Happy New Year!

I wish all those who read this blog a very Happy New Year! 2011 has been great for me with many recording and concert projects, wonderful students and colleagues at Capilano U Jazz Studies, and lots of fun with my family.  Next year promises more of the same and, coming very soon, the relaunch of my Third Rail Music Record label in the digital realm.

Len Aruliah sent me a lovely poem by Luis Borges, which I have included here.

End of Year (Final de Año)

Neither the symbolic detail
of a three instead of a two,
nor that rough metaphor
that hails one term dying and another emerging
nor the fulfillment of an astronomical process
muddle and undermine
the high plateau of this night
making us wait
for the twelve irreparable strokes of the bell.
The real cause
is our murky pervasive suspicion
of the enigma of Time,
it is our awe at the miracle
that, though the chances are infinite
and though we are
drops in Heraclitus' river,
allows something in us to endure,
never moving.

-Jorge Luis Borges (translated by W.S. Merwin)

improv insights blog

Long time, no post. Life has been busy, but now I have a little post-Christmas holiday time and no dumb New Year's gigs to spoil it.
My friend Jeffrey Agrell has a started a blog about improvising for 'classical' musicians.  Jeffrey is a very intelligent and creative writer and musician who teaches at U of Iowa.  His books, Improvisation Games for Classical Musicians and Improv Games for One Player are published by GIA Music and are well worth checking out for musicians who grew up in a tradition where music is only what is on the page.


The blog is here

January will be a busy month with some very cool gigs.  I'll be playing with Dave Robbin's Electric Band on Jan. 18 and with Paul Cram on Jan. 25. and with the Capilano U A Band in a Dizzy Gillespie tribute concert on Jan. 27.  More on this soon.

upcoming gigs

Updates seem to be getting fewer and fewer these days.  This fall has been incredibly busy with a lot of very involved musical projects.  No time to write!
Upcoming gigs include:

• November 23 -  Offering of Curtis Andrews at Kozmik Zoo. 53 W. Broadway. 9pm. $10 at the door.
• November 29 - Brad Turner Group at Capilano U.  Brad Turner - trumpet/piano, Jared Burrows - guitar, Dave Robbins - drums, Wynston Minckler - bass. 11:30am, FIR 113. Free admission.
• November 30 - J Trio at presentation House Studio. James Danderfer - clarinet, Jared Burrows - guitar/bass, Joe Poole - drums.  at Presentation House Studio, 333 Chesterfield, N. Vancouver.  8pm $10 at the door.
• Dec 6 -  Thordarson/Reed/Burrows  at Presentation House Studio.  Stefan Thordarson - violin, Jared Burrows - guitar, Clyde Reed - bass.  Free playing from three generations of improvisers.   333 Chesterfield, N. Vancouver.  8pm $10 at the door.

Trisurgence concert footage from Nov 4 and 5

Here's a link to some short video footage of the Trisurgence concert I was involved with a few week's ago.  New World Chinese Orchestra, Huayi Choir, and Koan.  Thanks to Brad Muirhead for thinking this up and making it all happen!

The song is "Jasmine Flower", a traditional tune arranged by our conductor, Jin Zhang.  I'm in there somewhere between the erhu section and the french horns....

Watching this video on Youtube should lead you to links to more video of other parts of the evening.

brief update....

Haven't posted for a while...I've been really busy with some musical projects, the start of the school year, and then dealing with a nasty flu.  Will post something interesting soon.

Upcoming gigs:

• October 6 Jared Burrows Quartet at Capilano University, FIR 113, 11:30-1:00.
• October 12 Burrows/Reed/Sawyer at Presentation House Studio
• October 26 Burrows/Branter Quartet at Presentation House Studio
• November 4 and 5  Trisurgence concert:  big project with Koan, Chinese Traditional Music Orchestra, and women's choir.

Jazz at Presentation House Studio Returns for third year of concerts!!!

Yes, we're doing it again.  Jazz at Presentation House Studio returns September 21 for our 3rd year of weekly concerts! I hope to see lots of people out to enjoy the music and support the scene.  If you haven't come out to the venue yet, you can look here or click the links in the schedule below to see videos of music performed at this cool space.  Watch the Vancouverjazz.com calendar and forum for updates to our weekly schedule.

Jazz at Presentation House Studio
This is an artist-run weekly series embracing the full spectrum of jazz and improvised music from trad to post-bop, free improv to world music fusions. Presentation House Studio is an historic former church with excellent acoustics where the audience can be up close and personal with the musicians. It is easily accessible by public transit and is located just a few blocks from Lonsdale Quay.  Lots of free parking. Come and join us for great music and a relaxed weeknight hangout.

333 Chesterfield Avenue (3rd St. one block west of Lonsdale), North Vancouver
Wednesdays at 8:00pm.
Admission $10 at the door. Free tea and cookies.
contact jaredburrows AT hotmail for more info.

Schedule:

September 21 - Jared Burrows Quartet

Original compositions in the tradition of Kenny Wheeler and Wayne Shorter played by an intensely rhythmic and interactive band. Lorne Kellett (piano) Al Johnston (bass) Stan Taylor (drums) and Jared Burrows (guitar).

September 28 -  Hotfoot Five
Music inspired by Jellyroll Morton, Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory, Sydney Bechet, and many others. If you like to dance or tap your hot feet to hot rhythms, come check out the Hot Foot Five. Bonny Northgraves (trumpet), Geoff Claridge (clarinet), Arnt Arntzen (banjo), Jennifer Hodge (bass), Andrew Millar (drums).

October 5 -  Chad Leyte Group

A group of our city's young lions play the compositions of guitarist Chad Leyte with Wynston Minckler (bass), Ian Weiss (alto sax), Cam Stephens (drums).

October 12  - Sawyer/Reed/Burrows

Musical friends improvise chamber music, spontaneous poetry, fragments of text and textures, songs and sounds from the depths of heart and head.  Carol Sawyer (voice), Clyde Reed (bass), Jared Burrows (guitar).

NEW Len Aruliah Sextet recording!

Len Aruliah Sextet by Jaredburrows

Delta Quartet pictures from Jazz Festival 2011

Here are a few shots from the Delta Quartet gig at the Vancouver jazz festival 2011. The gig was outdoors at Canada Place on June 30. Len Aruliah on saxes, Stan Taylor on the drums and Rob Kohler on bass. Tunes from a recent recording are up on my website.

  I don't normally like playing outside, but this gig was fantastic and we had a huge crowd despite the cloudy weather. My son, Isaac took the pictures with Len;s phone so the resolution isn't great, but I'm just happy we got some shots of the band.  We always forget to get pictures of gigs.  Thanks Isaac.

 Many thanks to Ken, John, Rainbow, Lorraine and all the others at CJBS who put on such a wonderful event. Following the festival, the group made another recording. Stay tuned for some sounds from the session when Rob gets it mixed.

Update - recording and guitar building

It has been a while since I blogged.  What I thought was going to be a period of relative ease and rest since last I wrote has turned out to be very busy.  This is a typical theme for me.  I have a hard time relaxing.

On July 20 I played a great gig with Len Aruliah's Sextet at Goldie's Pizza downtown.  The band is Len on soprano and alto saxes, Colin Maskell on tenor,  Lorne Kellett on piano, Joe Poole on drums, and Brent Gubbels on drums.  What a great group of guys musically and personally.  We had a completely full house with lots of my students, many of Len's friends and also a bunch of mathematician friends invited along by Len's brother, Dhavide. There was a massive applied math conference just down the road at Canada Place. What a treat to play for a packed house and such an attentive and hip audience. Goldie's is a nice room to play, with a baby grand that is kept in good shape by my pianist friend Bruno Hubert.  The pizza was pretty good too.   After the gig we found ourselves at the Congee Noodle house until 2 in the morning - not too many options at the time of day on a rainy Wednesday in Vancouver.  The Congee featured a huge menu with some interesting and unique menu items including "Bible Tripe" and "Silverfish Omlette".  I tried neither, though Colin and Joe each ate a huge meal of very colourful chinese food.  I can't even think about eating things like that at that time in the morning, but it was a great 'musicians life' moment.

The gig went so well we decided we needed to record the music so we set up a session for July 25.  The recording took place at the Birch Theatre at Capilano University and I hauled all of my recording gear plus some rental stuff and engineered the session as well as playing guitar. We recorded 2 takes each of 7 different tunes which is an amazing amount of music to play in a 4-hour session, especially given the challenging nature of Len's music.  I think Len was very pleased to get the band documented as he has been working very hard on new tunes and really beautiful arrangements.  Everything went very well indeed.

I left the recording gear set up and the next day played and engineered a session with bass trombonist, Brad Muirhead and Stan Taylor on drums.  I play bass in this band.  The music was very different from  the day before -very open and wild - but that session also turned out really well.  Since then, I've been finishing my latest electric guitar commission and trying to get it done before we go to Alberta on Thursday.  Maybe then I can rest.....

Rest at Last!

After nearly three weeks of intense activity playing, rehearsing and teaching almost every day I finally have a chance to slow down and get some rest.  The Vancouver Jazz Festival gigs were great and the weather cooperated. Hearing Atomic play on the final day of the fest was a highlight for me.  Immediately following that I had a fantastic week running the South Delta Jazz Workshop followed by two days in the studio with Len Aruliah, Rob Kohler, Stan Taylor, and Ed Orgill.  Ed and Rob have headed back Stateside now and so I have my basement office back to do a little blog posting.  It is sad to see everyone go home, but also good to have a little more space in the house I must admit.  The Workshop this year was really successful and both of my kids participated for the first time as students.  Some cool family jams were had at the old homestead as well.  More pictures to follow as they come in from various sources.....

Some students at SDJF jam session at Petra's Cafe

Happy Canada Day

Happy Canada Day!
This is a great country and I feel very privileged to live in it.  We have our problems to be sure, but I have yet to go anywhere where I'd rather be.    I've been talking to lots of musicians from around the world this week and so many of them have said how they would like to find a way to come and live here.  Jazz fest time always reminds me of what an amazing scene we have here in terms of the depth and quality of creative musicians.  I have felt in the last few days a profound sense of gratitude for the life I have and where and how I get to live it.

I've just finished three very cool gigs in the Jazz Festival.  The weather cooperated very well for all three and the music was great.   Lots of friends and musicians showed up for every gig. Thanks to Stan, Brad, Len, and Rob for the great music. Pictures coming soon.
South Delta Jazz Festival and Jazz Workshop is coming up next week. I'll be updating the blog with news from that event as it happens.
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