TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival

TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival, formerly du Maurier Ltd International Jazz Festival Vancouver. First mounted 19 to 25 Aug 1985 as the Pacific Jazz and Blues Festival by the Pacific Jazz and Blues Festival Association (later the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society). In 1986 it came under the du Maurier banner and, for that year only, was incorporated into the Expo 86 activities. The festival's format and programming were established in the first year: the use of many Vancouver venues (20 by 1991, including the Orpheum Theatre, Commodore Ballroom, Western Front, Vancouver East Cultural Centre, and several clubs and outdoor stages) and the presentation of a broad, contemporary, if not avant-garde spectrum of jazz and jazz-related music. In 1991, attendance was estimated at 150,000 for some 200 performances over 11 days involving more than 500 musicians, including 45 concerts in the free, three-day 'Jazz at the Plaza' series on the former Expo 86 site.

Under the artistic direction of Ken Pickering, and through the development of the co-operative Westcan Jazz network, the festival has had an increasingly marked influence on the programming of the Canadian summer festival season, initiating national tours by such artists as Dr. Umezu and Sabu Toyozumi (Japan), Alex Schlippenbach Trio (Germany), Urs Leimgruber and Urs Blochlinger (Switzerland), and the Oleksandr Nesterov/Petro Tovstukha duo (The Ukraine), and co-producing many others.

The Pacific Jazz and Blues Festival Association, established in 1984, was formalized on a non-profit basis as the Coastal Jazz and Blues Society by Pickering, Bob Kerr, John Orysik, Deborah Roitberg, and Ray Simmonds in 1986. The society also has produced TIME flies, a November festival of contemporary jazz and improvised music, established in 1988, and has offered jazz, new music, and world music concerts on a year-round basis, averaging some 40 presentations (excluding the jazz festival) annually by 1991. A bi-monthly newsletter, Looking Ahead, was introduced in 1989.

In 2010, with a new title sponsor, the Festival changed its name to TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival.

Links to Other Sites
Michael Kaeshammer
The website for jazz pianist extraordinaire Michael Kaeshammer. Check out his bio, tour schedule, and video clips featuring Kaeshammer and his superb band in performance.

Robert Fulford: Jazz, on the record
Robert Fulford chronicles the lively history of jazz in his National Post column.