I'm a bit crunched for time this morning - I needed to squeeze every last possible minute out sleep time - so I may be more point form-y today than usual. In short, yesterday was an excellent day at the festival.
Between personal, professional and festival commitments, yesterday was a particularly full day.
The day started with a bittersweet family commitment (see: unveiling). My grandmother passed away last year shortly after her 95th birthday and yesterday's gathering was an opportunity to once again celebrate her life.
Note: This entry will be a bit on the short side - I've got an important family commitment this morning and so my time is a bit limited.
Day three - and our first full day of programming - included emerging artists and veterans, new compositions and standards, long-established groups and new partnerships. And some fantastic weather.
My day yesterday started with the pickup of a contrabass clarinet and a euphonium. Which, frankly, is a sentence I never thought I'd write.
Well that was a pretty good start…
I'll be heading out the door shortly for the first official night of the 2014 TD Toronto Jazz Festival. The adrenaline is flowing; and after having enjoyed today's Mayors' Arts Lunch - with 500 or so other artists, arts workers and arts supporters - I'm feeling particularly pumped about launching into the festival.
I'm not sure how this happens, but every year the festival feels like it's still months away until suddenly, it starts tomorrow.
If I needed a refresher on how great music should sound, I got it yesterday evening at the hmv Underground.
With the official start of the festival only days away, the title of today's post might refer to the behind-the-scenes toiling required to get this year's festival ready for launch. But I hope you don't mind if I take a more personal tack today.
In preparing for the Artistic Director's Guide to Jazz and for various media interviews, I've spent a fair bit of time over the past few weeks thinking about why the musicians appearing on our stages this year are important, and what makes their music great. Here are a few of what I found to be common traits: