Festival Concert Photography

Another great day at the Toronto Jazz Festival, an amazing sunny Sunday.

Out of the slew of shows to see and hear, I only managed to see a couple later in the afternoon and evening. Started with $5 dollar pints and 1/2 price appetizers at Joe Mama’s. ‘Organic’, the regular Sunday house band were the classic jazz standards entertainment.

Organic

After this I headed just up the street a few blocks to Nathan Phillips Square for the main show of the day. Blues was on the menu tonight. First up was pedal steel maestro Robert Randolph and his Family Band.

Robert Randolph & the Family Band

Headliners the Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band ripped up some great rock and blues. Drawing from a deep repertoire and throwing a few SRV and BB King covers in, finishing off with their classic Blue on Black followed by an amazing cover of Voodoo Child to close it off. Awesome show!

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band

Toronto Jazz festival

Nathan Philips Square will be packed again starting this weekend with the return of the Toronto Jazz Festival! Some shows to watch for at NPS include Dianna Reeves, David Clayton-Thomas, Stanley Clarke, Galactic, Kenny Wayne Shepard, the amazing Robert Randolph & the Family Band, Lettuce, John Scofield Uberjam.

Plus they have some free admission shows , Lighthouse & Melissa Etheridge are there this weekend. Free shows continue daily for the duration of the festival on a few stages around the city.

Chaka Khan opens the festival this Thursday at The Sony Centre with Shemekia Copeland opening. That’s not all that Thursday has to offer though, several bars start up with Jazz Fest shows. The Jazz Bistro on Victoria starts with Mark Mclean feat. Kellylee Evans, The Dominion on Queen has Sean Dobbins Detroit Organ Quartet, Blackburn play Jo Mama’s, the list is extensive. The Dominion and a few other restaurant/bars have extended 4am closing times for the late owls.

I’ll be attending as many shows as I can fit in, documenting with the camera and catching the performers and happenings through out the festival, hope to see you down there. Stay tuned via RSS or come back soon for photos and reviews, enjoy the festival!

Here is the link to the Toronto Jazz Festival Web Site for dates, times, artist bio’s and all the info.