The jazzfest in 10 songs: 2025

These ten pieces of repertoire come from performances I heard at the 2025 Vancouver International Jazz Festival. They're not the artists' original pieces, rather compositions they chose for their shows. I bring them to you here in reverse chronological order:

1

"Simple Pleasure" (Cedar Walton)

Played by the John Lee Trio & Ralph Moore, June 28

That's English saxophonist Ralph Moore on the left of the cover photo, in his mid-thirties, for the Eastern Rebellion album Simple Pleasure recorded in 1992. Moore plays the melody of the Cedar Walton tune with Walton on piano, David Williams on bass, and Billy Higgins on drums. He called "Simple Pleasure" during a weekend at Frankie's as a special guest with the John Lee Trio, consisting of Lee on drums with pianist Sean Fyfe and bassist Sean Drabitt. Fyfe is a killing interpreter of Walton, so he shined bright. Lee also wowed the room with an extended drum solo in tribute to Higgins. Moore later played his own tune "Hopscotch" and invited up his onetime student, our own Ardeshir Pourkeramati, for a two-tenor hit.

2

"Can't Hide Love" (Skip Scarborough)

Played by the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio, June 26

I got a burger between shows at Ocean Artworks and Performance Works, and in front of me was a guy ordering a brisket and garlic fries, joking in an animated voice about making a mess all over his white tracksuit. A couple hours later, he used that same voice to entertain a sold-out house while he grooved away on B3, spotless, telling them how "Can't Hide Love" wasn't actually written by Maurice White. Though Lamarr's trio – according to his own stage banter, he recently hired guitarist Brice Calvin and drummer Ashley Ickes off of TikTok – didn't always lock into full verve and chemistry, their 10-plus-minute cover of the Earth, Wind, & Fire hit was a highlight.

3

"Ain' Goin' Down to the Well No Mo" (Lead Belly)

Played by Tony Wilson's Hellhound On My Trail, June 25

Tony Wilson continues to find ways to make new things happen year after year. For his Hellhound On My Trail group, the new collaborator was saxophonist Dominic Conway, playing alongside Wilson and violinist Josh Zubot, bassist Russell Sholberg, and drummer Kai Basanta. (When this band debuted at Tyrant in May, it was JP Carter in the horn chair.) The first two tunes at Ocean Artworks were a concise summary of his musical direction for the project: Ornette Coleman's "Zig Zag" and then this blues song, which he delivered himself on distorted guitar up-front.

4

"Dark Was The Night (Cold Was The Ground)" [Blind Willie Johnson]

Played by Gerry Hemingway & Izumi Kimura, June 25

Gerry Hemingway, together with pianist Izumi Kimura, thrilled the relatively full house at the Revue Stage's first primetime ticketed show. But even seeing a mic on a stand up there, many in the room wouldn't have predicted that Hemingway would get up from his drumset and marimba station, shuffle closer to Kimura, and sing a blues melody that they had re-titled with their own lyrics as "This Waiting Place". (I only knew it from having noticed the track on their newly-released album, How the Dust Falls.) Hemingway was articulate about how he wanted their ritualistic program of improv music to "meet the moment", as they say, about global affairs; he summed up this song as originally harbouring the feeling "of not having a home".

5

"What the World Needs Now" (Burt Bacharach)

Played by the Bill Frisell Trio, June 24

Bill Frisell said a total of six words throughout his headlining performance at the Playhouse: "Thomas Morgan! Rudy Royston! Thank you." The three played uninterrupted for about 90 minutes, seemingly calling tunes spontaneously out of their deep book from vamp to vamp. Again, though, on meeting the moment, Frisell said it all with the mere calling of this 1965 song, born in the civil rights movement on the cusp of American war with Vietnam. From that vein he also played the Beatles and Bob Dylan, in addition to his own tunes and jazz repertoire like Billy Strayhorn's "Isfahan".

6

"Alfonsina Y El Mar (Ariel Ramírez / Félix Luna)"

Played by Richard Bona & Jesús Pupo, June 23

Richard Bona took quite a different approach to his Playhouse headliner than Frisell, telling stories and taking time to be the consummate entertainer, undeterred by a baby crying in the house regularly from downbeat to finish. He showcased his signature sound on electric bass, did some looping, and sang warmly on his older songs like "Eyala" as he led his latin-focused Asante Trio. When the cheering after the last number stayed loud and large Cameroonian flags unfolded in the lower seats, he played two encores. The first was a soft instrumental rendition of this Spanish-language song, played duo by Bona and his pianist Jesús Pupo.

7

"United" (Wayne Shorter)

Played at the jam by local musicians with Joel Ross, June 22 (well, technically June 23)

It was nearly 3:00 AM, and the weekend jam at Tyrant Studios – hosted on this night by Biboye Onanuga and his quartet – was going strong. I'll likely have more to say about the spirit that this venue unlocked throughout the 2025 festival, but for now, just this: Chris Fraser, Feven Kidane, John Nicholson, Dave Marfleet, and Quin Kirchner of the Chicago band Hanging Hearts got to jam with vibraphonist Joel Ross, who had come through after closing down the Georgia Street stage in Makaya McCraven's band. (Saxophonist Josh Johnson also came, but didn't jam.) With Ross at the honky-tonk Tyrant piano, Feven called "United", a Wayne Shorter tune; Chris called the Ellington blues "Take the Coltrane". To know the rest, I guess we had to be there.

8

"Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" [Jay Livingston / Ray Evans]

Played by Dawn Pemberton, June 22

Dawn Pemberton sprinkled in a great cover of this popular song as a tribute to the recently-passed Sly Stone during her Georgia Street stage performance. Her band of pros includes guitarist Gavin Youngash, bassist André Lachance, drummer Mike Ardagh, and keyboardist Max Zipursky, whom Dominic Conway identified amusingly as one of two "pocket aces" when Zipursky and Mary Ancheta took the stage together in the band Confiture. (July 1st dealt us another pair: Ben Millman and Jonny Tobin, both in Feven Kidane's band to play the music of Mandido Morris.) This subscene of musicians – the "Guilt & Co. crew"? – gained representation at this year's fest, from Pemberton's set on the big stage to all the music at the Bentall Centre patio. Pemberton announced a new EP titled Supernova coming soon.

9

"All of You" (Cole Porter)

Played by Tyler Henderson, Allison Lee, and Graham Villette, June 21

Few musicians had a better festival without an official gig than bassist Allison Lee, back home from first year at Juilliard. Between attending Tyrant jams, she sat in at Frankie's with pianist Tyler Henderson and drummer Graham Villette to play "All of You"; then got a call-up to Performance Works with her alma mater mates in New Jazz Underground, picking up Sebastian Rios' bass and getting into a blues in B alongside pianist Isaiah J. Thompson, trumpeter Noah Halpern, and drummer TJ Reddick.

10

"Coisa Nº 4" (Moacir Santos)

Played by Amphibioux, June 21

Julia Farry's band Amphibioux (pronounced "amphibious") has played Brazilian music to packed houses at Tyrant Studios, at the Fox for Infidels Jazz and beyond, and now at the art gallery as the Georgia Street Stage's weekend opener. Their first tune was this riff, balancing triple and 4/4 rhythm, that didn't leave my head all week after Farry and pianist Mauricio Zani's left hand crushed it. Trombonist Choenden Kyirong, with saxophonist Connor Lum beside him, was the coolest man in the plaza as he floated above this groove in a nondescript hoodie and sunglasses. The composer Santos, whom the band called "Maestro" in keeping with his album of that title for Blue Note, is a singular figure in the music of Brazil who himself taught other legends like the guitarist Baden Powell.

Bonus tracks

• "Delphia" (Freddie Hubbard), played by the Jazz Salvation Organ Trio, June 22. Chris Fraser, Mary Ancheta, and Biboye Onanuga kept it lighthearted on the Sunday morning at Hero's Welcome.
• "Deluge" (Wayne Shorter), played by Biboye Onanuga's New Standards Quartet, June 22. They played a continuous set and found their way to each new tune by improvising, kind of but not really like Frisell's trio did.
• "Tight" (Betty Carter), played by Teresa Marie & The Three with Jennifer Scott, June 28. This intergenerational duo in song kicked off the long-awaited first sunny day of the festival.