Heating up winter
Jazz legends make winter tour stop at Sydney theatre
New Waterford native and jazz saxophonist Kirk MacDonald will be taking the stage at the Highland Arts Theatre at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, with another jazz legend, Harold Mabern.
The two are currently touring through eastern Canada, making performance stops in Montreal, Moncton, Antigonish and Halifax.
MacDonald is considered one of this country’s leading sax players. He has won numerous awards including Junos and ECMAs and has performed on more than 50 CDs as both leader and sideman.
His most recent recording is with his group, the Kirk MacDonald Quartet, and Pat LaBarbera, “Silent Voices.”
He has performed in numerous national CBC broadcasts and has performed across Canada and in other countries such as the U.S., Spain, France, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Monaco, Australia, Korea, Bermuda and the Bahamas.
MacDonald is a full-time professor at Humber College in Toronto where he holds a cross appointment in the music degree program and the Community Music School. He is also the artistic director for the Youth Jazz Canada project and directs the National Youth Jazz Combo.
Although not perhaps as well-known to local audiences, Mabern is famous across North America for his hard bop and soulful jazz piano style. Born in 1936 in Memphis, Tenn., he taught himself piano and was influenced by Phineas Newborn Jr.
Mabern has played with some of the greatest tenor players in the business including Johnny Griffin, Gene Ammons and Clifford Jordon. He’s also worked with Lionel Hampton, Miles Davis, Sonny Rollins, Joe Williams, Wes Montgomery, George Coleman and James Moody.
This is not the first time the two musicians have performed together — they have played several shows as a duo throughout Canada, emphasizing standard jazz repertoire, as well as their own original music.
Tickets are still available at the HAT box office for $25.