REFUGEE FUNDRAISER BIG BAND CONCERT

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Thursday, November 8th, 2018
7:30 PM

Vancouver Island’s Arrowsmith Big Band takes to the stage at Malaspina Theatre along with vocalist Alli Bean for a concert of big band music and swinging vocals.

Arrowsmith Big Band has been a fixture of the Central Island music scene since 1975. It is a full size big band, with 5 trumpets, 4 trombones and 5 saxes, plus the rhythm section. The band has consistently sought out the best available players in Central Vancouver Island. As well as Oceanside musicians, currently players come from Nanaimo, Ladysmith, Port Alberni and Courtenay. Band members are full time and retired professional musicians, music teachers and top local student musicians.

Expect to hear swinging big band charts from the pens of the best modern arrangers, and featuring the band’s amazing soloists, among them Dan Craven, Claudio Fantinato, Greg Bush and Dave Stewart.

Joining the band for this concert is vocalist Alli Bean. She has been singing & studying piano since 1995. She has a diploma in Jazz Studies from the Victoria Conservatory of Music and expects to finish her Bachelor’s degree at Vancouver Island University in the spring of 2019. Since 2014, Alli has been playing keyboards with Nick LaRiviere’s Soul Source R&B band out of Victoria, as well as with her own quartet Rhythm of Soul, for which she also composes & arranges. As well as playing and singing, Alli teaches musical concepts to piano and voice students of all ages and stages of development.

ADVANCE TICKETS ARE AVAILABLE IN NANAIMO AT ARBUTUS MUSIC (opposite Superstore) and FASCINATING RHYTHM (Downtown) AND IN PARKSVILLE AND QUALICUM AT MULBERRY BOOKS

The concert is a fundraiser to support a Syrian refugee family settling in Nanaimo, and the organisers want to express their thanks to the performers and the VIU Music Department for their support of the event.