The 2010 edition of the Halifax Jazz Festival melted away – almost literally – yesterday, ending more than a week of diverse and mostly enjoyable downtown sound. International and local artists alike stretched, and in some cases ignored entirely, the boundaries of the jazz genre, busting out everything from hip hop beats to tuba-powered Middle […]
Halifax Jazz Festival
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Jazz Fest: Running On Not Quite Empty
It was 8 p.m, the scheduled time for Montreal’s H’Sao to hit the Festival Tent stage, yet there was a curious lack of urgency in the air. Most likely, Fest officials were waiting until a few more empty seats were filled, not wanting the band to have to play to a small crowd. A few […]
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Jazz Fest: Poetry gets sweaty
Cadence Weapon brings dirt city to Halifax. The evening flowed steadily, despite the heat. Four poets laureate from across Canada took to the small stage in front of a crowded Company House. (Seats at the bar and tables taken, several people stood and leaned against the walls.) Two ceiling fans and another on the floor […]
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Jazz Fest: Tel Aviv Rock City
Jazz Fest 2010 has featured numerous acts whose connection to the genre is, to be generous, a loose one. Hip-hop, R&B and funk are more like cousins of jazz than siblings. But at least there is a familial bond, some shared musical DNA that links, say, De La Soul and Alex Cuba to Charlie Parker […]
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Jazz Fest: Word Power
As a very wise fellow listener pointed out during Monday night’s Alpha Yaya Diallo show, there’s something freeing about listening to lyrics sung in a language other than your own. Without having to focus on the words and their meaning, you’re left to appreciate the voice as an instrument and the idiosyncratic rhythms of an […]
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Jazz Fest: Diallo and Church Span the Globe
“Sit down!” As Alpha Yaya Diallo and his band took the Festival Tent stage last night, a few voices rose in anger to scold some late arrivals who’d decided to stand in between the rows of seats, blocking the viewplane of several audience members. One of the reprimanded dudes shrugged, look back at his friends […]
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Jazz Fest: Samba Nova and NSCC in the Afternoon
If it wasn’t for the matching green shirts and the colourful drums of varying sizes they held in their hands, one would never guess that the members of Samba Nova were all part of the same muscial posse. The Brazilian percussion collective is a multicultural, multi-generational group, with members ranging in age from 20 to […]
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Jazz Fest: De La Soul and Friends Kick Things Off
They were trying. Make no mistake, they were trying. As nominal frontman Posdnuos kept reminding the rabid crowd at the Halifax Jazz Festival tent last night, he and DJ Maseo were doing their level best to carry the De La Soul banner with the third member of the legendary Long Island crew unable to perform due to a leg injury. But as they said way back on their 1989 debut album 3 Feet High and Rising three is The Magic Number for De La Soul. And with MC Dave’s absence leaving the group one Plug short, their headlining show wasn’t
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Here’s Where You Can Get Your De La Soul Tickets
Here’s the Ticketpro link to this rather exciting event. You can buy them NOW. They are $35/$30 each. The event is Friday, July 9th, 2010 at the Festival Tent. I just bought mine. I can’t afford it and I don’t care. I’m SO EXCITED JUST THROW ME IN JAIL. More jams below.
