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GJF at 15: confident, ambitious and very diverse

The Guelph Jazz Festival turns 15 this year and is announcing its most ambitious, confident and diverse year of programming yet.

Here’s a day-by-day look at what the festival has to offer this year. (Full biographies on all the artists, plus ticket and venue information, appear on the Festival’s newly designed website. Tickets go on sale next week.)

•    Wed., Sept. 3: The Festival’s Colloquium opens at the Macdonald Stewart Art Centre (MSAC). This is a three-day offering of workshops, panel discussions, keynotes and concerts, all of it free. On Wednesday evening, the Festival’s opening ticketed concert is a collaboration between DJ Spooky (turntables) and Vijay Iyer (keyboards) of New York, also held at MSAC.

•    Thurs. Sept. 4: The Colloquium continues with free concerts by Matana Roberts (New York) and Rouge Ciel (Quebec) at the MSAC during the day. That evening there is a concert by two renowned guitarists at the River Run Centre’s Cooperators Hall: Kevin Breit (Elora) paired with René Lussier (Québec). Ending the day is the first of two late-night concerts beginning at 11pm at Mitchell Hall of St. George's Anglican Church: a double bill featuring John Kameel Farah (Ontario) and turntable virtuoso Kid Koala (Québec).

•    Fri. Sept. 5: The B.C. world music band SAFA gives a free daytime concert at MSAC as part of the Colloquium, followed by a late afternoon show by Joanne Hétu (Québec) at Cooperators Hall. In the evening, the Festival begins the first of three Main Stage concerts at the River Run Centre, featuring a double-bill by Satoko Fujii ma-do (Japan) and the ICP Orchestra (Netherlands). Late night at Mitchell Hall is the popular B.C. post-rock band Fond of Tigers.

•    Sat. Sept. 6: This is the banner day for the festival, with 12 acts appearing in three different venues. At the Upper Wyndham Street Jazz Tent (in front of the old post office), running from 11:30 am until midnight is the following lineup, all free:

o    Matana Roberts (New York) and Rich Marsella (Ontario) with KidsAbility Youth Ensemble (Ontario)

o    Burrows (Ontario)

o    Friendly Rich and the Lollipop People (Ontario)

o    Tallboys: Kevin Breit, Matt Brubeck and Jesse Stewart (Ontario)

o    Burnt Sugar, The Arkestra Chamber (New York)

o    L’Orkestre des pas perdus (Québec)

o    Bernardo Padrón Group (Ontario)

o    Jane Bunnett’s Carnavalissimo (Ontario)

On Saturday morning, at the Guelph Youth Music Centre are François Houle Aerials (B.C.), and in the afternoon, a double-bill of Sangha (B.C.) and Barry Guy/Maya Homburger/Jeff Reilly (UK, Switzerland, Nova Scotia). In the evening, Chicago's high priests of post-rock/jazz, Tortoise, will give a rare area performance on the River Run's Main Stage.

•    Sun. Sept. 7: This is the John Zorn spotlight. The New York composer and saxophonist is bringing a band of improvisers, all of whom are well known as soloists in their own right, including Marc Ribot on guitar, Cyro Baptista on percussion and Joey Baron on drums. They will play a freely improvised concert in small, varying combos at Cooperators Hall in the morning. Then in the afternoon, they’ll tackle two radically different Zorn projects at the Main Stage of the River Run centre – The Dreamers and Electric Masada – in two halves of a double-bill concert.