One of the joys of Georgia Straight Jazz Society is witnessing the growth and development of local musicians.
This Thursday’s performance at 7 p.m. serves as a prime example, when guitarist Jeff Drummond leads John Hyde, bass, Aaron Amar, drums, and Dan Craven on tenor saxophone. All four of these wonderful artists are well known to local jazz aficionados, yet this is our first opportunity to appreciate them in this lineup.
Since graduating from music school in the early ‘90s, Drummond has worked as a guitarist, educator, composer, producer and engineer. Over the past two and half decades, he has explored many musical genres, and toured North America and the United Kingdom as bandleader and freelance guitarist for numerous artists and bands.
Drummond has appeared on high profile national television/radio programs and garnered countless recording credits for various streams of media including radio, CD, TV and film. On stage or in the studio, he has worked with countless highly acclaimed artists in many different roles.
Drummond’s latest CD project released in January 2015—Drummond and Hyde: Spoondrift—was also recorded at Dove Creek Studios in the Comox Valley where he lives and works. The album comprises mostly originals performed in a laid back mellow style, a completely acoustic format of relaxed and ambient, and you will be able to sample some of the album tracks this week, together with new material made more dynamic with the addition of Craven’s superb sax work.
Admission to this show is $10 for members, $12 for non-members. Three course jazz night Greek dinners are offered each week, and the regular pub menu is also available, so this is a guarantee of a superb evening’s night out at a most reasonable price.
You can see the entire calendar of forthcoming events at georgiastraightjazz.com, together with a superb gallery of photographs displaying four years of previous performers. Applications for society membership ($15 individual, $25 family) are also available online, payable by PayPal.
