March 2010
2 posts
March 27: Duke Ellington's Sacred Concerts
The IJO presents its 2009-2010 season finale on March 27, 8 PM at Dominion-Chalmers United Church.
Fifty artists for a single Ottawa-premiere performance of music from the three sacred concerts that were hailed by Ellington as “the most important thing I’ve ever done or am ever likely to do.”
Featuring the IJO’s fifteen-piece jazz orchestra, the Capital Vox jazz choir,...
About our upcoming season finale
Duke Ellington hailed his three sacred concerts as “the most important thing I’ve ever done or am ever likely to do.”
In five years the IJO has done a great deal. We’ve performed no less than 12 Ottawa/Canadian premieres of great works including Miles Ahead, Sketches of Spain, Ellington’s Liberian Suite, Such Sweet Thunder, Far East Suite and the list goes on.
For...
January 2010
2 posts
January 31: Jazz Vespers: Concert for Haitian...
Join us at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church this Sunday, January 31 for a special jazz vespers service benefiting vicitms of the Haiti earthquake. Featuring small group ensembles of IJO musicians with special guest vocalist Elise Letourneau. No charge for admission. Offerings will be received for the Canadian Lutheran World Relief Haiti Earthquake Appeal. Canadian Lutheran World Relief is a...
Whose Solo Is It This Time?
On Saturday, Jan 23, 2010, 8 PM, the IJO returns to the National Arts Centre Fourth Stage for an evening of wild and wacky musical fun. “Whose Solo Is It This Time?” is the sequel to last season’s hugely successful “Whose Solo Is It Anyway?” Eight musicians from the IJO perform an entire show of pure improvisation with assistance from the audience. It’s...
October 2009
1 post
When Joni Met Mingus
The IJO brings you another ground-breaking concert. This year is the 30th anniversary of Charles Mingus’ passing and also of his 1979 collaboration with Canadian singing and songwriting legend, Joni Mitchell.
Special guest vocalist Christine Fagan and a unique chamber jazz orchestra will perform classic Mitchell and Mingus tunes as well as all the music from their collaborative album. ...
August 2009
1 post
Ellington: From Cotton Club to Concert Hall
On Friday, September 4th, 2009, Ellington: From Cotton Club to Concert Hall will kick off the Impressions in Jazz Orchestra (IJO)’s 2009-2010 season at the recently opened Shenkman Arts Centre. This not-to-be-missed concert will chronicle Duke Ellington’s storied musical career with selections from 1927 to 1970 including music written for the Cotton Club, concert halls, cathedrals and the silver...
July 2009
1 post
Join us for our first concert of the summer
This coming Sunday, July 19, the Impressions in Jazz Orchestra returns to the Billings Estate for a Concert in the Park. This is the third year we’ve been invited to perform at Billings. In 2007 we performed two concerts focusing on the 1920s and 1940s. Last year we covered 100 years of music from 1850 - 1950. This year in view of the economic climate, our theme is The Great Depression...
March 2009
1 post
Don't miss our biggest show ever!
Mark your calendars for April 16, 2009! The IJO’s spectacular 2008-2009 season finale promises to be the orchestra’s biggest, most exciting and most challenging concert ever. Bringing together 35 jazz and symphony musicians, the IJO will present Ottawa premieres of three amazing masterpieces showcasing the talents of two great composers and a diverse set of musical styles.
Seattle-based...
January 2009
1 post
Chamber music meets improv theatre meets free jazz...
On Saturday, January 17, 2009, the Impressions in Jazz Orchestra will present a bold, new performance in the intimate space of the National Arts Centre Fourth Stage. “Whose Solo Is It Anyway?” is a daring experiment in audience-directed improvisation. The evening, described as “chamber music meets improv theatre meets free jazz,” will be hosted by IJO Artistic Director, Adrian Cho. Cho and...
November 2008
1 post
Benny Goodman @ Carnegie Hall
On Thursday, December 4, 2008 the Impressions in Jazz Orchestra (IJO) will pay tribute to the legendary 1938 “killer diller” performance of Benny Goodman @ Carnegie Hall with a fifteen-piece repertory orchestra featuring clarinet wizard, David Renaud, and vocalist, Jozée Devoua.
Using transcriptions and the original charts used by the Goodman orchestra, the IJO will perform the King of Swing’s...
October 2008
2 posts
IJO resume DanceJam sessions - move to improvised...
Unleash Your Creativity!
The IJO is proud to announce our continued involvement in the DanceJam series organized by the School of Dance. At each session, two musicians from the IJO improvise music for the benefit of the workshop participants who explore creativity through body movement with the help of dancer and choreographer, Mary Catherine Jack. It’s always a thoroughly enjoyable and...
Early Bird draw, Benny Goodman tribute concert
We hope you can join us at Dominion-Chalmers United Church on December 4, 2008 for what will surely be a night to remember: the IJO will pay tribute to the legendary 1938 performance of the Benny Goodman Orchestra at Carnegie Hall. A fifteen-piece repertory orchestra will feature clarinet wizard David Renaud, and vocalist Jozée Devoua, performing the charts used at the 1938 concert, as well as...
September 2008
1 post
Impressions in Jazz Orchestra launches 2008-2009...
On September 19, 2008, the Impressions in Jazz Orchestra (IJO) will launch its 2008-2009 season. Rebirth of the Cool will feature nine IJO musicians performing cool chamber jazz in the intimate setting of the National Arts Centre Fourth Stage. The concert will begin at 8 PM with a presentation of the Miles Davis classic, Birth of the Cool with compositions and arrangements by Johnny Carisi,...
August 2008
1 post
This Sunday, August 10, the Impressions in Jazz...
At the invitation of the National Capital Commission, the Impressions in Jazz Orchestra will perform this Sunday, August 10 on the grounds of Mackenzie King Estate in Gatineau Park. The concert is part of the NCC’s celebration of the 70th anniversary of Gatineau Park. Performances will take place from 1:30 - 4:30 PM with the IJO’s 17-piece repertory orchestra and the dancers from...
June 2008
1 post
IJO returns to Billings Estate Museum for a...
This Wednesday, June 18, 2008, the IJO returns to the Billings Estate Museum. Now in its second year, the City of Ottawa’s Concert by Candlelight series presents four concerts of music on the grounds of the Billings Estate during each Wednesday of June. Last year the IJO and frequent collaborators Swing Dynamite, performed two concerts celebrating music and dance of the 1920s and the...
May 2008
2 posts
Thursday, May 22 - Art Cubed: Black and White
This Thursday, May 22 at the Cube Gallery at 7 Hamilton Ave N, Ottawa (close to Parkdale Market), IJO musicians Mike Tremblay (woodwinds) and Adrian Cho (double bass) will perform with dancer and choreographer Mary Catherine Jack. MC and I are frequent collaborators and as many of you will know, she was the choreographic force behind the IJO’s 2007 Christmas spectacular, The Canuckracker....
Summer update from the IJO
Greetings I hope this update finds you in good health and spirits. A few updates from the IJO: 1) A trio of IJO musicians (Mike Tremblay on sax, Peter Foret on guitar, and Adrian Cho on bass) will be performing at a Fundraising Dinner for the Mount Calvary Lutheran Church on May 24 at 5:30 PM. Mount Calvary has been a big supporter of the IJO and provides us with rehearsal space amongst other...
April 2008
2 posts
Jazz Vespers
This Sunday, April 27, the Impressions in Jazz Orchestra and Mount Calvary Lutheran Church will once again present a service of jazz vespers. Our first jazz vespers presented in October 2007 was a great success and this next event is sure to be just as exciting and moving. Musicians from the IJO will perform jazz arrangements of sacred tunes as well as some great music from Charles Mingus and...
Cult Fiction Classics quiz answers
At the IJO’s Cult Fiction Classics concert on April 18, 2008, a pop culture quiz was conducted with guest MC, Laurence Wall. IJO artistic and promotional partners, A Company of Fools, Ottawa Baroque Consort, St. Lawrence Shakepeare, CD Warehouse, and Benitz Bistro generously donated fabulous prizes including tickets, season passes, jazz DVDs and CDs, and dinner for two. First‐prize winner, John...
March 2008
2 posts
An update from the Impressions in Jazz Orchestra
In 2007 the IJO presented an astounding nine events. We premiered four seminal extended works (Ellington’s Shakespearean suite, Such Suite Thunder, the Sketches of Spain and Miles Ahead suites that Gil Evans wrote for Miles Davis, and Ellington’s Nutcracker suite) and countless shorter pieces of music. As it’s been over three months since our last event, it’s...
The IJO performs the music of pop culture from...
On April 18, 2008, the IJO will present its season finale at Dominion-Chalmers United Church, 355 Cooper Street. Cult Fiction Classics will feature hip musical themes from sci-fi, crime show classics and spy thrillers of yesteryear, a rare performance of the explosive West Side Story Medley (written for the Buddy Rich band), and a Canadian premiere performance of Johnny Richards’ brilliant...
December 2007
0 posts
DanceAbility - The Sunday Exchange, session 2
The IJO is excited to announce our continuing involvement in The School of Dance’s DanceAbility Sunday Exchange programme. The Sunday Exchange is a wonderful for multi-abled dancers to share and explore in an energetic, positive and supportive atmosphere. Each class is facilitated by dancer and choregrapher Mary Catherine Jack and features music improvised by members of the IJO. Jack and...
October 2007
0 posts
The Canuckracker - A Canadian Nutcracker That...
The Canuckracker is an exciting and innovative Christmas dance production that turns the traditional Nutcracker ballet on its head. This innovative production, based on a new Nutcracker story in a Canadian context, delivers a message about multicultural friendship and Internet safety. It even has a Mountie Nutcracker! Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s swinging version of...
Jazz Vespers service featuring IJO musicians -...
JAZZ VESPERS Sunday, October 28th, 7:30 PM Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, 933 Smyth Rd (next to the Bank of Montreal, just west of St. Laurent Boulevard) NO CHARGE FOR ADMISSION. ALL ARE WELCOME. A service of sacred music in the jazz tradition. Featuring works by John Coltrane, Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus and other great music performed by members of the Impressions in Jazz Orchestra...
September 2007
0 posts
THE GENIUS OF GIL EVANS - A tribute to one of the...
On Tuesday, October 2, 2007, the Impressions in Jazz Orchestra will present the long-awaited sequel to “The Magic of Miles Davis” which was presented by orchestra founder Adrian Cho in early 2005. In planning and preparation since 2004, “The Genius of Gil Evans” will pay tribute to one of the greatest jazz composers with a programme of some of the most famous music in the symphonic jazz...
SWING EXPLOSION GALA with the Impressions in Jazz...
On Saturday, September 15, 2007 the IJO will perform the hottest swing music of the early 20th century for the benefit of Ottawa dancers. To be staged in the Crowne Plaza Hotel’s International Ballroom, the Swing Explosion Gala will be the highlight of a three day festival of swing dancing classes and events presented by Swing Dynamite, Ottawa’s first and only swing dance school. At...
June 2007
0 posts
The IJO performs Shakespeare
The Impressions in Jazz Orchestra presents “The Duke & The Bard” Tuesday June 12, 2007, 7:30 PM International Ballroom Crowne Plaza Hotel 101 Lyon Street (located between Albert and Queen) A very rare opportunity to hear one of the great jazz masterpieces with a 50th anniversary performance of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn’s masterpiece, Such Sweet Thunder (Shakespearean...
April 2007
0 posts
Five Fabulous IJO Events
Five Fabulous IJO Events The IJO’s 2007-2008 season is off to a great start. Overture, our season launch was a great success. If you missed the concert, the IJO website now contains full details of the forthcoming season. A post-concert review of Overture including photos, audio and video clips will be posted soon. Here are five fabulous IJO events: 1) In The Mode With Miles, Tuesday May...
March 2007
0 posts
Overture 2007-2008 Season Launch and Preview
http://www.impressionsinjazz.ca/CP-150307.html Just a reminder that the IJO is launching its 2007-2008 season at the Crowne Plaza International Ballroom this Thursday March 15, 2007 at 7:30 PM. If you are planning to buy tickets to this fabulous show or know of people that are, we are encouraging people to buy them beforehand. Doing so will make things more manageable for IJO volunteers on the...
February 2007
0 posts
Tickets on sale for Overture featuring the...
THIS MESSAGE CONTAINS INFORMATION ABOUT THREE EVENTS (ONE HUGE, TWO SMALLER EVENTS) In 2007-2008, the IJO will stage innovative and unique presentations featuring Ottawa-premiere performances of some of the greatest large ensemble jazz masterpieces ever written. To launch the season, the IJO will present Overture on March 15, 2007. Featuring over forty musicians, actors and dancers, this...
November 2006
0 posts
Exciting news from the Impressions in Jazz...
The Impressions in Jazz Orchestra will preview its exciting 2007-2008 season with a gala concert at the Crowne Plaza International Ballroom on March 15, 2007. With a new team of volunteers, a new venue, and a forthcoming season of great music, innovative presentations and exciting collaborations, this season launch is not to be missed. In addition to the season preview the IJO will unveil its...