Gregg Stafford is booked to return to Toronto Nov. 21.

Most exciting news from me for Toronto area jazz fans this month is that famed and much-loved New Orleans trumpeter Gregg Stafford will be back in Toronto for a weekend visit on Friday, Nov. 21. Gregg and pianist Roberta Hunt are putting together an all-star band which will perform at Grossman's Tavern on Friday night. This band will include Janet Shaw, clarinet and alto sax; Colin Bray, string bass, and Chuck Clarke, drums. I'll be on trombone, and the banjoist has not yet been confirmed.

Gregg Stafford's All-Stars will play from 8-11 p.m., and it will be an all-ticket event. More about that next month, but tickets are expected to be priced around $25. Marla's DarkPass Brass Band will pick up where Gregg leaves off, and the show will go on until well after midnight!

September sees the Ontario jazz club scene livening up as those clubs which closed for the summer return from their summer breaks. The Hot Five Jazzmakers return to "C'est what?" 67 Front Street, Toronto, Sept. 20, for their bi-weekly sessions from 3-6 p.m. In February 2009 they will celebrate the completion of their 20th year of regular appearances at this venue.

In Kitchener, the Lancaster Jazz Club resumes their Saturday matinees with the Ragweed Jazz Band on Sept. 6. Dinny & the All Stars come in on Sept. 13. A band with the intriguing name of Wally's Warehouse Waifs will appear on Sept. 20. I do not know this new band, but it is apparently a sell-out already. The Dixie Demons complete the month's program Sept. 27.

In Barrie, the Simcoe County Jazz Society welcomes a band from London, Ont., as their guests, The Dixie Five and Friends, playing from 2 -5 pm.

The first post-summer concert by the London Jazz Society will take place Oct. 5 at the Mocha Shrine Centre and will feature the Cameo Jazz Band. This is a long-established band which has had some personnel changes over recent months. Trombonist/leader is Peter Emmans from Woodstock. He is joined by Jim Groulx, banjo; Bill Bricknall, clarinet; Allan Colter, cornet, and Tom Elliott, tuba.

The Don Valley Stompers are described as a hot, young "kick-ass" jazz band, and they have now introduced trad jazz to two spots in Toronto -- Friday evenings at the Golden Griddle and Sunday evenings at Paully's Pub, 1240 Yonge Street, Toronto. The sound is certainly hot, and it is New Orleans style, too! The usual line-up is Toby Hughes, alto sax; Marla Dixon, trumpet; Lindsay Kotowich-Downs, trombone; Tyler Thomson, string bass; Paul Brady, drums; Alex Ralph, banjo. and Desmaines Reynolds, clarinet. These are the young people who will help carry the torch of New Orleans jazz into the future!

The seven-piece concert version of the Hot Five Jazzmakers performs another of the their jazz/gospel/spiritual shows at Humbercrest United Church on Sept. 10. The address is 16 Babypoint Road (Annette & Jane Streets), and the concert will run from 7:30 to 9 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door. Friday, Sept. 19, sees the H5JM at Sister's Restaurant, 4 Old Kingston Rd, Toronto, starting at 7 p.m.

If you have any news of Canadian interest, please contact me at briantowers@msn.com

September 2008 issue | © 2008 The Mississippi Rag

P.O. Box 19068, Minneapolis, MN 55419.