Connor Stewart Quintet with Miguelito Valdes @ the Georgia Strait Jazz Society

add to outlook add to google calendar remind me

Thursday, September 8th, 2016
7:30 PM to 10:30 PM

“a remarkable player… he’s going to be pretty scary” (Gordon Goodwin - Grammy winning LA Big Phat Band director/pianist/saxophonist)

“He’s incredible… going to be our next great saxophonist” (Larry Hale - BC saxophonist)

“the best young saxophonist in Canada” (Miles Black - Vancouver pianist/saxophonist)

"He's one in a million!... He will be a star." - (Jennifer Scott - Canadian jazz diva)

"incredible rising and shining star" (Brooke Maxwell - Victoria pianist/saxophonist)

“his wunderkind prowess has people dreaming of what he might do next” (New Orleans Jazz Festival)

“I was at Newport in’56 and heard the Duke, Dizzy, Mingus, all those guys, and man, he’s got it” (West Coast Django fan)

Mid-island jazz fans are in for a special treat this week when New Orleans’ woodwind phenom CONNOR STEWART (tenor/soprano sax, clarinet, vocals) re-visits the Comox Valley leading an impressive all-star quintet in the spirit of Norman Granz’s legendary 1950’s “Jazz at the Philharmonic” concerts.

Showcasing the prodigious talents of 19 year old STEWART, Victoria Cuban trumpet giant MIGUELITO VALDES, distinguished Comox Valley bassist JOHN HYDE, Nanaimo keyboard standout JOHN LEE, and versatile Nanaimo drummer JAMES McRAE, the band moves effortlessly between lyrical ballads, swinging jazz, and burn-down-the-house blues in sets drawn from Hard bop, Latin, New Orleans jazz, Kansas City jazz, and other genres. (Bio's follow:)

Back visiting the island as Guest Artist at this year’s Comox Valley Youth Music Centre Island Jazz camp, CONNOR STEWART has been touring Washington, Oregon, BC, and Alberta for the summer, including appearances at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Portland Waterfront Blues Festival, Kaslo Jazz Festival, Chemainus Jazz Festival, Calgary Round Midnight Lindy Exchange, Vancouver RCMA Swing Dance Festival, Vancouver Island Blues Bash, and DjangoFest Northwest.

He has played or toured in Bop/Hard bop, New Orleans Jazz, Gypsy Jazz, Swing, Funk, Blues, and big bands, at major venues and music festivals across Canada, the US, and Europe, and has performed with a variety of Grammy, Latin Grammy, Juno, NEA Jazzmaster, American Blues Award, Maple Blues Award. Irish Music Award, Western Canada Music Award, and Canadian Folk Music Award winning artists.

Cuban trumpet giant MIGUELITO VALDES has shared the stage with jazz luminaries such as Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Michael Brecker, Danilo Perez, John Patitucci, Wallace Roney, Brian Blade, and Gilberto Santa Rosa, Ricardo Lemvo and many others from the Latin scene. He has toured internationally with the legendary Buena Vista Social club, the Afro-Cuban All Stars, for 6 years with Buena Vista Social Club diva Omara Portuondo, and in the USA, Europe, South Africa, Australia and Japan. He has been described as one of Cuba's most highly regarded trumpet players of his generation, and his name can be found on almost every modern Cuban music CD.

After music studies at McGill University, Comox Valley bassist JOHN HYDE taught 30 years in the Jazz Studies program at Mt. Royal College in Calgary. Known for his “perfectly centered pitch with beautiful tone and phrasing,” he has played or recorded with Pepper Adams, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Marion McPartland, Oliver Jones, Bobby Shew, Muhal Richard Abrams, Tommy Banks, PJ Perry, Mark Murphy, Pat LaBarbera, Bob Mintzer, Don Thompson, Phil Dwyer, Julian Priester, Hugh Fraser, Brad Turner, Chase Sanborn, Bill Coon, and David Vest. He has toured Canada, and performed in Panama, Ireland, Mexico, the US, and at festivals in Mongolia and India.

Berklee College of Music graduate JOHN LEE teaches private lessons in Nanaimo, regularly performs as a first-call sideman at Hermann’s Jazz Club in Victoria on drums, piano, bass, and guitar, and also leads his own combos there including a recent Ray Brown tribute on bass. He has played with Canadian jazz stalwarts including Phil Dwyer, Campbell Ryga, Brad Turner, Tony Genge, Misha Piatgorski, and the Jensen sisters, and in combos with US jazz figures including Boston bassist Ralph Santoro, DC pianist Cyrus Chestnut at clubs in Boston, New York, and Washington DC, Philadelphia trumpet luminary Terrell Stafford, and Portland pianist George Colligan.

Versatile Nanaimo drummer JAMES McRAE has played or toured with jazz, Latin, Caribbean, New Orleans, funk, pop, country, and rock bands. He has performed with Ross Taggart, Hugh Fraser, Tony Wilson, Ron Samworth, Paul Plimley, Jennifer Scott, Mike Allen, Phil Dwyer, Ken Lister, Marc Atkinson, Scott White, Dan Lapp, Roy Styffe, David Vest, and Colin James. He has played in musical theatre productions including Chemainus Theatre’s record shattering “Twist and Shout,” and the Arts Club Theatre’s “A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline”, and has produced well-received tributes to Horace Silver, Carlos Jobim, Jimmy McHugh, and Jimmy Smith.