As I'm writing up my recollections of the Kensington Market Jazz Festival, I'm spinning Laura Hubert's new CD, called "One Night in Kensington" which captures the free spirit of that village and the unfettered abandon of Laura's singing. Recorded with gusto, live and in-your-face with top TO jazz musos. The perfect soundtrack for my blogging.
I took in all 3 days of the Kensington Market Jazz Festival, a baby festival now three years old and run like no other festival I've heard of. But, as they say, it's all about the music, and KMJF is doing it "their way". And they've found a formula that works for them, though it is a bit awkward. Each venue has to clear the room after every performance and the artist gets whatever was collected while s/he was paying. It's all cash. And it won't surprise you to know that this festival was founded by a bunch of musicians so this was their solution to artists making a few bucks even though the festival has no corporate sponsorship and little grant money (if any). Most performances were $20, so you can see how a jazz fan could drop a couple of hundred bucks if they were trying to see lots of shows. There was "curated busking" on the streets but I didn't run into much of that. I was sitting next to one one lady who was quite livid that she was going to have to pay again for the next band. "I paid to get in and I'm not paying again!"
As I checked in to the artist "lounge" - where you could store your instruments, grab a beer and some fried chicken & biscuits (deelicious!) and hang out - I noticed a nice bouquet of flowers for Molly and the crew and I was reminded of the time in my early days working at the Toronto Jazz Festival when I came back to the office the day after the festival ended and there was a beautiful flower arrangement on the board room table with a lovely thank-you note and it was from...you guessed it, Molly Johnson. That sort of thing did not happen very often. What goes around comes around. There's a reason Molly is so beloved in this town and it's a beautiful thing she has done with KMJF.
As I checked in to the artist "lounge" - where you could store your instruments, grab a beer and some fried chicken & biscuits (deelicious!) and hang out - I noticed a nice bouquet of flowers for Molly and the crew and I was reminded of the time in my early days working at the Toronto Jazz Festival when I came back to the office the day after the festival ended and there was a beautiful flower arrangement on the board room table with a lovely thank-you note and it was from...you guessed it, Molly Johnson. That sort of thing did not happen very often. What goes around comes around. There's a reason Molly is so beloved in this town and it's a beautiful thing she has done with KMJF.
Got to the Kensington Market Jazz Festival just in time to enjoy a little hospitality at their media launch which led to Turbo Street Funk doing a New-Orleans style march to their gig up the street. I saw bits of Tony Quarrington & Zoey, John McLeod Orchestra with Alistair Kay demonstrating unique tri-tone bone technique. Kevin Breit channeling the Beach Boys and rapper Branco free-styling on the theme of “Free Willy” suggested by an audience member. Great backup from George Koller, Eric St-Laurent & friends.
Lou Pomanti kicked off Saturday with some "soul jazz" in the tradition of Les McCann and Ramsey Lewis. Start my day! Then over to the outdoor stage to catch the end of Jaymz Bee's extravaganza. At the Poetry Cafe it was a group hug of musicians playing a lot of the tunes that dearly departed Kiki Misumi used to play and showing support for her husband local guitarmeister Reg Schwager . Bill McBirnie was swinging in a beautiful garden setting. Then I swung by the Hot Box where I will be emcee on Sunday, and heard Jozsef Botos, then caught Tania Gill at the Lola, and later her hubby Victor Bateman who surprised me by pulling out a tune I wrote a long time ago - back when I made my first CD in the early 90s, a CD that would never have happened if Victor had not arranged for me to record a demo at one of his buddies' (before the days when everybody had a recording studio in their basement). My day at Kensington Jazz ended with two fabulous singers at the Handlebar - Lori Cullen and Suzie Vinnick. Perfect weather and great vibe.
On Day 3 I didn't get to see a lot of pals who were playing in the market because I volunteered to be an emcee at the guitar series that was happening in the "Hot Box" Café. Brian Katz, Margaret Stowe, Rita di Ghent & Brian LeGere, Nathan Hiltz, Daniel Greaves, Sabrina Soares (from Australia) and guitar legend Lorne Lofsky played. It was part inspiring and part discouraging watching these folks playing at such a high level. What a scene in that joint (pardon the expression) with folks slipping by the stage area to get to the outside "potio" where they could load up their humungous bongs (see video below)