To say that Willy Gaw is a gypsy jazz enthusiast is an understatement. He is a fanatic practitioner of the Gypsy Jazz rhythm (or “la pompe”), says booking co-ordinator Jordan Dick.
“Willy has been instrumental in introducing and promoting gypsy jazz in Salmon Arm over the past 10 years,” he says.
Gaw has also performed with many great musicians and groups, including Jake Verburg, Richard Owings, Gadjology, Neil Fraser and Darrin Herting.
Enjoy the music of the Willy Gaw Quintet tomorrow night, April 24, at the Jazz Club, including Gaw on guitar and vocals, Pam Gaw on vocals, Darrin Herting on mandolin/guitar, Bill Lockie on bass and Dick on guitar.
Music fans won’t want to miss a special homecoming Jazz Club performance by Sandy Cameron and his group Aged to Perfection on Thursday, May 1.
The band was formed three years ago to perform for Penticton’s Pentastic Hot Jazz Festival. The music is a collaboration of group improv, with the powerful, rhythmic piano stylings of Don Ross (Kelowna), the virtuosic foundation of string bassist Brian McMahon, the solid, rock-steady percussion of drummer Doug Grant (Enderby), with a frontline horn section that includes Donnie Clark (Kootenays), Bob Rogers (Revelstoke) and Sandy Cameron.
“Our mission in the music is one, to swing, two, to entertain and three, to have fun,” Cameron says. “Most of us are ‘of an age,’ save for the still working Bob and Brian, both school music teachers.”
Clark is the most widely travelled, most experienced, most well -known member of the band. He has done it all: CBC radio and TV music director/trumpeter, symphonic player with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, sideman and leader of many jazz bands touring around the world and adjudicator in several B.C. school music festivals.
Cameron was one of the founders of the Jazz Club, and his single efforts propelled the club from a small, well-kept secret to the vibrant, often sold-out concert series it is now.
Jazz Club concerts begin at 7 p.m. in the banquet room at Shuswap Chefs Restaurant. Doors open at 6:30 and a tapas menu is available. Dinner is available at the restaurant by reservation.
The Jazz Club is a non-profit group that has concerts on the second and fourth Thursdays of the month. Admission is by donation, with that money being used to pay musicians.
