Pianist leads band of jazz greats

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 16/02/2004 (8190 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A booking made in 2001 to perform in Whitehorse this March was the spark for a western tour by a great Toronto-based jazz band, led by pianist David Braid, that starts things off in Winnipeg on Feb. 27.

A new CD to promote — Braid’s second — doesn’t hurt, either.

The 28-year-old pianist and composer is bringing a stellar lineup to his Canadian Jazz Concerts performance: John MacLeod (flugelhorn); Mike Murley (saxophone); Gene Smith (trombone); Steve Wallace (bass); and Terry Clarke (drums).

The album, Vivid: The David Braid Sextet Live, was recorded at Toronto’s Top O’ The Senator jazz club and contains eight Braid compositions played by the band he’s touring with. Braid uses the three-horn front line for a big sound in places, and to lay down textures. He draws an almost orchestral sound in places.

The tunes are well-written, intricate pieces played by some of the country’s best jazz musicians. Braid is the relative youngster of the group, but with great chops.

Murley, for example, is a Juno Award winner and is nominated in two categories this year: traditional jazz for a duo album with guitarist David Occhipinti and for contemporary jazz as a member of Metalwood. Anyone who knows jazz in Canada knows what a fine drummer Clarke is.

Braid said he was contacted in 2001 to perform in Whitehorse next month and it only made sense to turn it into a tour when travelling that far. The band starts in Winnipeg, then performs in Brandon, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver before hitting Whitehorse.

The pianist said the concert series in the Yukon is about 10 years old and gets a lot of government support. He knows musicians who have performed there and “they say it is great.”

Braid has been busy putting together the tour but is still active around Toronto where the sextet play regularly, “usually 10 to 15 dates a year. For a band that size, it’s pretty good,” he said in a telephone interview from London, Ont., where he was performing with Orchestra London.

The band members are all leaders in their own right, and Braid performs with them all. “I’ve been doing a lot with Murley. We just had a week at the (Montreal) Bistro” in Toronto. The pianist performs once a month in a big band formed by MacLeod and plays in smaller groups with the others.

Braid does some jazz piano teaching at the University of Toronto jazz department; “part-time, which is great” with everything else he has going. He tries to write at least one new piece of music for each outing for the sextet. And he has been immersing himself in the work and lives of some of the great classical pianists “to learn more about my instrument.” That study might well lead to more solo piano work, he added.

He’d also like to play outside the Toronto area more, “get into more communities and meet more people, play with more musicians and exchange ideas.”

The band performs Saturday, Feb. 28, 8 p.m., in Brandon in the Lorne Watson Recital Hall.

Tickets for the Friday, Feb. 27, 8 p.m. show as part of the Canadian Jazz Concerts series at the Franco-Manitoban Cultural Centre are $15 in advance ($17 at the door) from Quest Musique, the centre box office or by calling 233-8972.

I have one pair of tickets to give away to the Winnipeg show. The first e-mail to chris.smith@freepress.mb.ca after 9 a.m. today gets them. Please include a daytime phone number.

The Juno Award nominations announced last week include a good sampling of the country’s jazz talent:

Vocal jazz album — Firm Roots, Jeri Brown; Shade, Holly Cole; Maple Groove, Ranee Lee; Denzal Sinclaire, Denzal Sinclaire; The Language of Love, Carol Welsman.

Traditional jazz album — Lost in the Stars, Guido Basso; Duologue, Mike Murley, David Occhipinti; One Take, One Take; Cafe Varzé Jazz, Sandro Dominelli Quintet; Standards, John Stetch.

Contemporary jazz album — Indefinite Time, François Bourassa Quartet; bLOW tHE hOUSE dOWN, Great Uncles of the Revolution; Suite For New York, D.D. Jackson; Strut, Michael Kaeshammer; Chronic, Metalwood.

chris.smith@freepress.mb.ca