Jazz in the Garden

Welcome to the inaugural issue of Gary’s and Toni’s Excellent Island Adventures, a monthly snapshot of our life in and around Nanaimo. As you may or may not know, jazz great and newly appointed Officer of the Order of Canada, Diana Krall, hails from Nanaimo. (Her dad still lives here.) It is no anomaly that one of the world’s finest jazz musicians comes from Vancouver Island. There’s something in the water here . . . also in the air . . . in the mountains . . .

This month’s “Adventure” centres on music. On August 21, we attended Jazz in the Garden, a showcase of talent hosted by Qualicum native Phil Dwyer, in beautiful Milner Gardens, a woodland/oceanside garden in Qualicum Beach, a half-hour north of here. Phil - a multi-Juno award winning saxophonist, pianist, composer and arranger – had called up his buddies to provide an afternoon of jazz in support of Milner Gardens and Woodland.   The twenty or so musicians ranged from up-and-comers Jon Challoner and Emma Love, both heading off on scholarships to study music in Toronto this fall, to heavyweight horn players Christine Jensen, Joel Miller and Mike Herriot. The final set, accompanied by brisk breezes coming in off the Strait (fleeces and blankets appeared in the audience) featured Big Band sounds of five saxes, five trumpets, four trombones and assorted other musicians playing Count Basie arrangements. Very cool indeed! Oh yes, there was a salmon barbeque going on in the background.

Harbour Notes

While the first musical event was much planned and anticipated, the second occurred during a serendipitous walk one evening recently along the Harbourfront Walkway. There are usually a number of musical buskers along the route, and throughout the summer, some very fine local high school bands had been performing. We had stopped to enjoy a couple numbers from Woodlands High Band, then wandered along until we came to a sextet of young people singing a cappella. They blew us away with their renditions of Stand by Me and Blue Skies. These kids’ syncopated rhythms and goosebump-inducing harmonies were awesome! We discovered the performers were the Nanaimo Youth Ensemble – young people who had come up through the Nanaimo Youth Choir, a part of the Nanaimo Conservatory of Music .

We are looking forward to a musical smorgasbord of delights this season at the Port Theatre. We already have tickets to the Coro Nacional de Cuba in October and the Vienna Choir Boys and the Arrogant Worms in March. (That should be an interesting month!) We will no doubt pick up tickets for at least a couple of the Vancouver Island Symphony concerts as well.

It’s tough living here on the Island! Gotta go now. Places to go. Things to do. Adventures to be had. Take care until next month.

Toni and Gary

PS Fast Forward to February 2006. Malaspina University-College here in Nanaimo has just announced that starting this September, they will be offering a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies program, especially aimed at students who want to perform. More great music in the works here!