The TDJ News Corps

The Happy Pals really lived up to their name at their afternoon show on Saturday, June 25th at Grossman’s Tavern. The seven-piece jazz band which specializes in authentic, New Orleans style party tunes is comprised of musicians with exceptionally cheerful spirits. Their music is naturally infectious and inviting, encouraging listeners to get up and dance, or simply smile from ear-to-ear.

I went to the Enwave Theatre at Harbourfront on Wednesday night to see Brazilian singer and pianist Eliane Elias for the first time. The theatre was already packed when I walked in ten minutes before showtime. My friend and I found seats in the middle of the top row, the perfect place to see the entire stage.

Guitarist Rubens de la Corte, bassist Marc Johnson and drummer Mark Walker played a beautiful introduction for the Grammy-nominee, who walked out onstage in a deep V-neck black dress and gorgeous four-inch heels and was greeted with warm applause. I was in awe.

When jazz flutist Bill McBirnie takes the stage, he has a single goal. "Give them something they didn't expect but exactly what they wanted."

A stack of sheet music covers a pile of music books on his desk at his St. Clair Gardens apartment in Toronto. An entire wall is dedicated to CDs and music. Horns playing a bebop melody stream quietly in the background as he talks about the range of jazz that he plays, and the variety of bands in which he is performing during the 2011 TD Toronto Jazz Festival.

With her long, chestnut-coloured dreadlocks and one-of-a-kind, bohemian outfits, Jessica Stuart is the kind of woman who gets second glances.

The Vancouver native is also an ear-catcher who covers vocals, guitar and the koto (a traditional Japanese instrument) in The Jessica Stuart Few, her band with bassist Dan Fortin and drummer Nico Dann.

“We met through the music scene,” said Stuart of her collaborators. “I came to Toronto six months before I started playing with these guys…and met them through the jazz scene.”