Huge free jazz festival just keeps growing
Already largest of its kind in Canada, Beaches event adds Leslieville, salsa, garden sets
The first time Lido Chilelli threw a jazz festival in the Beach, it attracted 1,200 people who were given slices of watermelon by volunteers at the steamy weekend of concerts.
“That sweet beginning,” was the launch of the Beaches International Jazz Festival.
This modest free event has mushroomed into a mammoth $1-million undertaking 28 years later spanning a month and including hundreds of community volunteers, dozens of business and government partners. More than 900,000 people attended last year. This year it spans Saturday to July 24 (with an earlier salsa weekend to celebrate Canada Day.)
Each year, founder Chilelli adds another element to the festival “to keep it vibrant.” For instance, on Wednesday and July 13, bands will greet visi- tors arriving at Billy Bishop Airport and Union Station. The festival has expanded west on Queen St. E. to Jimmy Simpson Park where the Sounds of Leslieville/Riverside concerts will be held Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
There will also be a new series of “garden concerts” in Kew Gardens as well as the long-established Street Fest, which closes Queen St. E. to allow buskers and their fans to in- vade. Turbo Street Funk, formed by university music students in 2011 to busk for tuition money, found the street party last year an amazing event.
“There are thousands of people walking by,” says Casey Van. “You get new people to discover your music. It’s incredible exposure.”
The brass band, which sparked others to hit the bricks for school money, is now a full-time professional group led by singer Van on guitar and harmonica.
The fine arts graduate in music from York University plays lead guitar, which he learned copying solos from Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix.
This year they will also be a mainstage act, performing Saturday at the Sounds of Leslieville/Riverside.
The band members include Juan Manuel Arce on alto saxophone, Joel Eric Szabo on French horn, Camilo Gallon on drums, which he makes himself for portability, and Ian Feenstra on sousaphone. Feenstra and Szabo attended U of T while Van and Arce graduated from York. Their second album, Momentum, is being released this month.
Johannes Linstead, who plays Latin/blues guitar, is also performing at the Leslieville site and has been a regular at the festival since 2001.
He couldn’t help but notice “it’s getting bigger and bigger. There is something there for everybody.”
He’ll also participate in the street festival saying.
“The primary reason I love playing the festival is the people get to see performers for the first time, they stop and listen to whatever sound catches their attention,” he says.
“It’s a great way to expose our sound and to sell a lot of CDs.” (He’s made nine.)
Many of his compositions have been used in television shows including Californication, Person of Interest, Pawn Stars, The Following, Rosewood and Gene Simmons Family Jewels. Ironically, he hasn’t heard his work on these shows; he doesn’t watch television. Go to beachesjazz.com for information.