Musicians Dig first ‘community’ band gig

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This article was published 19/01/2015 (4004 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you think practising difficult music charts at home is hard work, try doing it in front of an audience of about 120.

The newest big band in town attempted it last Thursday night and made it seem easier than it really was.

The Big Dig! Band opened a monthly gig at the Good Will Social Club with what bassist Steve Kirby calls an “open rehearsal” set followed by a concert by the 17-piece jazz orchestra.

“The premise is it’s a community band,” says Kirby, director of the University of Manitoba jazz studies program and co-leader of the new lineup with Derrick Gardner, the program’s trumpet professor.

The pair hope to entice musicians to bring new big band repertoire — compositions or arrangements — to the first set’s workshop where the orchestra can try it out and help iron out any kinks.

The first night’s music came from band members or from existing charts, but anyone wanting their music workshopped can contact Kirby at Steve.Kirby@ad.umanitoba.ca.

Thursday’s repertoire included a piece by saxophone professor Jon Gordon, One for Charles, which featured the alto player soaring on a lengthy solo.

There was a real camaraderie onstage among the musicians — veterans like Kirby, Gardner, Gordon and drummer Quincy Davis and younger players such as guitarist Jocelyn Marie Gould and trumpeter Andrew Littleford — and a sense of joy when a piece went well.

The Dig! band, named after the local jazz magazine Dig!, has set its sights high, referencing the Charles Mingus jazz workshops of the late ’50s and early ’60s and the famous Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Jazz Orchestra formed in the mid-’60s that continues today as the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra with a Monday-night residency at New York’s Village Vanguard club.

The Dig! band played a difficult chart from the Jones/Lewis orchestra, Don’t Get Sassy, and Gardner explained “that’s what we’re trying to do here in Winnipeg.”

After closing the first set with that tune, Kirby told the audience, “I just remembered how hard it is to rehearse in front of people.”

The next Dig! band session is Feb. 19 at the Good Will, 625 Portage Ave., $5 cover.

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A Helen White show is usually hectic, always energetic, and a lot of fun.

The singer’s Mardi Jazz gig last Tuesday was all of that, and a twist on musical chairs in which the band members switched seats to keep the music going.

White, Jonathan Alexiuk and Rick Boughton took turns at the piano. Alexiuk also played trombone, and Boughton played trumpet and flugelhorn. Bob vandenBroek was on the trumpet and flugelhorn and sang. The band was rounded out by saxophonist Neil Watson, bassist Chris Berti and drummer Jim Johnson, with vocalist Angela Lalor joining in to solo and duet with White.

You had to watch your step on that stage, but there were no mishaps and White beautifully sang a standards-heavy set that included songs such as I’m in the Mood for Love, The Lady is a Tramp, Lover Come Back to Me and Everything I’ve Got Belongs to You.

A version of Cheek to Cheek turned out a little cheeky as vandenBroek, in a duet with White, sang a good approximation of British expat White’s pronunciation of dancing as “dauncing.”

The great vocal group of Lambert, Hendricks and Ross was well represented as Lalor and White joined forces for Everybody’s Boppin’ and the ever swinging Centerpiece.

If you had to watch the stage to see who was playing what, at least you could hear that all the musicians played well, especially Watson, who laid down a great alto sax solo on Centerpiece.

Tomorrow night bassist Devon Gillingham, back in town from his studies in New York, leads a trio at Mardi Jazz. Drummer Quincy Davis and pianist Will Bonness will join Gillingham in presenting new music by the bassist.

On Jan. 27, Toronto-based band Peripheral Vision performs at Mardi Jazz as part of its Canadian CD release tour.

Trevor Hogg (tenor saxophone), Don Scott (guitar), Michael Herring (bass) and Nick Fraser (drums) are touring the new recording Sheer Tyranny of Will.

Mardi Jazz, at the Centre culturel franco-manitobain, has a $5 cover. Music starts at 8:30 p.m.

chris.smith@freepress.mb.ca