Fresh Four | April 2025
Elisa Thorn "My Moon"; Steph Wall "Gusher"; SIESKI & Connor Roff "Untethered"; Teighan Couch "A Gal in Calico"
Latest
Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra: Connections
The WJO often features Vancouver composers; their 8th album brings together Fred Stride with Quebec’s Jean-Nicolas Trottier
Biboye Onanuga: "It's happening here, it's cool."
Biboye just played Monk at the VIFF Centre and an After Dark, billed as "Low and Slow". He'll return around jazzfest time
Ostara Project: Roots
Each artist brings at least one piece to the table, and she embeds each piece with something of herself or her culture
My favourite new creative music from the rest of the world
"Outside the Changes"
stef.in: Icterus II
Rock-funky band led by drummer Stefan Hegerat with guitarists Robyn Gray and Patrick O'Reilly, plus bassist Mark Godfrey
Renee Rosnes late-80s early-90s YouTube dive
It starts in 1987 and it's all before I was born
Aaron Shragge: Cosmic Cliffs
In his Whispering Worlds project, he plays special trumpet and shakuhachi in a quartet
Matthew Ariaratnam & Adrian Avendaño: Novel Echopath
The live album captures their guitar-drums duo, one half recorded professionally at the jazzfest and the other at Tyrant
Rachel Therrien Latin Jazz Project: Mi Hogar II
The trumpeter’s second album under the Latin Jazz Project billing and her eighth as a leader; she plays Frankie's April 3
The Jamie Lee Trio: Introspective at 5
The drummer embarked on a seminal Vancouver jazz album release of the 2020s, then reinvented both her music and her career
Shruti Ramani: Juno Nominated with Raagaverse - Jaya
Shruti’s band Raagaverse is up at the 54th Junos in Vancouver this weekend, with Jaya under Jazz Album of the Year - Group
Vancouver albums
Colin Sankey: Colin Response
He did that thing I wondered about
10 Things
1000th show in 2026?
Infidels hits 500, Cole Schmidt weekend with Ginger & Bruno, Alice in Wonderland, Hear and Now, Dacey, Renee on podcasts, jazzfest 2011
Podcast
Ben Frost: What is a Composition?
On Ben’s second podcast appearance, the nature of composition, the composer's identity, and where new material comes from
10 Things
2 jazz accordionists walk into a strip club
Ben Rosenblum, City Pop, Surrey band cuts, BJP, festival tariff talk, Thomas Marriott, Wayne Tucker, Kickstarter, Kneebody
Community Stories
Reacting to the Straight “Vancouver’s scrappy music scene”
Nerding out in search of a relevant, substantive question via yesterday’s Georgia Straight piece on local artists and venues
Live music
Ben Rosenblum Nebula Project comes to town
With trumpeter Wayne Tucker, reedist Xavier Del Castillo, guitarist Rafael Rosa, bassist Eduardo Belo, & drummer Ben Zweig
10 Things
“Few can match my ancient nerd-dom”
Gordy Smurf 4, Allison Burik solo, Devlin & Hong, DRMHS single, Putumayo, jazzfest funding, noise policies
Podcast
Bellbird: Claire Devlin, Allison Burik, Eli & Mili return
For our only 5-person episode ever, Montreal-based reedists Claire Devlin and Allison Burik join Eli Davidovici and Mili Hong
10 Things
C#
Wholesome Allison Burik / Mili Hong trio, Nebyu / Cole / Dean, attendance, funding, Patreon, and inside baseball
Podcast
Jacob Wutzke: Drums, You Better Bet, Tour, Montreal, NYC
Jacob talks about his new album You Better Bet and his first bandleading tour; the drummer plays Jazz at the Bolt this weekend
Canadian albums
2025 jazz Junos: nominees and people of our scene
The 54th Junos will happen here in Vancouver on Sunday, March 30. Nominees got published on Tuesday, including some of us
Podcast
Kevin Romain: Drums, DIY Spaces & Scenes, Autopoietic 1
Kevin talks about his longtime creative residence in our scene including a solo drum record forthcoming on the Infidels label