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The Edmonton Folk Music Festival II

Today is the last day of the 2009 festival. We attended a Kimmie Rhodes concert and four other sessions.

Eivor

Spirit of the West

Gurf Morlix and Sam Baker

Joe Gracey and Kimmie Rhodes

Niamh Parsons

Lynn Miles

Sometimes a session just cooks. Michael Johnson, Lynn Miles, Gabe Rhodes. Joe Gracey and everyone else on Stage Four this afternoon were delighted with the music as was the audience.

The final main stage concert is continuing as I write this blog entry, but the sessions at the small stages (my favourites) are over for another year. Next year we'll gather again to hear old musical friends and new ones. I'm looking forward to it.

Magic on the Hill: Songwriters and Singers at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival

We spent the morning and afternoon at Stage Six at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival listening to musical storytellers, some well-known and some new to most of us. The festival features seven small stages and one large main stage.

The small stages usually feature three or four artists or groups in 60 or 90 minute concerts. Several years ago Steve Earle told us that in Nashville they call this a guitar pull, but here it's just a workshop or concert.

Most of the performers feature their own songs, but in one concert the groups finished by playing some of their favourite songs, songs written by other songwriters.

These photographs include some of the groups and individuals playing on Stage Six.

Kimmie Rhodes with Gabriel Rhodes and Joe Gracey

Rodney Crowell

Danny Michel

Joel Plaskett with his father Bill Plaskett

David Francey

Jill Barber

Over the Rainbow, Chicago Is...

We arrived in Chicago this afternoon and took a train from O'Hare, one of the busiest airports in the world, to downtown Chicago where we're staying in a fine hotel. Our room has a view of the lake. And, yes, my friends it's not the ocean and one cannot get a suntan on the deck: but Chicago is a fine town and I'm enjoying it and the chance to see our daughter and son-in-law for a few days.

We'll be visiting galleries and interesting restaurants, and I'm sure we'll enjoy some Chicago music as well.

The music started earlier today at O'Hare. An alto sax man greeted us with a jazzy version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow. Judy Garland would have liked it and Charlie Parker would have smiled and said that this fellow had talent and just needed a break.

There were other freelance train and subway musicians entertaining today: an elderly man playing a dance tune from the early 1920s on a Chinese stringed instrument; a rap singer with a great repertoire and a compact PA system; and an African American percussionist and singer playing a conga drum and singing to and about the people passing by. Thus far no one has asked me to sing along.

People stopped and asked if we needed help as we perused our maps on street corners and on the trains. The hotel manager left a message thanking us for making the Hilton Suites Hotel our temporary home while we are in Chicago and giving us his office and cell number just in case we needed anything or wanted to chat with him.

We've been here just a few hours and I'm pleased to say that we're staying six nights.

Stay tuned. This could be fun.

Joni and the Gala

On Saturday, September 6, I attended the Alberta Arts Day Gala, an event which celebrated the arts – visual, literary and performing – in the Province of Alberta. There were arts events happening throughout the Province on Saturday and during the preceding week, but this gala marked a new era in appreciation and support of the arts by the Provincial Government. Lindsay Blackett, Alberta's Minister of Culture and Community Spirit, is a great champion of the arts, and he and the people who work with him are working very hard to focus attention on Alberta art and artists.

Saturday night's event, which featured music, dance and the presentation of awards, was a great success. Three awards, The Grant MacEwan Literary Arts Award, The Tommy Banks Performing Arts Award, and the Marion Nicoll Visual Arts Award, each worth $50,000, were presented to Sid Marty, Stuart Lemoine, and Alex Janvier, respectively.

The gala concluded with Alberta Ballet dancing segments from The Fiddle and the Drum created by Joni Mitchell and Jean Grand-Maître, Alberta Ballet’s Artistic Director. The host of the show, Tim Tamashiro, had hinted earlier that there would be a special surprise guest. That guest was Joni Mitchell. The crowd was on its feet before she got to the podium and gave her the applause that she and the ballet deserved. Lindsay Blackett presented Joni with a special award honouring her and her work.

Mitchell, who was born in Fort Macleod, Alberta, told us that the ballet that she and Alberta Ballet created was her most important work. It will tour Canada and the world next year. Don't miss it.

In 1994 I and 17,999 other folk music fans at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival sat on Gallagher Hill and welcomed Joni Mitchell to the first folk festival concert she had played in decades. As she tuned her guitar and chatted about her music and her life I felt that even if she didn't sing the evening would be memorable. She didn't sing on Saturday night, but she and Lindsay Blackett and Tim Tamashiro and every other performer on stage at the Jubilee Auditorium in Calgary (especially the very young dancer with Alberta Ballet) made the Alberta Arts Gala a very special night.

Literature

Masterclass at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival

Masterclass was a 90 minute session on Stage Three of the Edmonton Folk Music Festival on Saturday, Aug. 9, 2008. The musicians Alison Brown, Jerry Douglas, Daby Touré and Maura O'Connell were given the theme for the session, one which gave them a lot of latitude in choosing their songs. It became a master class, one which provided a learning experience for them and for us, the audience. They learned from each other and we learned from all of them.

I had heard the great Jerry Douglas before, but I'll never hear enough of his music (you'll hear some of that music if you click on this link). When he played his first song today a fellow sitting behind me said 'It doesn't get better than this.'

One could say the same about the amazing Alison Brown and the excellent musicians who work with her: bassist Gerry West, violin player Paul Elliot, John Burr on piano, and drummer Larry Atamanuik.

I had never heard of Daby Touré or Maura O'Connell before yesterday's session. Touré has roots in Mauritania, Senegal and Paris while O'Connell hails from Ireland and Nashville. Their backgrounds and their musical skills combined with those of Brown, Douglas and the other musicians and created magic on Stage Three.

Touré was a great catalyst: he watched, listened and often joined in, sometimes with verses sung in another language. His joy in the music was reflected and amplified by others, particularly Brown and Douglas.

The audience had as much fun as the musicians did.

I'm off to the next series of sessions at the festival which finishes today (Sunday, August 10).

Magic on the Hill: The Edmonton Folk Music Festival Shines Again

The annual Edmonton Folk Music Festival sells out every year. Gallagher Park, the site for the main stage and the seven small stages where small concerts (sessions) are held over the Thursday to Sunday (Aug. 7 - 10, 2008) hosts approximately 17,000 avid music fans from Edmonton and elsewhere. Musicians from Canada and many other countries play styles of music which usually include Celtic, traditional Canadian and American folk music, African music, music from many other countries, and music that is difficult to categorize. Great music, thanks to Terry Wickham and his staff. Two thousand volunteers help the small number of permanent staff make the event succeed year after year.

The main stage concerts held in the evenings and late into the night, rain or shine. The smaller sessions are more intimate and flexible. Groups of musicians – usually three, four or five individual performers or groups – asked to play songs relating to that theme. When Steve Earle was here several years ago playing in one of these sessions (and, later, as part of the main stage concert) he told us that 'Back in Nashville, we call this a guitar pull.' Indeed. You play one, then I'll play one.

Here's where the magic often happens. Most musicians asks others to play along if they wish to. 'This one's in G, folks. Join in whenever you'd like.' This is not unusual for a festival like this, but Terry Wickham and his staff choose their session groups so that they are diverse – different styles, different countries in some cases, but always a group that will create a fine 90 minute performance.

Most of the musicians join in when they can. New harmonies, rhythms, and instrumentation happen. An African musician adds a chorus to a Celtic traditional tune, but in his language. A harpist takes a solo in an American country music tune. A guitarist gets a chance to play with some of the best musicians anywhere.

In the next two blog entries I'll discuss two of the sessions I attended today, sessions that inspired and moved the musicians and the audience. Magical sessions that I'll remember.

Storm Clouds and Jazz in Saskatchewan

I've driven through a lot of storm clouds over the past several years, most of them in Saskatchewan, between Lloydminster and Saskatoon. I posted prairie storm photographs last year on this blog and am posting more tonight. We arrived in Saskatoon this evening just ahead of the storm.

I spent a short time at a free jazz concert, part of the Sasktel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival and left when the rain started. I was very impressed by The Jack Semple Band. The Festival features excellent local and visiting musicians including Dave Brubeck, John Scofield, Los Lobos, Monty Alexander, Pink Martini, Sonny Rose, and the Neville Brothers. The free stage was situated on the river bank near the Bessborough Hotel, one of the finest locations I've seen for a music festival.

Tomorrow we'll drive to Regina for a weekend of music and relaxation with friends.

Gig in Dog River

I play with two bands. One is a jazz quintet which practices regularly and plays occasional gigs in Edmonton. The other is a sixties band, the Jurelles, which played regularly in Saskatoon from 1960 to 1964 while I and the other musicians were students at the University of Saskatchewan.

Members of the band now live in Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan. Since 2004 we have played for dances and special functions several times each year, in Saskatchewan, B.C. and Alberta, and have made two CDs. Last summer we played at the famous Danceland in Watrous.

The Jurelles: Ed Schultz, Boyd Burrell, Ted Benedict, Cecil Werner, Terry Anderson. The shadow belongs to Jerome Martin; the field belongs to Terry. Missing: Neil Berg.

I've just learned that we'll be playing for a dance in Rouleau, Saskatchewan (AKA Dog River) on June 28, 2008. If you're a fan of the CTV series Corner Gas you'll know all about Dog River. Corner Gas is probably the best and most popular TV comedy series ever made in Canada. It's been sold to networks in many countries.

If you're in the neighborhood (a short drive south of Regina) on June 28 drop by. We'll play a polka for you.

Farewell to Oscar

Oscar Peterson, one of the world's greatest jazz pianists, has died at the age of 82. My family and I saw him perform twice, once at the Jubilee Auditorium here in Edmonton and and once at a local hotel.

He will be missed greatly, both here in Canada and wherever in the world that jazz is played and appreciated.

Friends, Food and Fun on the Sunshine Coast

We've just returned from visiting our friends Melanie and Fred in Sechelt, on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. They bought a house several years ago, then remodeled and renewed it and, in the process, created one of the finest homes in one of the most pleasant locations in North America. As I sit typing this at their dining room table I'm looking at the Strait of Georgia: lots of water and sky, enough space to satisfy even prairie folk like Mel and me.

The Sunshine Coast is accessible only by ferry or plane. We opted to travel with BC Ferries on this trip. The scenic route to Langdale (the first stop on the Sunshine Coast) takes only 40 minutes from Horsehoe Bay.

West Coast Air flies passengers from the Vancouver airport directly to Sechelt using the famous de Havilland Canada Beaver aircraft, which are probably the best bush planes ever built. They are a legend in this country, and I'm looking forward to flying in one on a future trip to Sechelt.

We began our visit with lunch at Molly's Reach, the restaurant in Gibsons made famous by The Beachcombers, the longest running series drama in Canadian television history. The Friends of the Beachcombers group on Facebook has an informative site which has (like all Facebook groups) opportunities to participate in discussions and other activities.
We enjoyed the chowder at Molly's and the visit to The Persephone (the boat used in the series) parked nearby.

We enjoyed a jazz brunch on Sunday morning at Spence on the Coast, a relatively new restaurant to which I will certainly return on my next visit. The musicians were jazz violinist Blaine Dunaway and Vancouver pianist Glenna Powrie, musicians who have well-deserved national and international reputations. Blaine Dunaway plays periodically with Harry Manx, another well-known musician who lives on the west coast of Canada. The arts thrive in this area.
Fine friends: fine food (especially that cooked by those friends): fine wine: a pleasant environment: and abundant music and conversation. What else is there?

Melanie Eastley, my wife Merle and Fred Macintosh.

Salmon on cedar.

Melanie and Merle