MIKE REDFERN
Vancouver singer, composer, arranger, record producer and acclaimed voice teacher Cecile La Rochelle will perform with her jazz combo Live at Studio 64 on Saturday night, November 17.
Although less well known than many of the artists who have performed at Studio 64, La Rochelle has some pretty impressive performance credits to her name, including supporting vocal performances on stage and TV with such greats as George Benson, Marvin Gaye, Kenny Rogers, Sheena Easton, Leon Bibb, David Foster and Del Shannon. She has composed and performed music on Sesame Street, has been a guest performer at Florida’s Disney World, and a featured artist at Music Under the Stars at El Paso, Texas, at Expo 86, at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival and several other notable BC music festivals.
She has recorded background vocals for albums by Jon Bon Jovi, Long John Baldry, Kenny Wayne, Dee Daniels, Rita MacNeil and others. La Rochelle also composed, arranged and performed a recording of children’s songs, Friends, Friends, Friends, and a gospel album, Serenade to Serenity.
Accompanying Cecile’s vocals in this Live at Studio 64 concert will be a very talented quartet of musicians, Paul Landsberg on guitar; Rob Fahie on bass; Graham Tracey on drums; and Donnie Clark on trumpet. While all four have had and continue to enjoy distinguished musical careers, Donnie Clark has gained fame on the west coast as the band leader of the Donnie Clark Quartet and Quintet and the Don Clark Ragtime Band. He is considered one of Canada’s leading trumpet and flugelhorn players and has appeared regularly on CBC radio and television. As a jazz combo they comprise a more than promising group. It should be a great concert.
La Rochelle will also offer her voice teaching talents in two workshops while in Kimberley, one for choristers from Selkirk Secondary School, the other for members of the Kimberley Community Choir. These workshops are supported by a grant from the Columbia Kootenay Cultural Alliance.
The concert starts at 8 p.m. on November 17 with doors and no host bar open at 7.30 p.m. Tickets are $24 in advance for arts council members, $26 for non-members. Any left for sale at the door can be had for $28. Advance tickets are available at Centre 64 or online at eastkootenay.snapd.com.
