The Vernon Jazz Club will be swinging as The Morgan Childs Quartet returns to the stage Saturday, Feb. 22.
Childs will be joined by Chad Makela on saxophone, Dan Reynolds on piano, and Adam Thomas on bass.
The band will be playing tunes written by Duke Ellington and Harold Arlen as well as some fun arrangements of standard tunes like Rogers and Hammerstein’s Surrey With the Fringe On Top.
Childs, who grew up in Invermere, is a noted composer, bandleader and drummer. His groups have been featured on CBC Radio shows Hot Air, Tonic, and JazzBeat. He has received the Fraser McPherson Memorial Scholarship, three CBC Galaxie Rising Star awards at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival, two General Motors Grand Prix du Jazz at the Montreal Jazz Festival, and a TD Fellowship in Jazz Award from the Banff Centre.
His rhythmic, swinging playing is influenced by a number of things. One of them is a trip that he made to New Orleans with his close friend and saxophone player, Chris Gale.
“We spent time soaking up the music and culture down there. It brought me in close contact with the birthplace of jazz rhythm and specifically the trap jazz drum kit that I play,” said Childs. “That entire city just breathes rhythm, it’s quite an amazing place.”
Childs has a degree in jazz performance from Capilano University and has performed across North America with top artists such as Ingrid Jensen, Laila Biali, Phil Dwyer, Brandi Disterheft, and Don Thompson.
He has been a clinician and instructor at university programs around the country including Humber College, Capilano University, Vancouver Island University, and the University of Lethbridge. He is currently a faculty member at the Humber College Community Music School in Toronto.
Makela hails from Vancouver and is a saxophone instructor at Capilano University. He was a member of the renowned One O’Clock Lab Band led by Doc Severinson, the band leader for Johnny Carson.
He has shared the stage with The Temptations, Percy Sledge, Corey Weeds, and David Liebman.
“Makela is clearly a name to watch,” writes Coda Magazine.
Reynolds was born and raised on the West Coast but moved to Montreal to study at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University. Here he was given the distinction of being a Schulich scholar and in 2010 was awarded the Oscar Peterson Prize for Excellence in Jazz Performance by the Hnatyshyn Foundation for the Arts.
Reynolds played with the McGill Jazz Orchestra and has worked alongside guest artists Phil Dwyer, John Taylor, and Joe Lovano.
The pianist also has a love for playing classical music, especially J.S. Bach, Chopin, and Debussy.
Thomas has been surrounded by music his whole life. Barely did an evening go by when the family record player didn’t see vinyl.
At the age of 12, he began taking electric bass lessons and at 18 turned to the upright.
Since then he has travelled to Texas for music school and lived in New York as a jazz musician.
His CD with the Mike Allen Quartet, For My Love, has been featured on CBC Radio’s Hot Air and Tonic, as well as North by Northwest.
The Morgan Childs Quartet takes the stage at the Vernon Jazz Club (3000-31st St.) this Saturday at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7:15. Tickets are $20 at the Bean Scene, Bean to Cup and at www.vernonjazz.ca.
