Maurice James photo by Sean Henderson
Someone recently asked me how I discovered jazz and fell in love with the genre? I quickly quipped, “Early on! When I became an Oleta Adams fan!” In her music, I heard a little bit of everything – jazz, pop, R&B, gospel, classical – and all the instrumentation in her music as the backdrop to her soulful, sultry voice was the icing on top.
It’s what jazz represents for me. This music’s diversity and versatility allow for the infusion (even intrusion) of influences from all musical backgrounds to enter a space that encourages us, as concert goers and avid listeners of this heart-soothing music, to experience and be open to something different and feel better doing it.
It’s pride for presentation that keeps us here at Earshot working hard to bring you the very best this genre has to offer. Often presenting norm-challenging and innovative artists with their unique sound, that, when performed in the same musical space as more traditional jazz stylings, keeps the genre alive and fresh – inviting and intriguing new audiences along the way.
As the highs of our spring concert series hover in our rear-view mirror and we look forward to the fall with our annual Earshot Jazz Festival and hopes of announcing our new executive leader, we can’t be more humbled by your continued support. It fuels us to keep the gas on the pedal, steadily racing this genre down the track.
We want to say “thank you” in advance for your support to Earshot Jazz during this month’s GiveBIG campaign. Your support means the world to us.
Cheers to being cool!
Maurice James
Chair, Board of Directors
