From the frenetic beat of the congas to gypsy strings to mellow standards, this year's Pender Harbour Jazz Festival showcased the huge array of music we call by one label - jazz.
Take for example, Five Alarm Funk, a percussion-fuelled, high-energy group of many musical genres. This crowd pleaser had everyone up and hopping by the first tune.
The festival's artistic director Carole Rubin is still smiling about some of this year's highlights, particularly the performance from saxophonist Dmitri Baevsky.
"He has a good feeling for volume and range," she said. "He does that with his sax; it draws you in. It's like a voice."
Vancouver vocalist Dee Daniels performed on Friday evening to a less than full house.
"She was stunning to look at," said Rubin, adding that the diva gave an intimate feel to the venue.
One of this year's biggest successes, by all accounts, was the Cuban style Latin jazz of Wil Campa with his Gran Union.
"They were so darn cute," said one spectator of the 10 men aged between 20 and 30 who danced in matching outfits and flashed their happy grins.
Though none could speak English, clearly the language of music transcended, and if they had been able to play outside at the Painted Boat Resort as scheduled, more of the audience would have been up and dancing. But unfortunately the festival met up with the R-word, not heard spoken in Pender Harbour for many a September. Rain forced cancellation of Sunshine Coast Resort's morning gig and drove Nancy Ruth's vocals indoors at Motoko's Gallery.
The community hall in Madeira Park became the site of the bigger gigs including Sunday's four act, four-hour extravaganza.
The dark hall was brightened by the sheer entertainment value of the Coast's own Definitely Diva, Patrice Pollack, Wendy Hibberd and Lynne Dickson, backed up by their guys: Warren Allan, Reg Dickson, Ken Dalgleish and Barry Taylor.
Other performers that day may have displayed more honed musical technique, but the Divas flair for performance excelled. They kept it coming with lots of Latin rhythms, torch tunes, old standards and cheeky repartee.
Paul Keeling may be a whiz on the keyboard, but the leader of the quintet is helped along considerably by the trumpet playing of Chris Davis and the front line tenor sax of Steve Kaldestad. And what group can go wrong with the award-winning Jodi Proznick on bass and Bernie Arai on drums? It was sheer musical pleasure. Keeling performed original material that divulged bits of his life, for example, the tune Mauna Loa, named after the Hawaiian volcano. It's a tribute to his father who measured CO2 in the atmosphere in 1957 ahead of warnings about global warming. The message fit smoothly with the music.
Zapato Negro, four men who perform in Vancouver, started slow. Many of the audience had dashed off for lunch but the rhythmic congas, bass, drums and keyboard brought them running back to the hall where the group picked up momentum.
The pace had to be seen to be believed-pianist Andre Carrasquero's fingers flew over the keys. Born in Montreal, he lived in Venezuela for a time where he grew up listening to these rhythms. Conga player Jack Duncan, hands a blur, rivalled the pianist for speed.
The energy slowed down only slightly for Pearl Django's hour of evocative music. All consummate professionals, the four musicians put their own spin on Django Reinhardt tunes and original material using accordion, violin, guitar and bass. Their repertoire was extensive and Rubin considers them a good bet for a return visit to Pender Harbour's ongoing concert series.
