Highly anticipated collaboration of the Penderecki Quartet and the Dave Young Trio – classical meets jazz, with original works and jazz standards!

Features arrangements of Bach, Scriabin, Gershwin, Strayhorn and more.

Photo by Daniel Nawrocki

Multiple award-winning bassist, composer and Order of Canada recipient, Dave Young, is, without a doubt, one of Canada’s most valuable and beloved musical exports. Whether performing as part of a symphony, or as an integral member of an iconic jazz trio (with the likes of the late Oscar Peterson), or leading any of his dynamic ensembles, Dave remains a total musician, with artistic soul in abundance.

1993 Juno Award – “Best Mainstream Jazz Recording”
“Acoustic Bassist of the Year” – 1996, 1997 & 1998
“Musician of the Year” – 1997 & 1998
“Bassist of the Year” – 2003 & 2004

Dave young- Bass

Brian Dickinson- Piano

Kevin Turcotte- Trumpet

Check Out:

C Jam Blues

Georgia on My Mind

Celebrating their 31^st anniversary, the Penderecki String Quartet began their career as winners of the Penderecki Prize at the National Chamber Music Competition in Łódz, Poland in 1986.   They remain Quartet-in-Residence at Wilfrid Laurier University since 1991,  The four Penderecki musicians (now originating from Poland, Canada, and USA) bring their varied yet collective experience to create performances that demonstrate their “remarkable range of technical excellence and emotional sweep” (Toronto, Globe and Mail).

The PSQ’s international performing schedule has included appearances in New York (Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Hong Kong (Academy for the Arts), Los Angeles (REDCAT Hall at Disney Center), St. Petersburg (Sheremetev Palace), the Adam Festival in New Zealand, and throughout Europe in Rome, Madrid, Paris, Belgrade, Prague, Krakow, Vilnius, and Zagreb.  The PSQ has also toured extensively in Mexico, Australia, Venezuela and Brazil and from coast to coast in Canada.

 Jerzy Kapłanek- Violin

 Jeremy Bell- Violin

 Christine Vlajk- Viola

 Katie Schlaikjer- Cello

Sponsored by Diva International

Thompson Egbo-Egbo – Piano

Jeff Halischuck – Drums

Randall Hall – Bass

Check out:

“It’s Not that Serious”

“Gangsta’s Paradise”

Opening this evening of great music is Erso, a singer-songwriter duo from Kitchener-Waterloo. They sing about the beautiful life on earth, and the tragedy of its rapid loss. Erso is Keenan Reimer Watts (vocals/piano/guitar) and Veda Hingert-McDonald (vocals/violin/guitar).

Glenn Buhr (Genie award-winner and 4-time Juno nominee) is a singer/songwriter and guitarist/pianist; a powerful performer of his own music. The Button Factory Band recently performed with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra under conductor Bramwell Tovey.

The Button Factory Band has a unique sound, sometimes defined as jazz oriented industrial folk-rock. But the band is also eclectic, and sometimes hard to define. The new music is an imaginative mix of vintage blues/roots music, lyrical songs, jazz, and sound art. The music also has a tender quality; the songs are catchy and they explore the bluesy enigma of our lives. The new work is sometimes alarmingly simple; other times it’s rich and complex, reflecting Buhr’s years as a jazz artist.

Glenn Buhr
Victor Bateman
Brandon Valdivia

Here is Glenn Buhr and the Button Factory Band with “Dr. Lonely” and “These Wishes“

Mareike Wiening’s background, both musical and personal is made up of the cultures of Germany, Norway, Denmark and the US. Her original compositions are influenced by diversity and she is recognized for her virtuously elegant way of playing the drums.

Wiening’s compositions are emotional, rhythmical and most importantly, always lyrical. It is obvious that a drummer is acting both as a leader and a composer. Note values are divided, delayed or anticipated and captivating rhythms and engaging bass lines create tension and give the music its unique voice. The musical dialogue between soloist and accompanist is creates a constant giving and taking and unexpected musical surprises arise spontaneity.

• Mareike Weining (drums)
•  Rich Perry (tenor sax)
• Alex Goodman (guitar)
• Johannes Felscher (bass)
• Glenn Zaleski (piano)

Here is Mareike Wiening in New York

Please note:  8:00PM concert  (doors open at 6:30PM)

The music: an eclectic mix of original compositions influenced by jazz, chamber, and popular music styles with both vocal and instrumental numbers.

Michael Coghlan is a composer, pianist,and digital instrumentalist who works in a wide variety of styles. Professor Coghlan has served as the Chair of the Department of Music at York for eight years.

One of Canada’s finest oratorio singers, award-winning bass-baritone Daniel Lichti appears with major symphonic, choral, and concert organizations throughout Europe, the USA, Canada, and South America. He continued to manage his family’s hog farm in New Hamburg, Ontario, until 1992, when he began to pursue a full-time music career, gradually undertaking more opera engagements.  He is an Associate Professor at WLU.  Lichti’s voice is a dramatic or ‘spinto’ baritone, and has been described as a ‘rich mahogany.’ He has received several grants from the Ontario and Canada arts councils, was named outstanding performer in the 1986 Du Maurier Search for the Stars competition, and was a finalist in the Joy in Singing Competition (1990). His recording Songs of Hugo Wolf was nominated for a Juno award and received Gramophonemagazine’s ‘critic’s choice’ designation.

Piano- Michael Coglan

Soprano- Leslie Fagan

Bass-baritone-  Daniel Lichti

Cello- Ben Bolt-Martin

Violin-Peggy Hills

Kitchener native Jonathan Chapman brings his trio to the Jazz Room for a return appearance. He initially studied at Humber college, and went onto Berklee College of Music as a full-time student with a full-tuition scholarship.  Thereafter he completed his Masters degree at McGill in Jazz Peformance and now calls Montreal home.

The Jonathan Chapman Trio are rare standouts of their generation. Combining a rich understanding of the Jazz tradition with a youthful energy, the group sets to engage listeners with an evening of creative and rewarding music. With a diverse program featuring hard-swinging standards, under-performed favourites, and imaginative original pieces, the trio’s motive is to satisfy listeners while exploring  creative avenues.

23 year old Laura Anglade is a young Montreal-based jazz vocalist currently making a name for herself on the Montreal scene and beyond. Originally from Brousse-Le-Chateau, a small village in the south of France and raised in Connecticut, she is influenced by her parents’ gypsy jazz and classical backgrounds. Laura has collaborated with established jazz artists such as David Lahm, Ranee Lee, Andre White, Jean-Michel Pilc and Alec Walkington.  Her style branches out from traditional jazz roots and some of her idols include Carmen McRae, Sarah Vaughan, Nancy Wilson, Etta Jones, Anita O’Day, Chet Baker and Blossom Dearie. Her story-telling interpretations of standards and melodic approach to improvisation certainly portray a soul beyond her years. Her first album  I’ve Got Just About Everything’ was released in June of this year.

Jonathan:

“Shelter”

Bass Solo on “Billie’s Bounce”

Sponsored by Diva International

British born Duncan Hopkins has been busy establishing himself as a double bassist, composer and arranger around the world, being likened to the best : “Hopkins’ seamless counter melodic flow beneath
Speake and Iles is reminiscent of the late Bill Evan’s sideman Scott La Faro…”John Fordham, The Guardian, UK.  and ‘(Duncan’s) strength’s lie in his writing and sense of textural organisation, which show him willing to stretch, push or otherwise challenge style and format.’ Globe and Mail 

He was the bassist with the venerable Canadian Jazz Quartet for almost a decade before moving to Europe. He has toured extensively throughout Canada, Great Britain, Europe, Brazil, and the United States, and can be heard on more than fifty albums and numerous CBC, BBC and NPR recordings.  He has worked with such luminaries as Rob McConnell, Ed Bickert, Peter Appleyard, Dianna Krall, and Kenny Wheeler.

Duncan Hopkins-   Bass

Terry Clarke-  Drums

Reg Schwager-  Guitar

Check out:

“C Jam Blues” with The Canadian Jazz Quartet

“On Green Dolphin Street” with John Sherwood

Please Note:  Sunday Concert 8:00PM start     (Doors open at 6:30PM)

The Italian singer Ilaria Pilar Patassini  is an absolutely stunning vocalist, able to move between jazz, art song, Sicilian folk, and world pop (she sings in 5 languages).  Audiences at venues across Canada have left the concerts saying the same thing:  Pilar throws herself into a song completely.  She is fearless. Since 2014 she’s been joining forces with Canadian guitarist Michael Occhipinti (eight-time JUNO Award nominee for Best Contemporary Jazz Album), and the Sicilian Jazz Project ensemble with whom she toured Canada in many prestigious venue like Koerner Hall (Toronto), Toronto Jazz Festival, Vancouver International Jazz Festival, and of course the Jazz Room in 2017!.

One  of the world’s great singers. Don’t miss this.

Throughout Top Pocket’s 33 year storied history the band has endured an early change of focus (from R&B to Jazz), one break up, one reunion (that has lasted 15 plus years to the present day), a few members leaving to be replaced by the two current members, an expansion from 4 members to 6 and throughout the long history that is Top Pocket, two of the six current members (Michael Bergauer and Don McDougall) remain, having been in the band from the very beginning. Another focus change happened when Paul Stouffer joined the band and was strengthened even further when Robin Habermehl joined in 2011; the band went from playing standards to focusing on performing their own original material, both in live performance and on record. The band is very pleased to have had Alex Showdra join the ranks this last year; bringing not only his vast talents on guitar but adding his songwriting skills to Robin’s and Paul’s. With a number of tracks already in the can for a new album, Top Pocket plans to complete that album in 2019.

Robin Habermehl: Saxes and Flute
Paul Stouffer: Keyboards
Alex Showdra: Guitars
Michael Bergauer: Bass
Sean Habermehl: Percussion
Don McDougall: Drums

Here is a clip from the Kitchener’s Registry Theatre