James Danderfer, band leader of the 17-piece Hummingbird Brigade, chose the right song at Saturday’s Jazzapalooza event during this year’s Pender Harbour Jazz Festival. It was an original composition called Cheer Up and the sax played a note that seemed to echo the words while the trombones answered. The audience packed into the Community Hall in Madeira Park cheered up despite the gusting rain outside.
Among the band members are consummate musicians not afraid to experiment with unusual sounds, such as a longish version of St. Louis Blues in which each instrument had a chance to interpret the music and, a highlight of the show, a kind of rap/big band fusion with vocalist Kia Kadiri that was hugely entertaining.
Next up was another crowd pleaser, Wanda Nowicki. It takes supreme confidence as a performer to slink out on stage in a short dress and winklepicker boots to sing I’m Your Man. Nowicki’s got it. She flirted and postured and held a note or two.
“She’s a seductive entertainer,” said the guy next to me admiringly.
Her quintet included three Sunshine Coast musicians playing at their best: Ken Dalgleish on keyboard, Boyd Norman on bass, John Rule on drums, accompanied by Steve Bagnell from Vancouver. After a stay in Los Angeles and Vancouver, she now calls the Coast home.
But the afternoon was not over. BaixaBlue, a trio playing gentle modern jazz, was a mellow way to close out the afternoon. It was the sort of music that goes best with a glass of merlot, but that would have to wait until evening at Emelle’s Bistro down the road, in my case, or a visit to the Garden Bay Pub in the afternoon for the jam with Gary Comeau and Cannery Row that has become a jazz fest tradition. Sadly, I had to miss the guitar goodness of Steve Giltrow performing at the Painted Boat Resort – there’s always next year.
The highlight of the festival this year was the visit from legendary drummer Louis Hayes. Over the years he’s performed with John Coltrane, Oscar Peterson and Cannonball Adderley. On Saturday evening he brought his Cannonball Legacy band to the stage for two shows at the music school.
“He’s older, smoother and better than ever,” said jazz man Cory Weeds in an introduction. Hayes didn’t do much talking, just performing, and he left the chat up to saxophonist Vincent Herring.
“Welcome to … wherever the hell we are,” Herring said. He back-pedaled a bit to say that Madeira Park was a truly beautiful place, then made up for his faux pas by making cool sounds: Cannonball Adderley tunes including an old standby, Work Song, made famous by cornet player Nat Adderley. Rick Germanson was great on piano, trumpeter Jeremy Pelt was a joy to listen to, and Dezron Douglas made you love bass. The second show was reportedly smoking hot.
On Sunday, Mazacote, the salsa band, was a knockout, said Jazz Festival co-ordinator Carole Rubin, inspiring people from the audience to dance onstage. “Ranger and the Re-Arrangers, our gypsy jazz band, did exactly what they were slotted for in the last section of the Jazzapalooza – they played the sweetest jazz there is, gypsy swing à la Django and opened everyone’s heart up to send happy people home.”
