The popular Beach Jazz and Reflection series is back for another season, kicking off for the first time in Beach United Church’s newly renovated sanctuary. The first event will feature series favourites Joe Sealy, Paul Novotny and Barbra Lica.
Sealy has worked as a musician, composer and radio broadcaster. As a pianist, he toured with Blood Sweat and Tears, and performed with artists including Joe Williams, Milt Jackson, Veronica Tennant, and Timothy Findlay. His weekly radio show, Joe Sealy’s Duets, is in its fifth season on Jazz FM 91. He has released five CDs with musical partner Novotny, with one Juno win and three nominations.
Novotny has created music and sound for television, film, radio and commercials, including a number of themes familiar to viewers of CBC. The bassist co-owns the Triplet Records Inc. label with Sealy, which released Lica’s debut album, That’s What I Do.
Lica is a native Torontonian with a professional singer for a father. She fell in love with jazz at an early age, and celebrated the release of That’s What I Do with a live-to-air concert on Jazz FM 91 last year.
Music For the Soul: Beach Jazz and Reflection is an ongoing series of ‘jazz vespers’, combining worship with modern music in a church setting. The show gets underway at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5 at Beach United Church, 140 Wineva Ave. A freewill offering will be collected.
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The third in a series of concerts for solo violin will be taking place at the Seicho-No-Ie Centre, 662 Victoria Park Ave. just north of Danforth Avenue, on Sunday, Oct. 6.
Paul Meyer is principal second violin with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and should be well known to Toronto audiences after 33 years in the TSO. Born in Kentucky, Meyer took up violin at the age of eight, and spent several summers studying the instrument at the Banff School of Fine Arts, and studied with Frederic Balasz, Paul Rolland, Josef Gingold and Isidore Cohen.
The concert series has included the first musical events held at the acoustically gifted Seicho-No-Ie Centre. The series features six violinists, each performing one of Bach’s sonatas or partitas for solo violin. The works have been called “the Mount Everest of every violinist’s achievement,” challenging the artist’s musical, technical and spiritual being.
The show begins at 1:30 p.m., and lasts about an hour with no intermission. Tickets are $20, and are available by calling 416-690-8686. The next installment in the series will be held Sunday, November 10, followed by the final two shows in the new year.
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Relish Bar and Grill, 2152 Danforth Ave., just east of Woodbine, continues to offer a home to live music on East Danforth.
Regular gigs include Bentroots playing ‘swampy N’Awlins blues’ on Mondays, the BTBs playing jazz/funk/fusion on Wednesdays and David MacMichael playing power pop on Fridays.
The Usual Suspects bring jazz to the stage tonight, Tuesday, Sept. 24. Saturdays are new music nights at Relish, and September features a full slate of local singer-songwriters and bands. On Sept. 28, indie rockers Flamingo Bay will be the featured band. William and Polly offer bluegrass on Oct. 5, with singer-songwriter Peter Colantonio hitting the stage on Oct. 12.
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