The Triadically Hip at the Georgia Straight Jazz Society series

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Thursday, December 11th, 2014
7:00 PM

“The Triadically Hip”

Three talented musicians active on the Vancouver Island scene began meeting weekly and soon discovered an exciting musical synergy demanding wider hearing. Drawing on the blues, bop, hard bop, standards, and popular music, The Triadically Hip, featuring Connor Stewart (horns/vocals), James Darling (organ/organ bass), and James McRae (drums), apply the rhythms, harmonies, and colourings of the jazz idiom to a broad range of songs with strong melodies. This time out selecting works by Zoot Sims/Roger Kellaway, Bill Lee, Rodgers & Hammerstein/John Coltrane, Jimmy Van Heusen, Christian McBride, Bobby Capo, Plas Johnson, Stevie Wonder, Milt Jackson, Sly & the Family Stone, Conn Stewart, Horace Silver, Henry Warren/Al Dubin, and Vince Guaraldi, they bring their high energy organ trio sound to an entertaining show described as “a musical feast for jazz lovers.”

Award winning multi-instrumentalist/vocalist (tenor, alto, soprano, baritone saxes, cornet, clarinet, flute) Connor Stewart is no stranger to Jazz Society audiences, first appearing for them at 15 with the Arrowsmith Big Band, on lead alto at 16 with the NMA Big Band, at 17 leading the Boss Tenors - of which Society president Malcom Holt said, “You could go to Chicago, New York, or London, and hear no better jazz,” and as clarinetist with Andrew Homzy’s NOLA NightHawks. He has played to acclaim at B.C’s major jazz venues, in Victoria, Vancouver, Toronto, Montreal, Portland, Boston, and New York, and this past summer performed at the Montreal, Victoria, and Beaches (Toronto) International Jazz Festivals, recorded on CD’s in Montreal and Vancouver, and hits the road again in mid-December for 6 weeks playing in New Orleans.

A new/old face to Vancouver Island audiences, James Darling is a revelation to music fans rediscovering, or discovering him for the first time. Beginning piano at age 6, he is a graduate of the VIU Jazz program where he studied with Phil Dwyer and Bob Murphy. He led the James Darling Trio, played with Summer and the Sinners, and successfully honed his art for a decade performing a variety of styles on cruise ships. Recently he’s been busy teaching, and entertaining with the NMA Big Band, The Boss Tenors, The Hans Verhoeven Quartet, The Michael Patrick Quartet, and The Triadically Hip among others. One of the rare successful practitioners of demanding left-hand organ bass, the audience is sure to be entertained by his feeling and virtuosity on the Nord C2D Dual Manual Organ in his first Avalanche appearance.

Veteran drummer and songwriter/arranger James McRae is also a familiar figure to valley jazz audiences, having performed here many times over the years with a number of bands. He has appeared at jazz festivals and with a long list of B.C. jazz and music luminaries including Miles Black, Ken Lister, Phil Dwyer, David Vest, Jennifer Scott, Rene Worst, Marc Atkinson, Mike Allen, and Ross Taggart, and has led or played in jazz, Latin, Caribbean, funk, pop, country, and rock bands, recorded his own CD and played on a number of other musicians’, and produced well-received tributes to jazz legends Horace Silver, Carlos Jobim, Jimmy McHugh, and Jimmie Smith. He is also known as a supportive mentor to a number of outstanding young musicians who have appeared at the Avalanche.