punch above our weight here in Winnipeg in terms of musical excellence, and we’ve been finding that the audience comes on Sundays in droves.”

Tomorrow’s show, presented by Carter Graham, features the music of Billy Strayhorn and Joe Henderson, covering several distinct eras of jazz. Best known for his collaborations with Duke Ellington, Strayhorn’s songs include hits of the swing era such as Take the A Train (1939), Lush Life (1933) and Rain Check (1941).

“Strayhorn represents someone who’s from that era of really crafting a song and really taking time and the care and the energy of writing,” says Graham, who’s inspired by this traditional craftsmanship and channels it in his R&B project Vox Populi, which features Sheena Rattai.

“I think I heard Quincy Jones say in an interview that writing great melodies is a gift that comes from God.”

Strayhorn had that gift.

“(He) was a remarkable composer, a remarkable person, and a lot of that is indebted to his relationship with Duke Ellington, including the fact that he could live so out and proud as a Black gay man. He was in many ways protected by his (professional) relationship with Ellington, who held a lot of social clout,” Rushing says.

One of Strayhorn’s finest creations is Lush Life whose first drafts were written when the composer was 18 or 19. Rushing, who Graham calls a “musician first,” performs this and other songs on Sunday with the band, while some of the program is purely instrumental.

The great saxophonist-composer Henderson — as revered in the jazz world as his more famous collaborators Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock — gives us a window with a luxurious view of jazz in the mid-1960s and ‘70s, with its mixture of bop, modal, psychedelic and pop influences.

As its name indicates, Nova Brasil Collective, draws on the Brazilian jazz background of founders Osvaldo Ferraz (guitar) and Dhiego Costa (piano), Known for its Latin rhythms and percussion, with whispered melodies, the tradition’s best-known hit is probably The Girl from Ipanema.

Nova Brasil Collective’s April 27 concert also marks 100 programming days, and more than 100 shows, by Jazz Winnipeg at the Fort Garry Hotel.

“A hundred days of programming is a pretty significant milestone,” says Rushing. “We’re so excited and look forward to celebrating that milestone.”

conrad.sweatman@freepress.mb.ca