Jazz guitar festival!

I thought I would do a quick blog to tell you about some of the "guitar action" you should catch at this years festival. (Yes, I include my gig on this short list!)

Tonight at 9pm at The Steady on Bloor  you can hear /six-plus-four. This is a duo gig of guitarist James Brown and bassist Mike Milligan. Both these guys are among the best in the city at what they do. A guitar duo is a great place to hear some attention to detail. James spent a lot of time playing classical guitar and this is one of the things that makes his style unique.

I will be playing at the same bar (The Steady!) on Wednesday June 25 at 9pm. Unfortunately our special guest Emilyn Stam is not able to join us. I am however really into playing with these guys as a trio. I have been playing music with bassist Rob Clutton for more than 25 years now and Anthony and I have played together almost as long.

Our music on this night will be mostly things I have written. It is a nice opportunity to play some old and new compositions. You should note however that I will be playing a lot of 5-string banjo too so if you have an allergy; beware! S

Hopefully you already know that Kevin Eubanks is in town for this years festival with Dave Holland. Kevin was an early influence for me and a teacher of mine at the Banff School of the arts. You may remember him from his years as musical host on the Jay Leno show. I am glad that time is over as I hope he has a long life and lots more great music to make in concert and on record.

The Dave Holland show is Thursday June 26 at 8pm.

I always enjoy any excuse to go to the Horseshoe. Tuesday June 24 at 10pm you can hear Julian Lage and Nels Kline on the same bill. Besides being a member of Wilco Nels has made all kinds of electric creative modern jazz over the years. I first heard of him through my friend Ron Gaskin who brought him to town way back. (This city needs more Ron Gaskin shows!!)

Julian Lage I know less about but whenever I see him on youtube I am impressed. He strikes me as versatile and has one foot in the roots/gypsy jazz scen and another one...oh forget it. ha!