This week, the Jazz Club has lined up something different for our fans — an artistic evening of vocal jazz and poetry. Vocalist Darlene Shatford and her trio will perform two sets of vocal jazz standards and Rob Ziegler will read his original poetry with tasteful background music.
Darlene will be performing inspiring vocal renditions of standards in the torch song tradition. She hails from the Prince George area, where she has been singing jazz for about 30 years. Initially, she sang with two of her five sisters in Three’s a Crowd, an acapella trio, and then with the Something Else Jazz Band, featuring Terry Kosowick, Eric Tompkins, Bruce Baycroft, and Barry McKinnon. She has also worked with well-known Vancouver pianist Chris Siggerson.
Darlene has performed at ArtSpace, The Log Cabin Restaurant, and Cafe Voltaire, among other places in and around Prince George. Along with Curtis Abriel, she was the local performer at the 2019 Coldsnap Winter Music Festival.
For this performance, Darlene is accompanied by Terry Kosowick on piano. Local audiences will recognize Terry for his excellent skills as a jazz trumpet player but may not be aware that he equally capable as a pianist, composer and arranger. Terry was schooled in the Capilano University music program, and has performed in various bands in Vancouver, Prince George, and Salmon Arm. He has been engaged in writing, arranging, and playing music for some 45 years.
On bass, the great Jake McIntyre-Paul will be hitting the stage again after returning to Salmon Arm following another year at Cap U in their music program. Does Jake need an introduction? We think not — welcome home, Jake!
Darlene is excited to perform in Salmon Arm and is grateful to Terry Kosowick for putting the gig together and for arranging the charts for piano and bass, her favourite combo. She loves standards and hopes the audience can sit back and enjoy her simple yet heart-felt stylings.
The poetry reading segment of the evening features Rob Ziegler, who will be reading from his collection of original poems. Rob has been writing for 30 years. His works include poetry, short stories, plays, and his first novel: The Telling Method. He was a mime and clown who performed for 12 years in maritime schools and theatres, and it was there he first read poetry with a jazz accompaniment.
He has chosen to read two long poems with entirely different flavors. The opening piece in the first half, Luther’s Legacy, is a memorial to his emotionally absent father after he passed on in 2015. In it, the poet attempts to resolve in death what had remained unresolved in life.
The second piece is an energetic and humorous review of a New Year’s Eve dance held at the Prince George legion when a dynamic R&B band from the deep south took our snowbound community on a musical train ride out of the icy north and down to the land of jambalaya and midnight shadows.
ADMISSION: By donation.
CONCESSION: Coffee, tea and treats are also available by donation.
DOORS: Open at 6:30pm.