A 2021 year end update from Lisa Buck

2021 seems determined to close out with a much uncertainty as it began.  In the midst of that, I want to send out good wishes to all for a happy and healthy New Year.  Despite the ongoing stress of difficult times, I feel immensely grateful to be part of a community of incredible folk who understand the soul-stirring power of the Arts and work to protect and celebrate our culture and its dedicated creators.

We are rescheduling all our events at BJP for the month of January.  While this is immensely disappointing, I am encouraged that the three concerts we were able to schedule in November and December were sold-out, were attended with great enthusiasm and were held without incident.  Reducing capacity, participating in the restriction exemption program and adding non-touch protocols have added to everyone’s comfort level.

We have exciting projects in the works.  Our Toones project—a film collaboration with the Quickdraw Animation Society—is perking along nicely.  All music compositions have been handed over to animators and it’s going to be exciting to see the spectrum of “visual music” that comes to life.  Toones is funded by a grant from Calgary Arts Development:  the grant has allowed BJP to invest $25,000 into the Calgary Arts community at a crucial time when artists need support.   

Plans for shooting the Change the Tune project—a music video and documentary about the challenges faced by female jazz instrumentalists—are still moving ahead.  Pandemic permitting, we will be shooting at the Warehouse studio in Vancouver the week of February 11th with seven of Canada’s top jazz musicians.  This project is funded by the Canada Council and, again, grant money is allowing us to employ artists and make art even in these difficult times.

I am part of the current cohort in the Rozsa Foundation’s Arts Management Program, offered in partnership with the University of Calgary’s Haskayne School of Business.  The training is excellent. I am working on a capstone project for the course that is focused on outfitting BJP with the equipment and technical support to record live-off-the-floor.  I lend our space and backline often for rehearsals and recordings so this is a natural next-step:  the acoustics are ideal for recording so kudos to the architect who made that possible 110 years ago! 

Our next scheduled concerts are February 24th and 25th with a quintet of absolutely top-notch musicians:  Jodi Proznick, Amanda Tosoff, Laura Anglade, Virginia MacDonald and Sanah Kadoura.  Pencil it into your calendars for now:  tickets on sale in the new year.  

A final note of gratitude as a proud Calgarian and Canadian.  Funding agencies in this country have worked overtime to mitigate the damage to the Arts sector.  Canada supports its artists far better than our neighbour to the south and BuckingJam Palace has been able to continue to work for musicians because of this support and the generosity of individual patrons who have donated to our programming. 

Wishing peace and joy to you and yours and looking ahead to healthy times filled with music 2022!

Lisa

Introducing Nica's Circle

We’ve introduced a membership circle for BJP called Nica’s Circle.  You’ll find info about it under the Membership tab:  it’s a $5/month subscription that gives folks access to exclusive content and the earliest access to concert tickets.  

We’ve created Nica’s Circle — named after a famous patron of the arts, Kathleen Annie Pannonica Rothschild —because of our experience with COVID-19.  When the pandemic hit and live concerts were shuttered, BJP had no means to support and employ our community of musicians whose livelihoods had been decimated.  Because the vast part of our ticket revenue goes directly to the musicians (once we were a non-profit we had to keep a fraction to pay for insurance and related operating costs) we didn’t have any means to fund non-concert programming and that left us high and dry.  After many hours of grant writing, we received funding from FACTOR, CADA and the Canada Council for projects that are employing musicians and other artists and for that, we are tremendously grateful.  (Canadians should be proud of the level of support given to the Arts during the pandemic.)

Establishing Nica’s Circle allows us to create a small income stream that can be used to support non-concert programming and that’s important to our future capacity to support the Canadian jazz community.  We also hope that as we build up our content, our Circle members will enjoy the behind-the scenes material and educational content.

As for ticket buying, here’s how that works: 

Nica’s Circle members are recognized by our website when they visit and have 48 hours exclusive access to purchase tickets.  Ticket sales are then opened up to folks on our email list who have 24 hours to purchase before the concert is announced to the general public through social media.

There is no cost to being on the email list:  just be aware that you might see the listing for the concert on Eventbrite and not be able to access tickets until after the 48 hour advance sales is over. 

So, thanks for your support as our programming grows and we develop new ways to keep musicians employed and our community engaged!

Lisa 

An update on our ongoing response to COVID-19

We miss our community and hope you and yours are well! Through these strange and challenging times, we know we will gather again in the future. In the meantime, BJP has been working to expand ways that we can support the jazz community, paying attention to healthy protocols.

First, a couple of updates. The piano is still here! The loan by Yamaha Canada of the gorgeous C3 grand piano was up in June but given the times and the current impossibility of fund-raising, Yamaha has extended our time. This has allowed us to welcome local musicians for rehearsals, sessions, live-streams and recordings. There aren’t many venues in town that have a great piano on offer (and offer a free space) so this is a significant help to the local community at a time when it is most needed.

COVID-19 delays affected our application for charitable status through CRA but we are hopefully on track now. I have had incredible help from a CRA employee who has been kind and thorough, so fingers crossed that our application is approved soon. This will allow us to issue tax receipts for donations and will open up additional granting streams.

BJP received grant money from the Canada Council that has allowed us to hire musicians for a new on-line initiative we have developed called Jazz Connections. This program has three educational streams: BJP Webinars presented by jazz musicians; Jazz Notes, a video series featuring jazz compositions edited with commentary that explains the jazz structure and creative process; and Five Questions, a video compilation that introduces Canadian jazz musicians to listeners through a series of short answers to five engaging questions.

Our plan, dependent on grant money and donations, is to create a subscription portal on the BJP website that will give access to content we produce and provide an income stream that will allow us to develop further programming. This will create new revenue streams for musicians as we hire them to host webinars and edit videos and provide licensing fees for video use. It will also allow us to reach a global audience and raise the profile of Canadian jazz music and musicians.

Musicians are feeling particularly isolated right now so we organized a BJP hang for jazz musicians recently via Zoom. It was a big success and we are going to continue and expand that initiative to help musicians connect with other peers.

Be careful, be well, be hopeful. And be in touch: send us your thoughts and ideas about our new initiatives, suggestions for other areas to explore and musicians you’d like to see when concerts return. As always, we appreciate your continued engagement and support.

A Message from Lisa Buck

Well. Where to start?

These are strange and stressful times.  The threat of illness brings with it huge amounts fear and anxiety and it is surreal to be experiencing this on a global level.  Just when we need comfort and strength from our communities, we are voluntarily isolating ourselves, locking our doors on an enemy we can’t see.

It’s important to remember that we are overreacting on purpose: it is not fear but prudence that is pushing the shutdown of many of our institutions and I am grateful that we have leaders who are willing to make these hard choices now, while there is time to work at containment.

We have rescheduled our March concert to October.  We will make lemonade out of this situation and host a mini-festival of female band-leaders featuring the Claire Devlin Quartet, the Adi Meyerson Quartet, and Gentiane MG with Frank Lozano.  It will be epic and I hope it gives you something to look forward to. We will be assessing the viability of the May shows closer to their dates.

I am proud to say that the first reaction in the jazz community to shows being cancelled was an overwhelming concern for the musicians who are losing their livelihood. I met Friday with members of our community and we have created Calgary Jazz Relief as a way to address this crisis. Kodi Hutchison, Artistic Director of Jazz YYC, was quick to offer the resources of his organization.  

We are also looking at ways to live-stream music.  Music is hope and we need this sound-track to our lives to lift us through tough times.  Festivals you are used to attending in person may come to you over the internet this year. Please be open to that possibility and consider buying a subscription to streamed concerts.

I know this is a crappy, fretful, fearful time.  The arts community will be reeling from the after-effects of this cultural shut-down long after people forget how COVID-19 infected our lives.  But with adversity comes opportunity and this is our time to show the vulnerable amongst us that we care for them, that we journey with them, that we support them emotionally and financially.

On a personal note, Tom and I are instituting a voluntary quarantine for the next couple of weeks, at least, because Tom has several health concerns that make him part of a vulnerable population.  But I will be helping distribute beef donated by Mitchell Bros. Beef to musicians (when the dust settles, please buy from them as they have been incredible!), BJP will be an active partner in Calgary Jazz Relief, and we will have our radar out for anyone who needs care and support.  If that’s you, please be in touch.  We want you to be well.

Best,

Lisa Buck

BuckingJam Palace Winter Concerts!

Our Fall 2019 season at BuckingJam Palace was a success! There was lots of great music to be heard and many new friendships made. Thank you for your continued and enthusiastic support. Fortunately, we are just getting started! After a busy October and November we are taking a bit of a break but will resume with more great jazz concerts starting again in January 2020.

Here's a summary of what's coming up for Winter 2020 and what you can expect to hear at BuckingJam Palace:

January 19th, 2020

Adrean Farrugia & Joel Frahm

 

Toronto pianist Adrean Farrugia and New York tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm will be appearing as a duo on Saturday, January 19th, 2020 at BuckingJam Palace for two shows (2pm & 8pm).These two world-class musicians will be stopping in Calgary while touring Western Canada, performing music from their duet recording Blued Dharma.

Award winning pianist and composer Adrean Farrugia is one of Canada’s most distinct voices on the piano. Since the late 1990s Adrean has been in high demand as a freelance performer and educator. Keeping a busy touring schedule, mainly as a sideman, Adrean has toured extensively across Canada and the United States as well as in venues across Europe, Australia, the UK, Israel and in Japan. As a leader Adrean has released four albums. His second album Ricochet was nominated for a 2011 Juno award for best contemporary jazz recording. As a composer Adrean has penned more than 30 works to date.

Born in Racine, WI in 1969, tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm attended the Mason Gross School for the Arts and earned his B.A. in Jazz Performance at Manhattan School of Music. He released three highly regarded CDs on Palmetto: The Navigator, Don’t Explain (with Brad Mehldau), and Sorry No Decaf. Don’t Explain, his latest, was the number one jazz release for radio play in the United States for two consecutive weeks in 2004, according to jazzweek.com airplay chart and also reached number one on college radio for one week, according to College Music Journal’s airplay chart. Joel was also recently selected in DownBeat Magazine’s Critics Poll as a Rising Star in the category of tenor saxophone.

Having made a name for himself through his associations with singer Jane Monheit and boyhood friend, pianist Brad Mehldau, Frahm hones his own voice on this breakout recording. Joel has also worked with a vast array of musical peers and jazz legends including Maynard Ferguson, Betty Carter, Matt Wilson, Larry Goldings, Dewey Redman, Lee Konitz, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Andrew Hill, Ben Allison, Pat Martino, Ingrid Jensen, Dena Derose, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, Kyle Eastwood and many others.

Featuring:

Joel Frahm - tenor saxophone
Adrean Farrugia - piano

 

January 25th, 2020

The Sam Taylor Quartet featuring Larry McKenna

 

Hailed by All About Jazz as "wise beyond his years" and "remarkable" by Toronto Music Report, Philadelphia native, New York-based saxophonist Sam Taylor brings one of his heroes, saxophone legend, Larry McKenna, to BuckingJam Palace on January 25, 2020. Philadelphia tenor saxophonist Larry McKenna has played with Rosemary Clooney, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and countless others. Sam Taylor released his second album, Along The Way, featuring Larry McKenna in November 2017. Joining them are two top tier New York musicians: Grammy Award winning bassist Paul Sikivie and drummer Pete Van Nostrand.

Featuring:

Sam Taylor – tenor saxophone
Larry McKenna – tenor saxophone
Paul Sikivie - bass
Pete van Nostrand - drums

February 20th, 2020

Harrison^2

 

Harrison^2 (Harrison squared) is a Toronto-based modern jazz quartet that features two up-and-coming instrumentalists, Harrison Vetro and Harrison Argatoff, alongside two mainstays of the Canadian jazz scene, Mike Murley and Steve Wallace.

The group hatched from a chance encounter between Vetro and Wallace in early 2016, at the University of Toronto, while Vetro’s drum teacher (Nick Fraser) was on tour.  Wallace was asked to sub in for a lesson, with the aim of offering his wealth of experience and some new perspective. Argatoff was invited to join them at the end of the lesson and play some music as a trio. The band formed in September 2016, when the two Harrisons landed a gig at The Rex in Toronto and asked Mike Murley and Steve Wallace to join them. Harrison^2 is touring across Canada in the winter 2020, in support of their debut full length album.

Featuring:

Harrison Vetro - drums
Harrison Argatoff - tenor saxophone
Mike Murley - tenor saxophone
Steve Wallace - bass

March 21, 2020

The Claire Devlin Quartet

 

Originally from Ottawa, Ontario, Claire Devlin is a Montreal-based saxophonist and composer. In 2012, she was the recipient of the Rising Young Star award at the Prince Edward County Jazz Festival, as well as receiving a scholarship to attend McGill University. Claire graduated from McGill in 2016 with a degree in Jazz Performance, having studied with musicians such as Chet Doxas, Rémi Bolduc, Frank Lozano, and pianist Jean-Michel Pilc. She also attended the Banff Jazz & Creative Music Workshop in 2017, where she met and studied with many wonderful musicians including Vijay Iyer, Linda Oh, Tyshawn Sorey, Jen Shyu, Gretchen Parlato, and Gary Bartz.The Claire Devlin Quartet performs at BJP on March 21, 2020, featuring music from their newly recorded debut album.

Featuring:

Claire Devlin - saxophone
Roman Munoz - guitar
Mathieu McConnell-Enright - bass
John Buck - drums

For ticket information, please visit the BuckingJam Palace website www.buckingjampalace.com or the BuckingJam Eventbrite page to purchase tickets.