WEST ROOTS, EAST JAZZ AND RANDY WOODS REGGAE ROCK
Happy international candy and costumes day.
The 31st is upon us, and this evening will be filled with kids running around in great getups (because the costumes seem to improve year after year) going door-to-door for sweets. That, coupled with the number of Halloween-themed shindigs that will take place on or prior to the actual day (since Halloween on a Thursday is terribly inconvenient for the hard-partying folks), means the weekend opens up to a nice post-holiday cure: some local talent, some travelling jazz and so much more. It’s kind of like a Halloween hangover cure.
RANDY WOODS BAND
When: Friday
Where: Somewhere Else Pub & Grill
What: If you’ve ever felt that a cool reggae-rock-soul fusion was exactly what you were missing in your life, look no further. The Randy Woods Band is a group of guys from Saskatoon who have found a very neat corner of the music world to stake their claim. It has all the laid-back hallmarks of reggae-style music without going full Marley, and mixes in some fun vocals. These guys are making no bones about who they are and what they do, and what they do is awesome. It’s like ’90s soul mixed with reggae. Everything about it works.
JOHN RONEY AND TEVET SELA
When: Saturday
Where: The Bassment
What: Jazz sax? Jazz piano? At the jazz club? Sign me up, please. John Roney and Tevet Sela — or Tevet Sela and John Roney, if you’d prefer — play a much more modern brand of jazz that’s a nice infusion into the Saskatoon music scape. The Montreal-based pair does a magnificent job of creating new and unique jazz melodies layered with the tones of Sela’s Israeli heritage and other influences from Europe and the Middle East. You won’t necessarily be dancing to the tunes these two play, but it’ll be some of the best jazz and blues you’ll hear in Saskatoon all year.
CURRENT SWELL
When: Saturday
Where: The Broadway Theatre What: This West Coast indie band with a great name (definitely one of the best of the year) also comes equipped with a great sound. It’s a very laid-back kind of roots music, with high and light vocals soaring over the acoustic instruments. There’s a steady tinge of an almost soul-like groove in a lot of Current Swell’s stuff, too — something a little more sophisticated than a lot of indie/roots musicians. B.C. tends to produce a pretty wide swath of different kinds of musicians, but these guys are some of the most fun to visit Saskatoon in a while.