FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 31st Annual TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival PERFORMANCE WORKS SERIES, INNOVATION SERIES AT IRONWORKS & ROUNDHOUSE PERFORMANCE CENTRE SERIES Tickets at 10am at www.coastaljazz.ticketfly.com Telephone 1.888.732-1682 7 Concert Presentations during the Performance Works Series SOIL & "PIMP" SESSIONS June 25 Performance Works @ 9pm $35 All In For a group that calls themselves “death jazz”, Japan’s Soil & “Pimp” Sessions is pretty damn lively! Whether exploding off the stage at Glastonbury, Fuji Rock Festival, or a sweaty nightclub, Soil & “Pimp” Sessions are one of the most engaging live bands in jazz. Shamanic hype man Shacho plays the role of agitator while the group flat out slays, creating a feedback loop of energy between band and audience. It’s an ecstatic, almost aggressively entertaining molten mix that’s stirred up by Tabu Zombie trumpet, Motoharu sax, Josei piano, and the pulsing rhythm section of Akita Goldman bass, and Midorin drums. POLYRHYTHMICS June 27 Performance Works @ 9pm $35 All In “The controlled tempest of the Polyrhythmics is like manna from heaven” - The Stranger This hard-driving Seattle 8-piece’s taut, complex grooves and vividly cinematic instrumental imagery is going a long way towards redefining the term “funk” for 21st century audiences. A modern afrobeat/psych sound that recalls Fela Kuti, The Meters, and the sharpest of jam bands, “the group’s 32 limbs work in intricate harmony to generate a sophisticated slinkiness and expressive brassiness” (The Stranger). With Ben Bloom guitar, Grant Schroff drums, Nathan Spicer keys, Lalo Bello percussion, Jason Gray bass, Scott Morning trumpet, Elijah Clark trombone, Art Brown sax/flute. MOON HOOCH June 28 Performance Works @ 9pm $35 All In Moon Hooch’s early subway busking days were cut short by the NYPD after the double-sax and drum trio’s raw grooves incited some frenzied and decidedly disorderly commuter dance parties. Bedford Avenue station’s loss is our gain, as the electrifying group takes stages everywhere by storm. “Loud, proud, and deliriously unrefined” (Village Voice), Moon Hooch blazes through jagged groove-jazz with frenetic post-punk energy, ridiculous technical chops and a daredevil approach to extended technique (adding PVC tubes, traffic cones or whatever’s handy to the bells of their saxes). This is primordial art mischief at its best. With Mike Wilbur and Wenzi McGowen saxophones, James Muschler drums. ANA POPOVIC June 29 Performance Works @ 9pm $48 All In “The lady can flat out rip! Her Strat-driven blues variations range from high octane SRV-style throwdowns to electric slide- and-wah excursions to Ronnie Earl-inspired jazziness and acoustic Delta stomps.” - Guitar World With a soulful voice, scorching guitar chops, and heart-stopping stage presence, Serbian-born, Memphis-based Ana Popovic is a powerhouse of contemporary blues, rock, and electrifying funk. AllMusic praises her as a rare “triple threat: she is an excellent singer, an excellent guitarist, and an excellent songwriter.” Equally inspired by Albert King and WAR, Popovic’s smoking band Mo’ Better Love is stacked with some of Memphis’ hottest barnburners and boogie men. Contact: John Orysik/Media Director - [email protected] Coastal Jazz presents remarkable Vancouver concerts and opportunities to experience some of the best things to do in Vancouver. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE STEVE RILEY & THE MAMOU PLAYBOYS June 30 Performance Works @ 9pm $48 All In For almost 30 years, Grammy Award-winning master accordionist Steve Riley has been celebrating Cajun and Creole greats (such as Canray Fontenot, Willie Broussard and Boozoo Chavis) and pushing the envelope of his regional roots by mixing in newer flavours of ska, funk, country swing, and swamp rock. Singing in French and English, Riley’s soaring voice and infectious charisma steers crowds through bittersweet front porch waltzes, high-spirited dance hall barnburners and bluesy stomps. His hot-stepping Mamou Playboys whip up an unforgettable good time with their conversational musicality and southwest Louisiana charm. GORDON GRDINA’S HARAM July 2 Performance Works @ 9pm $35 All In “The music’s backbone is traditional, but wild outbursts of free improvisation and subtle injections of noise make it quite unlike anything you’d hear in the shisha dens of Cairo or Baghdad.” - Georgia Straight A phenomenal culture-mashing juggernaut led by Gordon Grdina (Dan Mangan, Mark Helias) on Iraqi oud, Haram pays homage to traditional Arabic music while mixing elements of noise, electronic soundscape, and western free improv into their explosively self-expressive sound. With creative heavy-hitters JP Carter trumpet, Jesse Zubot violin, Kenton Loewen drums, Tommy Babin bass, Emad Armoush vocals, François Houle clarinet, Chris Kelly saxophone, Tim Gerwing, Liam MacDonald percussion. THE DAN BRUBECK QUARTET July 3 Performance Works @ 9pm $35 All In With his astonishingly textured solos and mastery of odd-time signatures and mind-boggling polyrhythms, JUNO Award- nominated drummer Dan Brubeck plays with “drama, potency and virtuosity” (DownBeat). His compelling new Vancouver- based group is a labour of familial love. Drawing from a songbook of music by his late parents—legendary pianist Dave and noted jazz lyricist Iola Brubeck—the Dan Brubeck Quartet brings out hidden gems from the vault and dives joyously into some classic tunes (Blue Rondo a la Turk, Take 5). Featuring soulful vocalist/bassist Adam Thomas whose easygoing authority evokes Louis Armstrong, tenor saxophonist Steve Kaldestad, and pianist Miles Black. 9 Concert Presentations during Innovation Series - Ironworks Choose any three shows from Innovation Series – Ironworks & Ironworks Late Night $46 All In. Available by telephone at 1.888.438.5200 THE THING June 24 @ 9:30pm $30 All In “The sheer power they generate from wood, metal, breath and muscle is stunning” - BBC Potent and uncompromising, The Thing’s high-energy immolation of genre renders free jazz, noise and garage rock into “a seething mass of molten bass saxophone, filthy fuzz bass and machine gun snare” (The Quietus). With a repertoire that ranges from Steve Lacy to the White Stripes and noise rock guerillas Lightning Bolt, The Thing is a sonic strike force of three of Scandinavian creative music’s most commanding and important figures. With Sweden’s Mats Gustafsson sax, live electronics, and Norwegians Ingebrigt Håker Flaten bass and Paal Nilssen-Love drums. Thanks to Swedish Arts Council, Norwegian Jazz Forum, Norsk Kulturråd – Arts Council Norway, Music Norway Contact: John Orysik/Media Director - [email protected] Coastal Jazz presents remarkable Vancouver concerts and opportunities to experience some of the best things to do in Vancouver. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PEGGY LEE’S ECHO PAINTING June 25 @ 9:30pm $30 All In In celebration of her exceptional impact on the Vancouver creative music scene, Coastal Jazz has commissioned Peggy Lee to compose Echo Painting, an original suite of music for an exciting new ensemble. The cast of characters is the brainchild of Peggy Lee and Rainbow Robert, who had it in mind to present a new group that features and celebrates the voices of Vancouver creative music artists across the generations. With Brad Turner trumpet, John Bentley tenor sax, Dylan van der Schyffdrums , James Meger bass, Cole Schmidt guitar, John Paton saxes, Meredith Bates violin, Roderick Murray trombone, Bradshaw Pack pedal steel guitar. Jazztopad presents MARCIN WASILEWSKI TRIO "SPARK OF LIFE" June 26 @ 9:30pm $30 All In “His sense of musical space and his aural imagery are so fresh they are initially mysterious, then get more so.” - JazzTimes A Polish pianist/composer of cinematic and profoundly melodic originals, (and long-time collaborator with Tomasz Stanko), ECM artist Wasilewski’s superb off-book explorations reinforce his “growing reputation as a visionary improviser” (All About Jazz). Daring re-workings of Herbie Hancock, Ennio Morricone, The Police, and legendary Polish pianist and film music composer Krzysztof Komeda (Rosemary’s Baby) beautifully frame his Keith Jarrett-influenced lyricism alongside the spacious and deeply engaged rhythm section of bassist Slawomir Kurkiewicz and drummer Michal Miskiewicz. “One of the best [trios] to appear on the European jazz scene in the past decade.” - The Guardian Thanks to the Jazztopad Festival in Wroclaw, Poland and the Polish Cultureal Institue in New York. MATS EILERTSEN TRIO June 27 @ 9:30pm $30 All In “Contemporary European jazz of the highest quality; understated and compelling, it is music that makes its point through eloquence and sensitivity.” – JazzWise One of Norway’s finest young players,bassist Mats Eilertsen is “a fount of robust tone and singing texture” (AllAboutJazz) who has played with Mathias Eick, Bobo Stenson, and Atomic’s Fredrik Ljungkvist. Drummer Thomas Strønen’s “ arsenal of clatter drives things with an abstracted, occasionally swinging groove” (BBC), while Dutch pianist Harmen Fraanje vocalizes as he plays, as though dictating sublime melodic imagination to his hands. This trio’s sound is “so intelligently crafted and beautifully distilled that it is nigh on perfect” (JazzJournal). June 27 Tom Lee Music Hall (Mats Eilertsen Trio Workshop) @ 1pm Free / Thanks to Music Norway ALEXANDER HAWKINS TRIO June 28 @ 9:30pm $30 All In “If Hawkins really is the future of jazz pianism, the future looks bright.” - Daily Telegraph One of the UK’s fastest rising stars and a Festival favourite, pianist Alexander Hawkins has played