2014 / 2015 News

It’s been a busy year for me, especially on the educator side of the equation: I spent 10 months running a middle school band program, while taking a university course in the evenings during three of those months, so sleep was at a premium, and my own musical activity was at a minimum when it didn’t involve arranging for middle school ensembles!

Since January 2015 I’ve been a supply teacher and I’ve also begun to play music again. I recently played tenor sax at Andy DeCampos’ recent CD release party at the Lula Lounge on May 25th. Andy is a crooner in the Sinatra – Dean Martin vein, but who also sings in multiple languages. (Check out his CD, Colours, featuring some of Toronto’s finest musicians!)

These days, I’m most excited about a funk project that I am in, collaborating with a great drummer named Vince Maccarone. We will be recording some demo material (all original) in the near future, with the hopes of netting a gig at a public venue. Loads of groovy fun!

Life in Toronto

So, I’ve been out in Toronto for two years now and things are beginning to move forward. I finished my Bachelor of Education degree at York U, so I can now teach in the public school system. Hopefully, I can start working as a supply teacher next month!

I’ve also been playing out more and that has been rewarding, too. I have had the opportunity to work with Bruce Harvey and his friends and musical associates, (check out his two CD\’s, Dream Gypsy and Thoughts Without Words), and I have been meeting people through playing in a couple of community big bands, and another fun band put together by a former student of mine, Ewan Divitt, (great young trumpeter and writer/arranger).

The community band experience has resulted in my getting to collaborate frequently with a wonderful Brazilian guitarist (and super nice guy!), Henrique Matulis, in performing the music of Antonio Carlos Jobim and other Brazilian masters. A wonderful musical education for me!

Ewan continues to recommend me for various gigs, in addition to having me play in his jazz band and contribute the odd chart or two, and that is really helping to expand my options here, (for which I am very grateful)!

Onwards and upwards….

Relocation news!

Hello all!

Well, quite a lot happened at the end of the 2011 Winter Semester at Keyano.  On March 31st, the college announced it was “suspending” the Music and Music Instrument Repair programs, and a few of us were given our notices of termination.  The community found out very quickly and there was a uproar about the future of the Arts in the community.  After a week of bad press for the college and an impending student-led demonstration, the administration made a public announcement that they would hold public hearings on the fate of the programs.  There were a number of shenanigans that went on, (which I will not elaborate on here), and despite review committees that recommended continuation of both programs, the college opted for at least a one-year suspension of the Music Program, with the potential for the program to appear again in Fall 2012 in a completely new guise, depending on local community interest.  The fate of the Music Instrument Repair Program is still dubious, to my knowledge.

Rather than try to survive in Fort McMurray without a job, I opted to move to Toronto, where my girlfriend Claire lives, and I am hoping to establish myself as a performer and educator in this market.

I wish my colleagues at Keyano all the best, and I hope the Fort McMurray community manages to maintain the few arts programs it has at the college level.  My time there was well spent, I made a lot of good friends, and the college and the community were good to me!

I would also like to thank all the great musicians that came as guest artists, to the Keyano Jazz Festival and to my recitals over the years, for their musicianship and inspiration to a generation of young musicians in a remote Northern community.

If anyone would like to get in touch, my hotmail address is still the best way.

Cheers,

Bill

Current Events!!

Hi, folks!

I have been very remiss in maintaining the dialogue here, especially after I forgot my codes and locked myself out of my site!

So, much has happened since I posted about the Keyano JazzFest 2010.  That festival was a great success; the students had a great time learning from our guest artists, and the guest artists had a great time performing together!  Once again the Friday night concert featured new works/arrangements by all of the clinicians, and 5 different visions of jazz were articulated.

Of course, the minute the festival ended, it was the end of semester, exams, taking off to visit family, and then jumping back into the fray in January.  Oh, and recomposing a piece that I wrote last summer for the Art Pepper + 11 Project, described below!

I spent January preparing to play bari sax with the Art Pepper + 11 Tribute Project, headed by my friend and colleague Dean McNeill, of the University of Saskatchewan.  HIS friend and colleague, (and drummer on the project), Jon McCaslin managed to get hold of transcriptions of the charts performed on the 1959 recording, Art Pepper + 11.  Together they created a band made up of some of the best jazz musicians on the prairies, and took the show on the road.  We performed at the Yardbird Suite in Edmonton, at Quance Theatre at the University of Saskatchewan, and at a great little venue in Brandon, Manitoba.  If you would like to know what that project sounded like, CBC Radio 2 captured the Quance Theatre show and have made that available to the world at their Concerts on Demand website: http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/cod/concerts/20110125peppr

Shortly after I returned to Fort McMurray and jumped back into my classes, I turned around and headed down to Edmonton again, this time as an adjudicator/clinician for the annual JazzWorks festival, sponsored by the Edmonton Jazz Society and Edmonton Jazz Festival organizations.  That was another great opportunity to listen to and work with some fine young players on developing their abilities, as well as a chance to catch up with some of my teacher and clinician colleagues.

The next thing I knew, it was Reading Week, mid-term exams, and the final push to the end of the semester.  Oh, and I decided to torture myself and practice bassoon in order to play with the concert band in their spring concert.  (Actually, I love the bassoon; it’s only torture because it’s a double, a fifth or sixth instrument for me…..does that make it a quintuple or sextuple?… and not something I ritually maintain.) Now that finals are over, I look ahead to the summer and other adventures……I’ll let you know what those might be.  In the meantime, keep listening to great music, and supporting live artistic ventures wherever and whenever you can!