Braid to perform at BU Homecoming

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This article was published 13/09/2023 (788 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Music from a four-time Juno Award winner with a connection to Hollywood will fill the Lorne Watson Recital Hall on Brandon University’s campus twice this week, as part of BU’s Homecoming celebrations.

Jazz pianist and composer David Braid won his first Juno in 2004 for jazz album of the year when he was 29 years old.

But it was a meeting two years earlier in Toronto that would lead to Braid composing the music for a movie about Chet Baker, an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist.

In 2002, the Hamilton-born Braid had just finished a concert when he was approached by movie director Robert Budreau. The two then collaborated on two film projects on Bravo, which was a Canadian specialty channel.

A decade later, Budreau asked Braid to compose the jazz score for the movie about Baker called “Born to Be Blue,” which starred Ethan Hawke and hit theatres worldwide in 2016.

Braid has been called “one of his country’s true renaissance men when it comes to music” by the Ottawa Citizen.

A renaissance man is knowledgeable, educated and proficient in a wide range of fields.

When talking about jazz, Braid said instead of asking, what is jazz? It should be rephrased as, “What does jazz do?” and added: “This is a significant shift from a static meaning of the word jazz to a meaning that refers to something current, active, and alive — in essence, a shift from noun to verb, perhaps reconnecting the word jazz to its original connotation as an action, and not a thing,” Braid stated on his website from an article he wrote for Canadian Musician Magazine.

During both of Braid’s performances in Brandon this week, he will be accompanied by Turkish drummer and virtuoso classical bassoonist Serkan Alagök.

Alagök has been drumming professionally since 2005 and is pursuing his PhD in bassoon at Anadolu University in Turkey.

The concerts featuring Braid and Alagök will be held at the Lorne Watson Recital Hall, and are included in the return of the pro series, said BU music dean Greg Gatien.

“Our guests are in for a real treat, as David and Serkan are both incredibly accomplished musicians who have delighted audiences the world over,” Gatien stated in a news release.

The first concert with Braid and Alagök on Thursday at 7:30 p.m., will feature School of Music faculty member Marika Galea on bass.

Friday’s performance has the same start time, and will include the Brandon Chamber Players with Stories from Central Asia and the Caucases with School of Music faculty members Cathy Wood on clarinet, Kerry DuWors on violin and pianist Madeline Hildebrand.

Homecoming 2023 runs Thursday through Sunday with events like the Homecoming Soirée, Bobcat soccer games, the Decades Social, a lecture by agrologist expert Robert Saik, games and a trivia night.

The music at the Lorne Watson Recital Hall is the perfect way to set the mood for a memorable weekend, said BU advancement officer Nick Brown, who’s one of the Homecoming organizers.

“The concerts are highlights of Homecoming each year, and members of the School of Music have really outdone themselves. We have a packed schedule of events, with something for everyone, right through Sunday,” Brown stated in a news release.

» mmcdougall@brandonsun.com

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