Event Info
a Tour of the Blues, the Music of W.C.Handy:
The Father of the Blues, W.C. Handy, has a huge fan on Vancouver Island. Nanaimo...
7:30pm Doors at: 6:30pm
Adv. $20; $15 Student; Door $25
Hard-copy tickets
Physical tickets at: Rainforest Arts, Chemainus, Oak St. 49th Parallel Grocery
Event Description
The Father of the Blues, W.C. Handy, has a huge fan on Vancouver Island. Nanaimo’s Andrew Homzy, musician, arranger, jazz scholar and Grammy nominee, is so fond of Handy’s compositions that he has created a revue of some of his best-known tunes: A Tour of the Blues: Celebrating the Music of W.C. Handy. The revue, following on the wildly successful production of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill late last year, will be co- produced by impresario Pat Selman and the Chemainus Valley Cultural Arts Society in November. Handy, one of the most influential American songwriters, penned such classics as St. Louis Blues, Memphis Blues, Yellow Dog Blues and Beale Street Blues in the early 20 th century. One of many early blues musicians, he is credited with giving it its contemporary form, taking it from a regional style — Delta blues — with a limited audience to one of the dominant forces in American music. Homzy has arranged each Handy tune for three vocalists and his 10-piece NOLA NightHawks band, which has performed regularly on the South Island since it was formed three years ago. Homzy, who moved to Nanaimo in 2009, was a key figure on the Montreal jazz scene for more than 40 years, where his Jazz Orchestra, with Homzy on piano, played regularly at the Montreal Jazz Festival and whose performances were broadcast many times on Radio-Canada. He was nominated for a Grammy for his research into the music of legendary jazz bass pioneer Charles Mingus, writing comprehensive notes on his work and co-producing Mingus’s six- CD set, Passions of a Man: The Complete Atlantic Recordings 1956-1961. Homzy fondly recalls a bus trip he and a schoolmate took to New York City in 1963 to buy some sheet music after graduating from high school in Cleveland. Visiting Handy Brothers Music, they met Wyre Handy, W.C.’s son, who kept pulling sheet music off the shelves as they
named their favourite Handy tunes, and who refused to take any money for the arrangements they took back home to Cleveland. “We learned a lot while we were in New York,” Homzy recalled. “But the two or three hours we spent with Mr. Handy were the best time of our trip.” The revue will feature vocalists Robyn Fortunat, Layla Hansen and Dominique Pashley, along with trumpeters Greg Bush and David Herman, trombonists Darren Nilsson and Craig Burnett, clarinetist Claudio Fantinato, baritone saxophonist Rod Alsop, guitarist Jesse Marshall, bassist Rob Uffen, drummer Alicia Murray and musical director Homzy on piano. A Tour of the Blues: Celebrating the Music of W.C. Handy, will be performed on Nov. 3, 4, 5 and 6 at the Chemainus Gardens Pavilion, 3042 River Rd., Chemainus. Tickets, available at Rainforest Arts, 9781 Willow St., Chemainus, and Oak St. 49th Parallel Grocers, Chemainus, are $20 advance, $15 students, and $25 at the door, or Fascinating Rhythm in Nanaimo at 51 Commercial St. YOU MAY ALSO CALL TO RESERVE ADVANCE TICKETS, phone 250-324-1900.
Venue
Chemainus Gardens Pavilion
Thu. November 3rd 2016
Chemainus Gardens Pavilion Chemainus BC
In-Person Event
