Lethbridge jazz fans are looking forward to kicking off the Lethbridge Jazz Society through several events happening, June 18-20 in conjunction with the the Medicine Hat Jazz Festival.
“We’ve added a couple extra days in Lethbridge,” said local saxophonist David Renter, who has several gigs of his own during the festival including Thursday and Friday.
One of his bands, the Contemporary Works Jazz Orchestra plays the Slice, June 18 with special guest saxophonist, Calgarian Pat Belliveau.
There are several events on Saturday beginning with a jazz jam from 2-4 p.m. which Renter will be hosting. The jam is free for everybody who plays and five dollars for everyone else.
It is likely to feature renown New York City based jazz guitarist Nobuki Takamen who will also be playing at the Blue Note Lounge at Treats that evening June 19 from 5-8 p.m.
Lethbridge born saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Vern Dorge, who has played with everyone from Aretha Franklin, Gordon Lightfoot, Blood,Sweat and Tears and Tony Bennett, will be playing a solo show at the Slice, June 20 at 8 p.m.. Tickets are $15.
More importantly, Lethbridge’s participation in the Medicine Hat Jazz festival this year is a great way to introduce Lethbridge’s newly minted Jazz Society, which will be working on Lethbridge’s own jazz festival for next year.
“That’s a big part of the festival is let people know we’re trying to start this jazz society. We‘re getting the ball rolling and become independent from Medicine Hat, though Medicine Hat has been great,” Renter said.
“The biggest challenge has been putting a group of people together who are willing to do all of the work and etting the infrastructure in place,” he said adding there is definitely interest in jazz in Lethbridge.
“Overall we’ve had really good turnouts at our jazz jams (every month at the Slice),” he said adding more people come out to them when school is in session, including many of Renter’s students.
He was pleasantly shocked how many people came out to the jazz festival events in Lethbridge last year.
“ It was actually pretty surprising. There is lots of interest in it,” he said.
“It’s very cool, once a year to have a group of musicians gather to play jazz or else just a chance to listen to a lot of great players passing through,” Renter said.
A version of this story also appears in the July 16 edition of the Lethbridge Sun Times.
