chris wong in sync
* Way back on Feb. 15, A Really Big Night on The Drive was a really big success. Local volunteers organized the immense event in the Commercial Drive area as part of the Folk Alliance conference. They dealt with the logistical challenges and came up with an appealing program. My memorable night included Swedish music at the WISE Hall, Québécois tunes at Astorino's, Celtic sounds at the Croatian Cultural Centre and Italian tones at the Cultch.
* In 2001, the Cellar cemented its reputation as the best restaurant/club to hear live jazz in Vancouver. Cory Weeds, the Cellar's owner/publicist/emcee/sound man/occasional bartender (who also sometimes performs in the jazz joint), continued to nurture an inviting and musically satisfying environment. On any given night, the Cellar features distinctive players who are well worth hearing. Weeds put out Ross Taggart's Thankfully, the debut release on the Cellar Live label, which will also benefit the scene.
* Metalwood, which includes local heroes Brad Turner and Chris Tarry, had an enormously fruitful year. Verve Music Group/Universal Jazz released Metalwood's much-anticipated major label debut, The Recline, and the quartet toured extensively. The album met the group's high standards, especially in the groove department, but lacked the engaging whimsy of earlier releases. Here's hoping the next Metalwood album better conveys the band's truly unique character.
* The Vancouver Courier stirred things up at jazz festival time. First I wrote that the Vancouver International Jazz Festival should be called a "music" festival. Then the Courier ran a feature that questioned the festival's commitment to local, straight-ahead jazz artists. While the feature included inexcusable errors, it sparked a dialogue conducted through letters to the editor, website postings and intermission conversations. That dialogue, while sometimes rancorous, was ultimately a positive development for our jazz community.
* My local discovery of the year was Colin Lazzerini, a 55-year-old singer. His debut album, Positively, thoroughly charmed me. Lazzerini's voice exudes rich life experience and his collaborators, such as Pat Coleman and Bob Murphy, play with astuteness from years of developing their craft. Only a few people turned out to hear Lazzerini at the Havana on an August night, but it didn't matter. He was just as charming live.
* Pierre Imbert, Vancouver's hurdy-gurdy man, passed away suddenly on Aug. 15. Two weeks later, I took my family to a memorial celebration of Imbert's passionate life. It was incredible to see countless musicians and friends pay tribute to Imbert in words and music at the Van East Cultural Centre. The celebration extended so late that my children fell asleep before the end. But I'm glad they came and experienced the magic of Imbert's musical legacy.
* Capilano College has established its jazz series in the college's Performing Arts Theatre as a significant option for shows presenting artists from here and elsewhere. Highlights from the series in 2001 ranged from concerts by Kurt Elling and Joe Lovano with Brad Turner, to performances featuring Metalwood and Dee Daniels.
* After operating for four-and-a-half years, the Vancouver Sun Community Concert Series put on its last show Dec. 15. The demise of the series due to budget constraints is a blow to not only the local jazz and world music scene, but also to the numerous arts organizations and other groups that worked with producer Kevin Mooney to present a diversity of music throughout the Lower Mainland. The Sun deserves applause for supporting the series, but the decision to kill it points to a bottom-line mentality.
* While enjoying Chris Tarry's CD release concert for Of Battles Unknown Mysteries on Dec. 16, it occurred to me that the show represented the cooperative vitality of Vancouver's jazz scene. Musicians in Tarry's ensemble included members of Junction, Chris Gestrin's trio, Talking Pictures, Brad Turner's quartet, the Peggy Lee Band, Kate Hammett-Vaughan's quintet and other groups. Coastal Jazz & Blues Society presented the show and Maximum Jazz released the CD. How's that for a team effort?
* Following the events of Sept. 11, I wasn't particularly interested in going out to hear music. But two shows I attended not long after that day affirmed music's capacity to provide relief from alarming times. Tenor saxophonist Charles Lloyd and double violinist Shankar, two artists profoundly affected by Sept. 11, gave powerful performances.