jazz

The Jessica Stuart Few: Folk-Jazz Power Trio Will Take You To Your Happy Place

Don’t you wanna hear some good music with a bit spiced up koto tunes? Yeah, we know you would take it. Let us introduce you Toronto based folk-jazz power trio Jessica Stuart Few.

I clearly remember the first time I saw Jessica Stuart. She was playing Radiohead songs at a bar in Junction. I was really mesmerised the way she was playing the guitar and how she was losing herself in music. Then I decided to do some research about her and discovered her band The Jessica Stuart Few. It took me a while to digest their two albums. First I spent a quite a bit time to understand the stories behind the songs and then bam! I was hooked by the second album.

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The Jessica Stuart Few is formed by Jessica Stuart (band leader, vocal, guitar and koto), Liam Smith (double bass, vocals) and Jon Foster (drums, vocals). The band had various different members in the past but Jessica Stuart has been working Liam and Jon for the last few years. We definitely felt their deep musical connection when they were on stage. They are so meant to play together!

We were very excited to cover their show because maybe this is the only band that both of us would listen almost every day. Therefore we reached out to them and they were very happy to feature with us. On the gig day, we arrived to the Central pretty early as usual and settled in close to the stage. In the meantime we grabbed drinks with a couple of musician friends who came to the show and met with the whole band.

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The Jessica Stuart Few took the stage around 9 pm and started the set with Two Sides To Every Story which is one of our favourites. I especially love this song’s guitar riffs. They continued with “Lost Friends”, “Only Girl (Rihanna cover)”, “Kid Dream”, “One Day”, “Same Girl”, “How to Ride A Bicycle” and “What Is It For”. We were not expecting to hear a Rihanna cover but it realy didn’t surprise us since they are very innovative musicians and their music does’t fall into a concrete music genre. It includes jazz, rock, folk and a little bit pop e.g: Don’t Ya. That’s why, it is really difficult say who are their influencers but you can find some clues in the interview video.

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Akin to their albums,  the show took surprising turns –new songs-, while maintaining beautiful tunes that you wouldn’t forget. We love The  Jessica Stuart Few’s candid tunes harmonized with very well written lyrics and we strongly believe that they will definitely take you to your happy place. If you would like to check their music, you can find the videos below – yes, this time we have 3 videos- and you may want to take a look at their lovely blog and Facebook page. They will go for a tour in March, so before they take off, try to catch them in Toronto.

Happy holidays!

Itir & Mustafa

 

 

 

 

Innovative Jazz Tunes from The Peripheral Vision

Members: Trevor Hogg – Saxophone Don Scott – Guitar Michael Herring – Bass Nick Fraser – Drums

Genre: Jazz

“It bugs me when people try to analyze jazz as an intellectual theorem. It’s not. It’s feeling.” Bill Evans

Since we dearly love jazz music, we’d like to introduce you a very niche Toronto based Canadian jazz quartet called Peripheral Vision. The quartet was founded by guitarist Don Scott  and bassist Michael Herring. They have been performing in the  Toronto jazz scene since 2008. They call themselves “one of the most exciting and innovative jazz quartets to have recently appeared on the international jazz scene” We totally agree with them since we had the opportunity to see their show at the Tranzac on August 5th 2014. The quartet itself is very dynamic and collaborative.

We discovered The Peripheral Vision through another of Don Scott’s bands  Idioteque (Toronto based Radiohead Tribute) We were quite curious about Dan’s other projects and then we found out about  The Peripheral Vision through our investigation.

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NEW TUNES AT THE TRANZAC

We arrived the venue before the gig and settled in and grabbed our drinks. The audience was formed of musicians. The gig was overall based on new tunes. They played 6 pieces and The Ill Conceived Plan (by Michael Herring) and Patina (by Don Scott) are from their upcoming album called “Sheer Tyranny Of Will” which will be released by September 23rd 2014. We have to say the new pieces included  experimental tunes. They took us through the heaven of jazz . The set list was: “Portrait of a Man in a Late 19th Century Frame” (by Michael Herring) – “Syntax Error” (by Don Scott) – “The Blunder” (by Michael Herring) – “Chubby Cello” (by Don Scott) – “The Ill Conceived Plan” (by Michael Herring)  and  “Patina” (by Don Scott)

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We were really excited to hear “Living the Dream “(one of our favourites) but all the tunes they played were brand new. We have to say we were pretty impressed by the pieces called Patina and Syntax Error. You can check the Patina in the upcoming album. The show provided  us the good tunes from “Sheer Tyranny Of Will”. We lost ourselves in experimental tunes as well as in jazz melodies.

After the gig, we had the opportunity to have a chat with Don Scott. They are all very excited about the new upcoming album  and very happy about how it sounds and looks. The Peripheral Vision is obviously a group of musicians deeply invested in what they do and offer. You can check the video below and see how they deeply feel and dance with their instruments. Even if you are not into jazz, The Peripheral Vision could be a good starting point to explore more about jazz scene in Toronto. If you are curious about their live performance, you can find them at 80 Gladstone on September 27th 2014 for their CD release concert and you can also check our video out. If I were you, I wouldn’t miss that opportunity to feast my ears. You can find them at http://www.peripheralvisionmusic.com/

 

Cheers!

Itir & Mustafa

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