Anagram, a quartet featuring the Coast's duo of Anna Lumiere and Graham Ord, are obviously seasoned music professionals. Yet their stage act seems fresh and new perhaps because they appear to enjoy live performance so much. They captivated the jazz-loving crowd at their CD launch last Friday at the Gibsons Heritage Playhouse in a mostly acoustic presentation put on by the Sunshine Coast Music Society.
"This CD has been 11 years in the making," Ord told the near full house with a grin.
Its title, The Other Side, is the second half of a song sequence written by Lumiere after she attended an intense music workshop. The first half, Coming Through, was performed as a piano trio with Lumiere reigning over the theatre's concert grand. Later, her mellow jazz style moved closer to ragtime for a lively piece, Welcome Back.
Drummer Bernie Arai and bassist Adam Thomas, Vancouver jazz musicians, rounded out the rhythmic appeal. Though Ord frequently reached into his box of percussive tricks to shake, rattle and thwack the musical accents, his real talent shows when he picks up his several saxophones. Uncle Kaos, his own composition, launched itself into the stratosphere of dissonant jazz. But whatever musical altitudes Ord reaches, he is always able to bring the music back to the dance floor, as he did with two mambo-influenced numbers. Unfortunately no one danced possibly the only disappointment on this magical evening.
The Anagram concert propelled the Music Society to a great start this year. Their next presentation is Feb. 5 to 7 with three concerts featuring four groups, during their annual, B.C. Ferries-sponsored Festival of Wind Music.
Friday, Feb. 5, showcases the young Elphinstone Secondary School jazz band under the direction of Tom Kellough. It will include a brief set by the talented brother and sister team of Emily and Henry Wood. The band has appeared at the Gibsons Landing Jazz Festival, and most recently they gave a terrific Christmas concert in Gibsons.
Whirlwind Quintet and the Jazz Group of Seven will share the second evening, Saturday, Feb. 6. Though the groups have new names, they display some familiar faces: the wind ensemble includes Yvonne Mounsey, Sarah Harding, Alice West-lake, John Storer and Beverly Burgoyne. The Coast Group of Seven are all experienced jazz men who made their debuts to acclaim in the 2009 festival. Both concerts start at 7:30 p.m.
On Sunday, Feb. 7, at 2 p.m., the Little Mountain Brass Band conducted by Jim Littleford comes to the Coast for a return engagement. They delighted a large house in 2007, and they are the only secular, British-style brass band remaining in B.C. Their style is upbeat and their shiny instruments will literally dazzle.
In a gesture to the many music students on the Coast, the Music Society is reserving 10 free tickets to each concert for high school music teachers to distribute to band students.
Tickets for each concert are $15 regular and $10 for students, available from Hallmark Cards and Sew Much More in Gibsons, Strait Music and the Visitors Centre in Sechelt.
