This June, head to White Rock for the new White Rock Jazz & Blues Festival. The lively sounds of jazz and blues music will take over the streets of uptown White Rock from June 16 to 18, with free outdoor performances by an amazing group of talented musicians.
During the day, performers will be in various outdoor locations all around the city performing toe-tapping jazz and blues for free. Bring your lawn chairs and blankets and let the music move you! And in the evenings, tickets are available for the multi-award-winning Deanna Bogart Band with special guest Shakura S’Aida performing live at Blue Frog Studios.
Highlights include:
Deanna Bogart Band with special guest Shakura S’Aida (ticketed, June 16 & 17)
Two simply incredible multi-award-winning female musicians together for an incredible night of music.
With 40 years as a road musician, award-winning bandleader, and multi-instrumentalist, Deanna Bogart is adored by her fans for her adventurous, original, and diverse music career. She is recognized for her dazzling keyboards, soulful saxophone, smoky vocals, and cut-above songwriting.
Shakura S’Aida is an award-winning performer, who has travelled the globe for more than two decades, connecting and inspiring audiences with her powerful vocals. An undeniable talent and an advocate for human rights, her artistic work reflects that which impacts and connects us all.
The RazzMaJazz Ensemble is a popular and entertaining band that performs traditional jazz creole, Dixieland and blues-style music.
“Chanteuse, accordionist, songwriter, and musical hostess Ana Bon-Bon delivers an intoxicating dose of jump blues, country blues, cabaret, soul blues, and double-entendre lyrics all wrapped up in one big wood-choppin’ gal with seasoned vocals and a bump’n’grind squeezy-box.”
“Ruby Lane Organ Trio is an instrumental group that plays jazz, funk, Latinx, R&B, and pop songs. They specialize in taking a known song and arranging it to fit the organ trio format: a swing tune becomes a tango, a jazz song becomes a rock shuffle, and familiar sounds get unfamiliar time signatures and grooves, with emphasis on groove.”
Dean Thiessen is a daring yet sensitive pianist and composer. The deep trust and collaboration between him and his trio mates Thad Bailey-Mai (trumpet) & Ben Parker (drums) as well as their years of friendship inspire their performances to be dynamic and new each time.
With vocals that can leap from high and ethereal to a whiskey-soaked gut-punch – often in a single song – LittleFox explores genres from folk/pop to bluegrass to blues. Guided by the textures of violin, pedal steel, accordion, ukulele, and banjo, and locked in by a rock-solid rhythm section, Alison Jenkins’ thoughtful original songs are about love, longing, belonging, missing and murdered women, urban history, and finding your way in strange times.
A seasoned live performer, Waldman delights his audiences with high-energy performances, rich improvisations, and a playful stage persona. Heavily influenced by folk and blues pioneers Townes Van Zandt, JJ Cale, and Neil Young, Waldman has toured Canada, Western US, and the UK, and has appeared at major festivals that include Vancouver’s Folk and International Jazz Fests and the Burnaby Blues and Roots Fest.
Free daytime jazz and blues performance venues include:
Miramar Village (1542 Johnston Road)
Saltaire (1426 Johnston Road)
Five Corners (Johnston Road & Pacific Avenue)
Laura’s Coffee Corner (15259 Pacific Avenue)
For the full list of performers, and who is performing when and where visit whiterockbia.com/jazz-and-blues-festival
Get into the groove and get ready to dance at the 2023 White Rock Jazz & Blues Festival.
The White Rock Jazz & Blues Festival is presented by the White Rock Business Improvement Association.
Feature photo credit to the White Rock BIA.