You may have heard Joanna Majoko by now—she sang this summer with the Jazz on Wheels band, she’s a regular at the Cool Wednesday Night Hang, and she performs all over town with her soul/R&B band, SoulStation. It’s hard to catch her voice in words. It’s silky and warm, with a touch of gospel and [...]

Like many musicians, saxophonist Janice Finlay began at the piano, but when that was a poor fit, her mother allowed her to exchange it for a band instrument. From the start, she enjoyed the process of “breathing life into an instrument.” A stint on euphonium quickly gave way to the clarinet (they got all the [...]

Bassist Luke Sellick is emerging as one of the city’s most engaging new jazz voices. His boyish enthusiasm is balanced by great technique and sophisticated musicality. Now entering his fourth year in the Jazz Studies program, Luke was one of several students who spent some time in New York with Steve Kirby this summer.
Now you’ve [...]

If you’ve been anywhere in this city over the past couple of decades, you’ll be familiar with the laid-back warmth of Walle Larsson’s saxophone. You’re probably also familiar with the laid-back warmth of his voice—he’s been one of the city’s busiest and best jazz radio hosts. As we come around the corner on his Sunday [...]

You might have seen Neil wailing away on the sax in the front row of the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra (which he also manages) or you might have seen him on various stages with various groups playing various styles. He’s sunny, thoughtful, and able to juggle many responsibilities—and make it look easy…
When did you start playing [...]

The first time I met Paul Balcain, he was wielding a saxophone. The next time I met him, he was wielding a paint roller. When I track him down for this interview, I ask him about it. “I grew up in the construction business,” he says. “The harder I tried to escape it, the more [...]

Guitarist Ron Halldorson is a bit of a Winnipeg legend. Now in his sixties, Ron was born and raised here in Winnipeg, and has been playing music professionally for almost his entire life.  Over the last several years I have come to know Ron, both musically and personally, and his story is a fascinating one!
Ron’s [...]

When Karl Kohut was twelve, he started playing his sister’s electric bass. He’d already been studying piano for years, so he learned quickly. In high school, he picked up the double-bass, and at 20, he was named the Grand Prize Winner at the Canadian Youth Talent Competition for his solo rendition of Victor Wooten’s “A [...]

Julian Bradford is one of the busiest bass players in the city, and he plays comfortably in many styles. He tells me he grew up listening to lots of classical, and starting messing with his parents’ stereo and a couple of tape decks when he was in his teens. He’s never been one to settle, [...]

Chances are you’ve heard singer Rayannah Kroeker by now—perhaps as one of the Andrew Sisters in last winter’s WJO concert, perhaps at Prairie Ink Café with bassist Quintin Bart, perhaps as one of the Satellites with the Retro Rhythm Review, perhaps putting a band through its paces at The Cool Monday Night Hang.

Rayannah has a [...]

Heitha Forsyth started university as a classical French horn player who loved singing in choirs. Then she tripped over jazz and her musical pathway took a dramatic detour. She stepped up to a microphone, and it suited her to a T. She developed a gutsy lower range and an ethereal top range—and she would take [...]

Chances are you’ve heard the rich sound of Ken Gold’s baritone saxophone on a Winnipeg stage or club. Gold plays a lot of bari these days, though he’s comfortable on tenor, alto, and soprano as well. If you’re going to make a living as a working saxophonist, he points out, it helps to have facility [...]

I first knew Martha Brooks as an award-winning novelist, but she’s also an accomplished jazz vocalist. Her CD Change of Heart was named the outstanding jazz album at the Prairie Music Awards a few years back.
When did you start singing jazz?
I started this singing life back home at Pelican Lake, where my husband, Brian, [...]

If you’ve been out to jazz concerts in Winnipeg, no doubt you’ll have run into Amber Epp. She’s a force of nature on the stage, whether she’s doing jazz or blues or revamped standards with her regular band, or crooning in Portuguese or Spanish on one of her Latin gigs, or hopping up to jam [...]

Will Bonness has been tearing up the keyboard for a lot of years now. He was touring with Maynard Ferguson’s band when he was still in his teens, playing all over North America, as well as in Europe and Asia. Not yet 24, he has now performed on stages here and afar with some of [...]

Curtis Nowosad, a 20-year-old in his third year in the U of M’s Jazz Studies program, has been playing drums for only about 6 years, but he is already a force to be reckoned with. When I talked with him about his success, I found out that timing is everything!
When he was still a student [...]

Mira Black was born in Winnipeg in 1968, but didn’t stay here very long. She spent much of her childhood in many exotic places—India, Florida, Antigua—but eventually landed back in Winnipeg. At Balmoral Hall, she began to sing in musicals and “because it was an all-girls school and because of my vocal range and my [...]

Ron Paley offers a lot to the city he loves—he’s a busy jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and teacher, and a mentor to a lot of emerging players.
November is a big month for Ron. On November 16, he’ll team up with bassist Dave Young and drummer Terry Clarke, to pay tribute to the late, great Oscar [...]

Sam Chrol is a nineteen-year-old reed player just entering her second year in the Jazz Studies program at the U of M. Already she’s made an impact on the musical world—she was the first Canadian to win an Outstanding Wind Soloist at the Essentially Ellington competition in New York City, and this summer she received [...]