The festival before the festival | 10 Things, June 2025

I've been at outdoor stages and in clubs so much these past few weeks that I feel like I got a whole festival before the one to come:

1

On Sunday, June 15, I was in Gibsons and took in two outdoor grass amphitheatre shows from the Gibsons Landing Jazz Festival And Beyond (that name is about locality, not genre, because the rest of the Sunshine Coast wants you to know that they'll host some shows too). I heard a diverse pairing of the Jon Bentley Quartet and the Mary Ancheta Quartet. Earlier that day, Miles Black played a brunch with singer Trudi Diening at the Gibsons Public Market; later, the band Tumbling Tumbleweeds took the stage. Trumpeter Heather Anderson, a coast local, closed out the day by hosting a jam at the 101 brewpub.

As for Bentley and Ancheta, they were as pro and fun as ever, though the style of show and live sound didn't do either of them many favours, especially for the saxophones: Bentley is arguably best heard in a jazz club, while Ancheta's quartet can rock a bigger popular music club as Dominic Conway's energy on the horn matches the high-powered groove of bassist Matt Reid and drummer Paul Clark. (Ancheta's Betty Davis project might've been too edgy for some of these folks, but it would have crushed sonically and visually.)

Bentley had Bill Coon on guitar instead of Tristan Paxton, and played Coon's tune "Zattitude", which I remember fondly from Jazz Cellar days. He didn't play "Still Crazy After All These Years", that would've killed here.

I enjoyed witnessing a reunion between Bill Coon and Réjean Marois sidestage. I had seen the CapU faculty legend more recently than he had, only due to me catching him in town while reheasing for his jazzfest show last year.

2

The day before that, on June 14, I went far south of the Fraser for the White Rock BIA's White Rock Jazz & Blues Festival, programmed by friend of the website Casey Thomas-Burns.

I spent much of the day with Dean Thiessen, who will come up again later in this column. He played solo piano at a couple stages, covering his own compositions as well as old, old standards in a relaxed stride piano mood. He also wrapped up my afternoon with his set in the Company B Jazz Band: trad- and wartime-jazz from co-leaders Bonnie Northgraves, Juhli Conlinn-Weiss, and Shannon Scott, alongside Dean, saxophonist Jens Christiansen, and bassist Russell Sholberg. The sunshine came out for this band, who delighted one of the bigger audiences that I saw accumulate.

Surrey-born and raised Colin Sankey hit on one of the main stages mid-afternoon. He maintains his band closely and almost ever subs anyone out: Brent Mah on tenor, Seb Chamney on guitar, and Eliot Doyle on drums. (They just didn't bring Winston Matsushita on keys this time.) He played Smash Mouth's "All Star", and the audience was definitely too old to laugh at the memes. He nevertheless entertained with his power stance, bass heroics, and well-honed arrangements. The band sounded quite good for a small PA on a windy day.

I also caught bits of the White Rock Rhythm Kings with Jerry Cook on saxophone; the Ruby Lane Organ Trio with drummer (and noted writer about the national jazz scene: I have yet to connect with him on that!) Marke Andrews, organist Erik Reimers, and guitarist Jim Flaming; and vocalist Rocky Riobo's duo with Kelly Brown, who charmingly took over for Dean at the Laura's Coffee stage with standards and originals.

3

On June 7, The Shorties – Cindy Dai-Thiessen, Kaya Kurz, and Sydney Tough – played a release show at the Wise Hall for their debut album, In Every Season. Their backing band was Dean Thiessen on piano, Francis Henson on guitar, Jamison Ko on drums, and Katie Stewart on violin. We also heard the additional string section of Shannon Saunders on violin plus cellist Franki Lemon on a few tracks, including my possible favourite track from the album, "Too Much". I'd heard most of these songs before at the group's annual December concerts, but the poignancy that Kurz always brings to the lead vocal got captured particularly well on record.

"Love and Affirmation" is the signature Shorties song and a soulful closer for both album and show. But the rest of the tracks (other than the instrumental jam "Sing Reprise", which they did render at the show) are folkier than that: more Wailin' Jennys than Lake Street Dive. The sky is a key symbol, as are living-room spaces, warm beverages, and open invitations to hang.

Dai-Thiessen told a story on-stage about how an old friend heard her song "Teenage Bliss" and texted her with the correct identification of who it was about. But, she says, she's been happily married to a member of the backing band for a long time, so it's all cool. That sums up the Shorties experience: vulnerability, relief, laughter, repeat.