Joseph Blake
Monday Magazine contributor
Patrick Boyle heads the jazz department of UVic’s School of Music. He’s also a hell of a jazz musician on trumpet and guitar.
The Newfoundland-bred musician is an accomplished composer and arranger, too, with his latest CD showcasing jazz versions of songs by Bob Dylan, Michel Legrand and William Walton, as well as Boyle’s original title track, “After Forgetting.”
He and his students in the UVic Jazz and Creative Music Ensemble have also been busy over the past year raising funds for the Eric LeBlanc Memorial Scholarship, which assists students in UVic’s jazz studies program. Boyle and company play the 10th and final benefit show in the Blues for Eric series on Saturday, Nov. 2 at The Oaks Restaurant and Tea Room in the Oak Bay Village.
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The Oaks is an intimate, 100-seat venue well suited to the sophisticated, cool jazz that Boyle and his students produce. Last year, his trumpet playing was showcased in concerts celebrating the music of Chet Baker, as well as in a big band reading of the students’ original soundtrack for the classic silent film Potemkin.
Among other showcases, Boyle also performed a tribute to Louis Armstrong with his stylish New Orleans-inspired, local jazz quartet at a Blues for Eric show in April.
Before dying of cancer, Eric LeBlanc was a music educator, author and founding on-air host on UVic’s CFUV-FM for over three decades. His weekly Let the Good Times Roll program was blues heaven for local fans and had a large following internationally on the web.
He would have loved Boyle and his students’ smart, soulful jazz performances at The Oaks. With the Nov. 2 concert, organizers hope to complete their $25,000 projected goal for the scholarship fund. And the students who will benefit from the scholarship are playing this last Blues for Eric celebration. Now that’s cool!
Tickets are $20 (cash only), available at The Oaks, 2250 Oak Bay Ave. No reservations are taken for these shows and tickets often sell out in advance. Fans of previous Blues for Eric benefit concerts have shown up early to eat, drink and snag good seats for the 7 p.m. show time. For more information call 250-590-3155.
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