Tag Archives: Ronnie Hawkins
Patricia Wheeler Quartet Brings Jazz Concert to Meaford
Sunday afternoon, April 29, from 3 to 5, the first in a series of concerts at Meaford’s Christ Church Anglican features a performance from Patricia Wheeler’s Jazz Quartet. With Patricia on sax and flute, the quartet features Mike Cado on guitar, Ben Riley on drums, and Ross MacIntyre on bass.
“I’ve known the other three musicians for a long, long time,” Patricia says, “and played with each of them in different situations, not only jazz but rock ‘n roll, hip hop, funk, pop, country and western. They’re very versatile.”
Mike Cado is a faculty member at York University where he directs the York University Jazz Orchestra along with a 15-piece R&B band, Soul Collective.
Ben Riley, for fifteen years co-leader of the soul/R&B band Planet Earth, has been in demand as a touring and session drummer for over twenty years, playing with the cream of Canadian artists from Moe Koffman to Domenic Troiano.
Ross McIntyre is a legendary bassman who tours with Emilie-Claire Barlow, plays on hundreds of sessions and has worked with artists as diverse as Wynton Marsalis, Ed Robertson and Jim Cuddy.
Patricia is, in a sense, bringing these old friends to show them where the music began for her.
She grew up with good music always being played in the house. She says her father was “a very good amateur pianist and accordion player. My mom started her record collection back in the era of the 78’s and still has most of those discs, so I just grew up being surrounded by good music. My dad taught ballroom dancing for many years and my mom often helped him with that. He was always sourcing out new recordings to teach with and so that kind of music was always being played.”
She was lucky enough to live in a town where music was taught at an early age.
“I was very fortunate to go to school in Meaford where band music started in Grade 7 at Meaford Elementary School. We did half a year with orchestral string instruments, like violin, and then the other half with band instruments. We did festivals, concerts.
“The teacher was a man named Ron Knight, who was exceptional. For any of the students who really enjoyed it he would give us opportunities to just go to another room and practise. And then we would feed into Georgian Bay Secondary School and Charlie Strimas took over. He ran the music program for many, many years.”
The Wolfgang Brothers In Concert at The Barn
By Bill Monahan
On Friday, March 23, The Wolfgang Brothers will be performing in a special concert at The Barn in Meaford, with opener Bill Monahan.
Brian Wakelin (a.k.a Wolfgang) and Delbert Metherel, who form the duo The Wolfgang Brothers, have evolved over the years a performance style that combines great musicianship with a dry laid-back humour, mixing their own originals with songs selected for their pleasure rather than to pander to jukebox tastes. The result is always a fun night.
The band has opened for Ronnie Hawkins, Johnny Paycheck, Doug Kershaw, and Valdy, among others.
They have been playing together since the mid-1970’s. Through all those years their groove has solidified into something unique, a special communication that shows every time they play. They’ve gone through several phases, including show bands, rock bands and jazz, settling into their own brand of “hillbilly jazz” combined with “comedy songs”.
“We were in our early twenties,” says Delbert, “We did go to high school together but we played in rival bands. It was about 1974 when we first started playing, the Wolfgang Brothers took off about ’76 I guess.
“I came back from the west coast about 1974 and played in a show band called Tucker with Virgil Scott. It was my project basically and I just lined everybody up. There were two fellows from the west coast that I had played with out there, a fellow named Mike Bush on keys and Terry Murphy on guitar.”
Meaford Musical Community Shines In “The Last Waltz”
Review by Bill Monahan
featured photo courtesy of Patti Kendall
On Saturday night at Meaford Hall, “The Last Waltz – Meaford Style” was a celebration of our musical community unlike anything that has been seen before. A complete sellout more than a month in advance, the show featured a cavalcade of home grown talent that was equal to any visiting talent that has graced this great venue, and the audience loved it.
The template for the show was the famous Martin Scorcese film from 1978 that documented the last concert by The Band, with all of the performers who had been part of that celebration represented here by local talents. It was actually the 41st anniversary of the original concert, which took place at Winterland in San Francisco on November 25, 1976. The film set the bar high for a group of local performers who had little more than a month to practice. They rose to the occasion. The band was tight, often indistinguishable from their model, and each performer who contributed tributes to the other performers did a stellar job. The energy from the audience matched that coming from the stage.
Jaret Koop photo courtesy of John Scerri
A few of the vocalists stood out with their ability to mimic the originals to an uncanny extent. Drew McIvor’s take on Doctor John’s (Mac Rebennack) “Such A Night” had that New Orleans drawl down cold, and Jaret Koop perfectly captured Rick Danko’s anguished vocals on “The Shape I’m In”.
Fran Bouwmann photo courtesy of John Scerri
Fran Bouwman did a great take on Joni Mitchell’s “Coyote” (and even looked the part), and Tom Thwaits’ version of Neil Diamond’s “Dry Your Eyes” sounded like the real thing. John Hume reproduced not only the vocal parts but the keyboards (that beautiful Hammond organ sound) with fidelity.
Sandra Swannell photo courtesy of John Scerri
Others added their own special talent to the songs that reflected what they bring to music. Sandra Swannell’s violin solos on “Acadian Driftwood” and the encore “I Shall Be Released”, and Emma Wright’s vocals on “Evangeline” were spine-tingling standouts. Chris Scerri’s vocals, of course, are 100% his. He’s a belter and his style made new versions of the songs he covered.
Jack de Keyser, Blues Legend, Coming to Harbour Street Fish Bar
This Saturday the Jack de Keyser band will return to our area to play the Harbour Street Fish Bar in Collingwood. This two-time Juno winner and seven times recipient of a Maple Blues Award has been referred to by a U.S. publication as “a coveted super-hero in Canada”. Jeff Healey’s assessment of Jack de Keyser as “The finest blues guitarist in Canada” is shared by many, including Bob Dylan, who commented, “If Jack de Keyzer was from Chicago, New York or LA, he’d be famous”. Kathy Pellizzi, writing in Los Angeles Film & Music agrees: “If you think the hippest, hottest bands are coming out of Los Angeles, you are mistaken! More power to Jack de Keyzer, come show the Americans what we’ve been missing!”
Playing over 120 shows per year, he has been called “the master of live performance”. The power of his recorded output, including the two Juno wins, is that he records live off the floor to capture the magic of his live shows and his great band.
Although he is known primarily for his guitar playing, he’s also been praised for his song writing and vocals. . Ruth Schweitzer in Maple Blues magazine said “Multi-talented Jack de Keyzera gifted songwriter, a mean guitarist and a smooth, sultry singer”. He won first prize in the 2007 International Songwriting Competition for his song “That’s the Only Time”.
