Life is a lot like jazz… it’s best when you improvise. George Gershwin
Get ready to swing to the smooth sounds of LIVE jazz in downtown St. Catharines this weekend at The Niagara Jazz Festival! Partnering with the In the Soil Arts Festival (an incredible 3 day home grown arts event), the Jazz Festival will be featuring two shows back to back on Saturday, April 25th at the Niagara Artists Centre (NAC) at 354 St. Paul Street, St. Catharines.
Musical talent for the Niagara Jazz Festival is as follows: At 8pm – 9pm, it’s The Worst Pop Band Ever (pictured below playing The Rex in Toronto)
Described as the ugly lovechild of Radiohead and Miles Davis, the WPBE straddles genres and challenges expectations. What initially began as a one-off idea nearly a decade ago has morphed into playing at festivals and packed clubs throughout North America from IAJE to NXNE; St. John’s to Chicago. From sharing stages with the Bad Plus to being called “highlights of the festival” at the 2012 TD Toronto Jazz Festival, the WPBE has been showcased in Canadian Musician Magazine, featured on various radio stations like CBC and JazzFM.
At 9pm – 10pm, it’s the The Ken Macdonald Quartet (video of performance below)
A modern jazz quartet playing original compositions that draw influences from various worldly sources. Bassist Ken McDonald formed The Ken McDonald Quartet in the winter of 2008. The band’s regular members consist of Paul Metcalfe, Lowell Whitty and Demetri Petsalakis, but also features a string of regular outside contributors including Dave Clark and Tom Richards. The band’s debut record “Pay What You Can” was released in 2011 and was followed by a southern Ontario tour. The band’s second record “Sitting, Waiting, Wasting Time” was released on April 3rd.
In The Soil Arts Festival is a 3-day explosion of creativity featuring over 150 acts and installations in theatre, music, dance, media, streetscape and interactive art that take over the expected and unexpected spaces of St. Catharines downtown. (pictured below a performance of Aerated from the festival)
The festival nurtures the creation of new work, showcases talent, encourages innovation, offers learning opportunities for youth and provides intimate and uncommon platforms for audiences to experience work by contemporary performing and literary artists, musicians and media artists. In the Soil is Niagara’s homegrown arts festival and is working to make a Niagara that is self-determining and culturally distinct. Tickets and Festival Passes can be purchased at www.inthesoil.on.ca The Niagara Jazz Festival is a cutting edge four-day celebration of jazz, performed in intimate indoor and outdoor venues in the heart of Niagara’s stunning wine country July 23-26, 2015.
The Niagara Jazz Festival presents the finest Canadian and internationally acclaimed jazz musicians by way of spectacular concerts, wine, craft beer, and culinary packages, and free performances throughout Niagara-on-the-Lake and selected locations throughout Niagara.
Updates can be found at www.niagarajazzfestival.com @jazzniagara #livelovejazz
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