Last weekend, the annual Pender Harbour Jazz Festival enjoyed its tenth anniversary employing many of the same stalwart volunteers as 10 years ago and with only a few changes to a popular format: new venues and new weather.
The festival that is never rained upon basked under two days of sun before breaking down to a cold, wet Sunday in the outdoors at the waterfront Millennium Park. Still, fans turned out to hear such bands as the Fran Jare Trio, who thoroughly entertained with her humorous comments to the audience before putting out some cool music along with Bill Coon on guitar and Josh Cole on bass.
In the Sunday audience sat entertainer Sibil Thrasher who had filled the School of Music the night before with her jazz vocals. Though shivering from the chill, she assured Coast Reporter that the audience had been warm and she hoped to return next year.
With the closure of Irvine's Landing Pub, the unavailability of Lowe's Resort and the empty Sundowner Hotel, organizers tested some new locations to hear music. By all reports, the small parking lot in front of the Knitting Zen/Simply the Best storefronts may have been too close to the road to appreciate the introspective Simon Fisk Trio who also appeared at a traditional popular venue, the Pender Harbour Golf Club restaurant.
The use of the high retaining wall and rock face that created a mini amphitheatre of sound around Motoko's Original Art Gallery in Garden Bay was a hit with the over 300 people who sat on the rocky terraces or in the upper grassy lot to hear vocalist Ruth McGillivray, guitarist Sheldon Bradley, and their band blend jazz into a sound all their own.
One of the festival highlights was the amazing Capilano College graduate Amanda Tosoff and her trio who played a lengthy set on Sunday. While the rain clouds drifted across the mountains and the Madeira Park harbour was decked in tents and umbrellas, she warmed up her cold fingers on smooth piano numbers, including some originals. Her style is more mature than her speaking voice; she's just 22 and surely is bound for a rocketing career. One melody was so slick, so fast, so complex, that it riveted the crowd to their seats despite lunchtime hunger pangs, and it set drummer Sean Cronin and bassist Morgan Childs to proving they could keep up with her pace. (Saxophonist Evan Arntzen was not with them on this occasion.)
She was followed by guitarist/composer Bill Coon who was complemented by the excellent sax sounds of John Bentley. Coon performed an original tune, "Starlight," that was a thing of beauty, and he closed with an old standard, "This Can't Be Love."On Friday night, the Toronto band, Fathead, drew a less than full house to the dimly-lit Madeira Park Legion but managed to get the audience dancing. The five-man group is of the Mack truck school of music; you can't miss it coming at you. They are powered by a mean blues harp from Al Lerman, vocals from John Mays, whose voice is bigger than his stature, a heavy-handed drummer and two guitarists, Teddy Leonard and Omar Tunnoch. The group worked best on blues numbers that required harmonies from the front three.
During the show, one of the band asked the audience, "We drove around today and liked the scenery, but what do you guys do for a living?" Well, Toronto boy, we make music festivals.
Monty Rolston, primary festival shaker, feels that the annual event sponsored by the Pender Harbour Music Society fulfills its purpose to bring visitors from all over for one last sunny weekend before the slow winter season. But this year, numbers were down on Friday and Sunday, though Saturday showed good attendance. Because of the reduced accommodation available, organizers promoted the festival to boaters who came from Vancouver Island and Washington state in greater numbers.
Winners of the festival raffles were both from afar. Harry Spence of Penticton won the legendary Jenny Rücker hand-knitted sweater (the last of her creations) while D. Smith of California won the ticket package and golf round prize.Info about future festivals can be found at www.phjazz.ca.For more jazz fest photos, see page B30.
