Huntsville Festival of the Arts’ jazz festival kicks off Aug. 2 with Rick Traplin and Giants of Jazz – and continues through weekend
By Gillian Brunette
The Huntsville Festival of the Arts inaugural jazz festival begins its four-day run tomorrow, Aug. 2, with four evening concerts and several complimentary performances in informal settings around town.
GIANT: Master flugelhorn/trumpet player Guido Basso joins the Giants of Jazz at the Algonquin Theatre tomorrow. Aug. 2 at 8 p.m.One of the weekend’s highlights will see three former Huntsville Festival of the Arts senior scholarship winners, Ashley Hill, Jamie Bestwick and Dan Neill, along with Huntsville jazz pianist Tim Sullivan, performing on the Algonquin stage on Sunday evening.
“Ashley will be performing three songs at the start of the Oliver Jones performance. After intermission Ashley will sing a solo song to start and then will be joined by the trio for two numbers,” said festival general manager Rob Saunders.
Piano wizard Oliver Jones played to a sold-out crowd at last year’s festival, delivering a memorable evening of unmistakable finesse, lightning-fast technique, and rollicking rhythms.
Jones is one of Canada’s finest musicians and is making another of his rare concert appearances in Huntsville. His career intertwines with the proud history of jazz in his native Montreal, the thriving city that in its heyday also produced Oscar Peterson, Jones’ lifelong friend and continuing inspiration.
Jones was born and raised in Saint Henri, a predominantly working class area of Montreal, several blocks from Peterson. As a young boy he would sit on the Peterson porch listening to the older boy practise. Peterson’s sister Daisy Peterson Sweeney became Jones’ first piano teacher, with lessons continuing for the next 12 years.
Jones was performing publicly at age five, and by the time he was nine he had already made his first nightclub appearance.
Jones’ six-decade musical career has been rich and varied. His classical music education was followed by stints at Montreal’s Café St-Michel, enthralling patrons with his acrobatic piano stunts. From his teens to his early twenties, Jones could play anything from swing to rock-n-roll and this diverse training proved invaluable when, in 1964, the opportunity to become musical director and pianist for Jamaican singer Kenny Hamilton presented itself. Jones, with his wife and young son in tow, moved to Puerto Rico and continued with the Hamilton band for the next 16 years.
In 1980 Jones returned to Montreal, determined to pursue jazz professionally. He started by working regularly at Biddle’s, the now-closed downtown jazz club run by bassist Charlie Biddle. Three years later, after a fortuitous meeting with Justin Time Records founder Jim West, Jones’ dream came true.
Oliver Jones is the proud recipient of the Martin Luther King Jr. award, celebrating his contributions to the black community in Canada and in Montreal. In 1993 he received the Order of Québec, the province’s highest honour, and the next year he was awarded the Order of Canada. In November 2005, Jones was honoured in Ottawa by Canada’s Governor General Michaëlle Jean, as a recipient of the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards for lifetime artistic achievement.
Cuban/Canadian piano wizard Hilario Duran brings his eight-piece salsa band to the Algonquin Theatreon Friday, Aug. 3. Durán is one of the greatest virtuoso jazz pianists to emerge from Havana, and played for nine years with Arturo Sandoval. He has shared the stage with legendary musicians such as the late Dizzy Gillespie and composer/arranger Michael Legrand.
Since his move to Canada, Durán has become an integral and important part of the Canadian music scene. He is an invaluable member of the jazz faculty at Humber College, acting as both and adjunct piano professor and ensemble director.
Huntsville’s Tobin Spring and Jamie Bestwick have both studied under Durán at Humber.
Durán is currently working as a composer with the classical ensembles of Gryphon Trio, and Quartetto Gelato.
Tickets for all evening shows are available at the Algonquin Theatre box office, by calling 789-4975 or online at www.huntsvillefestival.on.ca. Tickets will be sold at the door on the night of the show, if available.
