Jazz festival draws impressive names

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This article was published 04/03/2025 (198 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Local music fans are in for a treat next week as western Manitoba’s premier jazz event returns to Brandon with some amazing Canadian talent.

Juno award-winning guitarist Jocelyn Gould, and Juno nominees Shirantha Beddage, Sanah Kadoura and Erin Propp will be among the special guests performing at the Brandon University Jazz Festival, running March 13-15 at BU’s Queen Elizabeth II Music Building and the Western Manitoba Centennial Auditorium (WMCA).

The WMCA concerts on March 13 and 14, at 6:30 and 9 p.m., are among the highlights each year for Westman jazz lovers as well as the students who participate in the festival. The early concert on the 13th is already sold out, but tickets remain available for the other three shows.

The concerts on the 13th will feature Gould, who won a Juno in 2021 for solo jazz album of the year for her debut album, “Elegant Traveler.” Her latest album, “Portrait of Right Now,” was released last year.

Joining Gould on the program will be saxophonist Gregory Groover Jr., trombonist Audrey Ochoa and bassist Aretha Tillotson. Groover, based in Boston, released the album Lovabye in 2024 and currently serves as assistant chair of ensemble at the world renowned Berklee College of Music.

Ochoa was named jazz artist of the year at the 2020 Western Canadian Music Awards and has released four albums, with the fifth on the way this year. She has toured with the Tony Award winning musical “Hadestown,” including an appearance on “The Late Late Show with James Corden.”

Tillotson released her debut album in 2023, has toured with numerous artists and has worked as a touring/resident bassist with the Broadway rendition of “SIX.”

On the 14th, Beddage, on saxophone, Kadoura, on drums and vocalist Propp step into the spotlight along with trumpet player Dean McNeill. Beddage has released three critically acclaimed albums as a leader, with two of them nominated for Juno Awards, and has had his music heard on the Emmy-winning TV series “Fargo.”

Kadoura has toured and shared the stage with jazz legends, and her release “Duality” was chosen as one of the best albums of 2023 by DownBeat Magazine. Propp was nominated for a Juno for vocal jazz album of the year in 2014.

McNeill is a longtime professor of brass and jazz at the University of Saskatchewan and has contributed to many Western Canadian Music Awards-nominated albums.

Both evenings will feature the Brandon University Big Band, under the direction of Diogo Peixoto.

New to the festival this year are Thursday and Friday evening concerts at the Lorne Watson Recital Hall, featuring Joanna Majoko, with both performances already sold out. Majoko, based in Toronto, has gained a reputation as one of Canada’s most exciting young singers. She will be joined onstage by BU jazz faculty members Luis Deniz, Marika Galea, Carter Graham and Eric Platz.

The concerts will also feature performances by the BU small vocal ensemble Invicta, under the direction of Sarah Hall.

A series of free concerts by BU jazz ensembles will also be held throughout the festival. Tickets for the feature concerts cost $30 each, with discounts for groups of 10 or more, and are available on the WMCA website. The full schedule of concerts can be found at BUJazzFest.ca.

The Brandon University Jazz Festival follows in the tradition of the Brandon Jazz Festival as one of Manitoba’s top jazz showcases, with about 2,000 students attending each year for three days of music and learning with nationally acclaimed adjudicators and guest artists.

» The Brandon Sun