One set to heal them all: Ostara Project at Magee Theatre

The Ostara Project played one set only at the Magee Secondary School Theatre on Sunday, March 10, 2024 in the biggest Infidels Jazz show yet by venue, the culmination of their latest tour, and the afterglow of the studio sessions for their upcoming double album called Roots and Wings.

Ostara has become a quintet: Rachel Therrien on trumpet, Allison Au on saxophone, co-leaders Amanda Tosoff on piano and Jodi Proznick on bass, and Valérie Lacombe on drums. And to my intrigue, they dedicated three of their twelve pieces to that lineup, giving a break to the four magnetic vocalists who played a big part in drawing hundreds to the theatre that afternoon.

All three quintet tunes carried the theme of the show: personal stories of lineage, family, and nurturing that allowed each member to express herself in depth. In order, we had Therrien's "Papa", dedicated to her father whom she called "an old boat captain... 420 friendly"; Au's "2601" which she identified as one of her Jewish grandparents' numbers at a Holocaust concentration camp; and Proznick's arrangement of the Ukrainian folk song "What a Moonlit Night". These tunes were diverse in how they felt to hear, going from subtly playful to sensitive to exuberant, as opposed to diverse merely in where they came from.

Au also contributed “I Dream a World” from her recent album Migrations, featuring poetry by Langston Hughes; Lacombe, the only member who didn't speak on a mic, composed the show-opening bebop tune "Raven Haven" and seemed to delight in being the chill one with the low profile, cooking away through all the set's variety. Both of those tunes featured Ostara's primary vocalist and essentially sixth permanent member, Shruti Ramani.

Ramani's development has moved at breakneck speed since I attended her band Raagaverse's first-ever show and since she joined us on the podcast. She brought my favourite number of this concert, "Rajalakshmi" named for her energetic grandma in India. The signature vocal talent that Ramani brings to the table was on display, as it was on all the tunes where she sang wordless parts.

But on this tune, Ostara went free, breaking past the straight-ahead zone that defined their 2022 album with the original lineup. With a drone on the bass for the intro and exploding from there, Au, Therrien, and Proznick took free solos separated by a dramatic, repeating send-off line. I had never seen Proznick draw this much from the Charlie Haden bag of bass; what can't she play, especially when in a setting so uplifting?

The other standout number came from Dawn Pemberton, who only got one feature: her song "Cane Top", an Afro-Cuban weird blues dedicated to her mother. I expected a more R&B-pop sound from Pemberton's contribution, based on how often she performs in that style, but she left no doubt that she can always hang in the contemporary jazz style.

Then there's Laila Biali, normally so full of star power but comfortably a team player on Sunday. What I remember most fondly from the afternoon isn't her features on piano, keyboard, or lead vocals. Instead, it's when she stood up front next to Ramani and they delighted in each other's company, with the younger vocalist singing descant lines above Biali as well as low notes to sneak underneath, depending on the moment.

The final singer to appear was artist and activist Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson, who came up only to lead the last number in which all four vocalists sang a Haida song translated by her mother. The purpose, Williams-Davidson said to close out the show, was "to clean the air and clean the floor" with "a shower of music" in ceremony.

Another tidbit of memory that will stick with me: Tosoff's happy motions at the piano or keyboard – switching between them with Biali – as she surfed the waves of the show, demonstrating to me that she is the understated musical director of the whole band. She anticipated the emotions of all the songs with her movement and expressions, even while seated. Tosoff's contributed tune was also low-key: "Dreams and Olive Trees", a wordless jazz-pop tune she says was inspired by her Bulgarian heritage.

This was a heavy performance with heavy stories, one show to heal them all, unlike the simpler pleasures of their debut show now two years ago. By the names of their upcoming double album, it was much more Roots than Wings. Ostara see themselves as bearing a torch – they want you to feel, and to feel permission to self-actualize.

Focusing back on the music, though, my biggest takeaway is how they brought in more avant-garde sounds to make something still mainstream but edgier, in keeping with the rawness of their stories. They only brought back one number from the debut show: Proznick's "Storms and Oceans".

On Sunday, I expected to come away continuing to miss the original lineup that got away. They proved me wrong, and I embrace this version of the group as an advancement.

After an opening show in Quebec City with Montreal vocalist Kim Zombik alongside Ramani, the six-person group also played in Dawson City, Whitehorse, Salt Spring Island, Blue Frog Studios in White Rock, and a workshop at the VSO School of Music en route to Sunday. They'll now rest or do other projects until it's time to go red-hot once again.

For Ramani, the break isn't long; Raagaverse performs a two-nighter at the Kay Meek Centre in the first week of April. There's no indication yet from Ostara about when Roots & Wings will release, though the band's manager Lisa Buck shared future plans excitedly in LondonJazzNews last week: "I am in the midst of the joy and challenge of planning a tour to Europe for 2025.” And one more thing: I understand that the band went basically the same production route as the debut album, recording with Sheldon Zaharko at the Warehouse Studios, but broke away from Cellar Music and branded it on the new Rhea Records name. No shortage of ambition and intrigue with this supergroup.