JAMES BRYAN AT GALA
He’s played Madison Square Gardens, the Concert for Diana in Wembley Stadium and a whole lot of places in between.
But as guitarist-songwriterproducer James Bryan told The Spec last Friday over the phone from his home on Hamilton’s Mountain brow, “Music can take you to unexpected places.”
Like a hotel in Sardinia in 2007 as a sideman for Nelly Furtado.
“When we got there it was very strange because you’re playing for about 10 people who are separated from you by, like, a swimming pool and, like, 20 armed security,” said Bryan about that gig. “It was very weird. You know, we just played our show.” Yup, all 45 minutes of it. Question: Was he aware of just who those 10 listeners were?
“I didn’t really know at the time actually,” said Bryan.
Answer: members of Libya’s Gaddafi clan. (Furtado eventually donated her $1 million concert fee from that gig to the Free the Children charity.)
Well, there won’t be a swimming pool or 20 armed security protecting 10 people at one of Bryan’s next gigs, Emma Rush’s third Guitar Hamilton Gala this Saturday, April 21, at 7 p.m. in Melrose United.
Now, you may not know that Bryan, guitarist for The Philosopher Kings and one half of the animated pop duo Prozzak, has classical guitar roots. Born in Ottawa, but raised in St. Catharines, Bryan, whose family name is McCollum, took a shine to the guitar at age 9, grooving to Bach, The Beatles, and Hendrix, all of who remain big musical influences. After taking lessons at Ryson’s Music, he studied privately for a spell with local classical guitarist-composer Tim Phelan.
“Tim Phelan was a huge inspiration and mentor for me,” said Bryan. “The first time I heard him play, just the way he, in his tone, this was, like, something so beautiful and rich, and I just wanted to know how to do that. He really inspired me from the beginning.”
In 1991, Bryan entered the U of T’s faculty of music as a classical guitarist, but switched to their jazz program in his second year before ditching school to head out with The Philosopher Kings. His CV also includes a five-year stint working at London, England’s Kensaltown Studios, a situation comparable to the early 1960s pop music factory in the Big Apple’s Brill Building and Berry Gordy’s Motown rolled into one.
Having recently moved to Hamilton from Toronto with his wife and their two children, Bryan reconnected with Phelan and performed at the latter’s Guitar Extravaganza III last fall in St. Catharines’ FirstOntario PAC. Fellow performer Emma Rush then invited Bryan to perform at the GH gala and to share a duo concert with her in Hamilton in June (more on that at a later date).
At the GH Gala, Bryan will be doing his arrangements of Stevie Wonder’s “Don’t You Worry ’bout a Thing,” The Weeknd’s “I Feel It Coming,” and an original, “Song for Sammy,” from his latest solo effort, “By Your Side.”
“That song in particular is for my youngest son, Sammy,” explained Bryan. “When he was just a baby, I’d try to get him to sleep by playing my guitar. It’s not per se a lullaby. Maybe that’s why he never fell asleep. It’s actually got a bounce to it. It’s a feelgood melody and it’s got a bit of a backbeat to it.”
The gala will also feature, among others, Iranian-Canadian Bahar Ossareh in Boudounis’s “Tsifteteli for Elena,” and an octet from Mohawk College and Brock U premièring “Ad patriam revenit” by Hamilton guitaristcomposer Jeff McFadden. Emma Rush, one half of the Azuline Duo with flutist Sara Traficante, will also team with Phelan for a duo guitar version of Granados’s “Oriental.” Phelan will conduct
the 50-piece Hamilton Guitar Orchestra in his “Rapsodia a Lagos,” a work commissioned by the Festival Internacional de Guitarra en Lagos, inspired by Lagos de Moreno, and dedicated to Hugo Acosta who will be flying in from Mexico to perform the solo part.
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Saturday, April 21, at 7:30 p.m. in Canadian Martyrs Parish, 38 Emerson St., Stéphane Potvin’s Villanella with organist Andrew Adair present “Cantate Domino,” choral and organ music by Dufay, Buxtehude and others. Tickets at door: $25, under 30 $15, family (parents with children under 18) $50.
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Sunday, April 22, at 2:30 p.m. in Melrose United, the Duet Club’s Annual Choral Concert features the Women of Song, the HCC’s Komenci and Esplori choirs, plus 2017 choral scholarship winners, Pam Kortmann’s Sir William Osler Elementary School Glee Club who snagged top honours in the 2017 CBC Canadian Music Class Challenge’s junior high vocal category. Tickets at door: $18, student/senior $15, under 12 free.