Submitted by Josh Grossman on Thu Jan 24 2:10pm
Is it too late to say happy new year? I'll risk it - happy new year!
Submitted by Josh Grossman on Fri Jun 22 10:40am
HOLY MOLY IT'S FESTIVAL DAY I CAN'T WAIT FOR EVERYTHING TO GET GOING YAHOO!!
Just needed to get that out.
Submitted by Josh Grossman on Thu Jun 21 11:34pm
Okay, so, I'm a bit behind schedule. Who knew that the last day before a big festival could be such a circus? (Well, me, actually, but I was clearly employing selective memory...) But - we persevere.
Submitted by Josh Grossman on Wed Jun 20 8:45pm
On the surface, artists who play traditional jazz and artists who play free jazz (or close to free jazz) are on polar opposite ends of the musical spectrum. But every time I listen to one or the other, I find similarities which surprise me. To my ear, early Dixieland music - with its group improvisation, even if carefully structured - for example, can at times sound just as cacophonous as some of the freest jazz.
Submitted by Josh Grossman on Tue Jun 19 9:59am
For the next instalment of "let's talk about a bunch of free shows at the Festival!" (needs a catchier name, I know), I wanted to introduce some of the outstanding emerging talent performing for free in Yorkville this year.
Submitted by Josh Grossman on Mon Jun 18 10:17am
Okay - day 2 of trying to summarize every free show at the Festival. After a momentary brain freeze ("How exactly do I group together all of these shows?!"), I've decided that today's entry would be purely chronological - first things first, as the saying goes.
For opening weekend this year we were aiming for a party inspired by soul, funk and r&b. We've certainly got that on our OLG Stage on Yorkville Avenue...but if we look at the opening weekend's programming on the whole, we discover quite an interesting range of music! Let's dive in.
Submitted by Josh Grossman on Thu Jun 14 3:41pm
A few weeks ago, our Publicity team asked me to choose 15 picks from the more than 150 free shows we're presenting at this year's Festival. That's kind of like asking me to choose which of my 150 children are my 15 favourite. (Or is that a weird comparison?) I LIKE THEM ALL EQUALLY.
But. For the purposes of exploring the free shows you can see at this year's Festival, it's a good place to start. And so - here are my first 20 or so picks. (Because I couldn't even get it down to 15.)
Submitted by Josh Grossman on Fri Jun 8 3:19pm
You know how when you say to yourself "okay, self, this time you're REALLY gonna write blog posts every week" and then suddenly it's two weeks before the Festival and a whole lotta time has gone by since your last post?
Yeah, well.
Submitted by Josh Grossman on Thu May 10 4:17pm
Just over three years ago, I had the opportunity to take my big band to Ottawa for a performance with a fantastic vocalist at the Shenkman Centre. Overall, it was a great experience - the promoter covered our bus trip plus one night of hotel accommodation, and the show was sold out - but the logistics? Oy. Making sure 17 musicians showed up on time for the bus pickup, then soundcheck, then show call and then the early morning lobby call the day after the show...I'm lucky that I knew how to conduct a four-beat pattern during the show!
Submitted by Josh Grossman on Thu May 3 3:35pm
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