Stone, Ryder and Rogers set for sizzling Jazz Fest
Feist, Joss Stone, Serena Ryder among the 2017 Ottawa Jazz Festival’s headliners
Singer-songwriters Feist, Joss Stone and Serena Ryder plus a selection of blues and soul artists will enjoy pride of place on the TD Ottawa Jazz Festival’s main stage in Confederation Park this summer.
The festival’s 37th annual edition, which will run from June 22 to July 2, will also present its usual eclectic range of music in venues ranging from the NAC Studio and Theatre, where some top-drawer contemporary jazz acts will play, to the studios of La Nouvelle Scène on King Edward Avenue, which will focus on musical adventurers and avant-gardists, to the Festival Plaza’s Tartan Homes stage, where grooving and hip-hop-based draws will dominate.
Of the female headliners, Canadian folk-rocker Ryder will lead the charge, playing in the park June 23. English soul singer Stone plays June 25, and Canadian pop star Feist closes the festival on July 2.
There will be more soulful sounds in Confederation Park when the young Alabama-based band St. Paul and the Broken Bones opens the festival June 22, while veteran soul singer Charles Bradley and His Extraordinaires play June 30. The night before, June 29, will see a double dose of the blues on the main stage featuring Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters at 7:30 p.m. and the Legendary Downchild Blues Band at 9:30 p.m.
Jazz per se makes its presence felt on the main stage on June 28, when Charlie Haden’s Liberation Music Orchestra, under the direction of pianist Carla Bley, plays. The band is a tribute not only to the late bassist Haden, who led the off-and-on group from the late 1960s to just a few years ago, but to progressive politics and causes expressed through music.
Another tribute to an iconic, departed musician will take place June 26 in the park, when funk saxophonist Maceo Parker, a sideman for James Brown and Prince, will join the Ray Charles Orchestra and the Raelettes.
Veteran country star Kenny Rogers plays the main stage on June 26. The other main stage show announced Wednesday is the June 27 booking of the French, dancer-friendly, electro-swing outfit Caravan Palace.
Jazz-above-all fans can expect to spend much of their festival at the NAC, where, for example, guitarist Bill Frisell will play duets with bassist Thomas Morgan in the Theatre on July 23.
The next night, the urbane mainstream pianist Kenny Barron plays a solo concert in the Theatre at 7 p.m., followed by the all-star quartet Hudson, which includes guitarist John Scofield, keyboardist John Medeski, bassist Larry Grenadier and drummer Jack DeJohnette, at 9 p.m. R&B great Mavis Staples plays the NAC Theatre on June 26.
The smaller NAC Studio will feature successive nights of jazz with a contemporary edge. Japanese piano virtuoso Hiromi plays duets with the unique jazz harpist Edmar Castañeda June 27, followed by piano trio The Bad Plus on June 28.
Powerhouse tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin, whose recognition has skyrocketed in the past year and a bit following his collaborations with David Bowie on the late legend’s swan-song album Blackstar, will play two sets in the studio with his Blackstar band on June 29. A few days later, on July 2, that band’s remarkable drummer, Mark Guiliana, will bring his jazz quartet to La Nouvelle Scène.
A contingent of forward-thinking British musicians will play the festival, including the distinctive electric-jazz quartet Dinosaur (La Nouvelle Scène, June 24), two hard-hitting pianos (Neil Cowley Trio at La Nouvelle Scène June 29 and Phronesis at the NAC Studio June 30), saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings playing groovy, spiritual jazz with his South Africabased group The Ancestors (Tartan Homes stage, June 27) and the prodigious singer and multiinstrumentalist (and Grammy winner and YouTube phenomenon) Jacob Collier (Tartan Homes stage, June 30).
That stage’s OLG After Dark series will also host the hip-hop based music of the Robert Glasper Experiment, led by the Grammywinning U.S. keyboardist, on June 26, and Montreal’s Nomadic Massive on June 28, as well as the Toronto-based klezmer- Gypsy group the Lemon Bucket Orkestra (June 24) and the unalloyed jazz of Russian saxophonist Igor Butman and the Moscow Jazz Orchestra (June 25).
Musicians with Ottawa roots figure in three collaborations at La Nouvelle Scène. On June 22, Ottawa-raised, Toronto-based drummer Nick Fraser, the perennial anchor of the festival’s jam-session house band, plays with Brooklynbased avant-garde stars Tony Malaby on saxophone and Kris Davis, an Canadian expat, on piano. On June 25, Ottawa guitarist Roddy Ellias will join forces with the lyrical and harmonically entrancing U.S. pianist Marc Copland and Montreal bassist Adrian Vedady. On June 27, Ottawa percussionist and Carleton University professor Jesse Stewart convenes his free-spirited Sonoluminescence Trio, which includes the U.S. bassist William Parker and Canadian baritone saxophonist David Mott.
Preceding the festival’s main stage headliners on most nights will be the long-standing Great Canadian Jazz series. Highlights of the series this year will include the group of the young guitarist Alex Goodman (June 22), Joel Miller’s Dream Cassette project with vocalist Sienna Dahlen (June 26) and Juno-winning saxophonist Allison Au’s quartet (July 2).
The festival’s late-night jam sessions are to return this year to the Grill 41 restaurant of the Lord Elgin Hotel.
A gold pass for all jazz festival shows is $327, and a bronze pass for all indoor shows is $199. A youth (ages 12 to 25) bronze pass is $90. Advance single-day tickets will range from $37 for youths to $87 for platinum tickets on selected nights. Advance regular single-day tickets will be $47 or $67, varying nightly. Day-of tickets are an additional $3. Shows at the NAC Theatre are $52, while NAC Studio shows are $42. La Nouvelle Scène shows are $27.
Tickets are available at ottawajazzfestival.com or 613-241-2633.