GEORGIA STRAIGHT • A UGUST 16 -' 23 , 1985

29

Jazz And Blues Festival
Afeast for Famished Fans
86," Orysik explained . "As
the p roject got bigger we
decided that we s hould sever
HE
FI RST the connection w ith Expo ·
Annual Pacific Jazz and incorporate ourselves."
and Blues Festival, One link with Expo was
set to take place in Van- maintained - the Expo Cencouver August 19-25, is tre is the largest venue for
destined to become a major the festival - and a board of
cultural and historical in- directors established. ,
fluence on the city of VanThis was the beginning of
couver and the west coast. - many sixteen hour days for
The Jazz and Blues Festival those involved. The board inis the brainchild of John cludes a cross section of peoOrysik. former disc jockey ple : Bob Smith, Vancouver
for C-JAZ, and Ken Picker- jazz writer: Gavin Walker,
ing, owner of the jazz record long time local jazz musistore Black Swan records. cian: and Deborah Roitberg,
Pickering is the steadying owner of The Lazy Gourmet.
but driving bass beat to A group of people, as Orysik
Orysik's mad blowing sax puts it, "whose commonality
energy. It is this com bina- is a love of jazz and also a
tion , together with a 6 to 12 love of our city." Oryslk conm ember board of directors. . tinues, "We see jazz as being
that will make the festival a a very- exciting component
success.
culturally in this city and
An interview with Orysik that is where the festival
is akin to a heavy afternoon comes in ."
jam session. He is possessed
,One subject that arouses
by the project. The idea for Orysik's ire is the belief that
the festival was planted in because C-JAZ has mutated
Orysik's and friend's minds into the nauseous Kiss FM it
over a year ago. "The people indicates a lack of interest in
at Co-op radio were very in - jaz'z in this city. Orysik
terested in putting together a claims that the opposite is
• jazz festival in time for Expo actually true.
By Grant Shilling

T

"C-JAZ was mismanaged.
They d id n ot p u t their best
foot forward in terms· of selling and marketing jazz .
Don't forget. C-JAZ had a
base listenership of 60.000
people. This indicates ;i great
n u mber of people - are interested in jazz in this city.
The problem at C-JAZ lay in
management's desire to capture the C-FOX. CFMI market which is in excess of
200,boo people . That was
u n realistic ."
Over one hundred musicians from Africa, Europe ,
the United States and
Canada make this truly an
international
festival.
Musical influences range
from the blues to avant
garde, dixieland, swing, and
funk. Highlights include:
Obo Addy. a Ghanaian
master drummer who combines rhythms of his native
culture with Western influences of jazz and pop . Addy performs August 23 at the
Expo Centre. Also at the Expo Centre August 25 is
Hungarian bassist Aladar
Pege . Although currently
unknown to most in the
North American Jazz scene.

Pege was voted top accoustic
bassist in a Downbeat
magazine poll.
T op Vancou ver acts. inclu di ng th e Kate HammetVau gh a n Quintet, the Pau l
Plimley Octet. and Lunar
Adve n t u res, will h ave an opport unity to reach a larger
audien ce d uring the festival.
The remarkable aspect of the
festival is that with the exception of a few acts, admission. to these performances
will be free . The venues inclu de the Town Pump. Classical Joint, Granville Island
Band Shell, the Expo Centre
and the Landmark Jazz Bar.
Ottawa and Edmonton two cit ies considerably
smaller than Vancouver now play host to jazz
festivals. Toronto Inaugurated its first jazz
festival this year to a great
response, while Montreal
plays host to one of the
world's most respected jazz
festivals . The Pacific Jazz
and Blues FesUval represents a chance for Vancouver to join that elite
group.