Loud in the library

the library The Kingston Jazz Society’s Live at Your Library event features jazz from around the world

Njack Backo was born in Cameroon and will bring traditional Cameroon rhythms to Jazz group
Image supplied by: Supplied
Njack Backo was born in Cameroon and will bring traditional Cameroon rhythms to Jazz group

The first installment of the Kingston Jazz Society’s Live at Your Library series will feature a jazz quartet that was formed specifically for the event. Ewa Heiwa will perform on Sunday, premiering a jazz fusion from Japan, Cameroon and Kingston.

“I have no idea what it’s going to be,” the jazz society’s president Ben Hall said of the first concert in the series.

Kingston Jazz Society’s public education mandate influenced the decision to host the concert series at the Frontenac Public Library.

“[It’s] a very accessible and safe place, so anyone can come there,” Hall said. “It’s not like it’s 10 o’clock at night, upstairs in a bar.”

This will be the society’s eighth year running Live at Your Library. This year’s theme is Around the Corner and Around the World, inspired by the City of Kingston which helps finance the society with grants.

“One of the things that [the City of Kingston] suggested would be a nice thing to try to bring to Kingston would be innovative art programming,” Hall said. “When I saw that, I thought how about we show the boundaries of where jazz is going.

“It’s an always evolving art form. It’s always pushing into other areas to reinvent itself.”

Hall said this year’s series, which will take place over five Sundays, won’t sound like the mainstream jazz heard on commercial radio.

“We’re trying to incorporate what people might think of as traditional jazz and also reaching out to other sort of fusion types of music,” he said.

The highlight of this year’s show is Autorickshaw, a quartet who brings together contemporary jazz with classical and popular music from India.

“Jazz is a big umbrella like the Liberal party, where there are all kinds of different types of what it is,” Hall said.

The Live at Your Library concert series will host events on Jan. 15, Feb. 5, Feb. 19, March 11 and March 25 from 2 p.m. A ticket package for all five concerts is $75 and each concert is $20. Tickets for students are $5 at the door.

Tags

Ewa Heiwa, Kingston Jazz Society, Live at Your Library, Music Series

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