Manitoba Live Music Event

Dig! Magazine Rent Party

Date
Sunday, Jan 18, 2015 at 7:30pm
Sunday, Feb 22, 2015 at 7:30pm
Saturday, Mar 21, 2015 at 7:30pm
Saturday, Apr 18, 2015 at 7:30pm
Monday, Sep 14, 2015 at 7:30pm
Monday, Oct 5, 2015 at 7:30pm
Saturday, Nov 21, 2015
Monday, Dec 7, 2015 at 7:30pm
Performers
The Big dig! Band
Location
Park Theatre
Address
698 Osborne Street, Winnipeg, MB, Canada
Door Cost
$5.00

About

The Big dig! Band is back!
at its new home
The Park Theatre
698 Osborne Street

Doors: 7:30 PM
Workshop set: 8 PM
Concert set: 9:30 PM

dig! magazine, Winnipeg’s bi-monthly jazz magazine, is pleased to announce the return of Winnipeg’s new community-based jazz orchestra, The Big dig! Band. Conducted by the University of Manitoba’s Derrick Gardner with Steve Kirby as the artistic director, the big band will be an opportunity for jazz musicians to have their new compositions workshopped and performed by musicians in a new monthly concert series at The Park Theatre

Although a unique idea to Winnipeg, the band’s structure is a lot like the Mingus Jazz Workshops from the late 50s and early 60s. Those gatherings gave people a chance to bring pieces they’d composed, and have them workshopped, with the option to refine them and bring them back, and perhaps even have them performed in a concert setting. This is a big part of the Big dig! Band mandate. The orchestra will workshop compositions and arrangements by local musicians, and offer feedback on the spot, all in an open rehearsal context.

These nights aren’t all workshopping, though. The other face of the Big dig! Band is that it is also a performing ensemble. After the workshop session, there’ll be an intermission, and then the band will present a concert showcasing a wide range of big band material, from the fabulous repertoire and arrangements that have made this format so successful, to lesser known innovative works that rarely get heard, to brand new compositions and arrangements by local musicians.

Whether you’re curious about what happens behind the scenes when musicians learn new music and refine their performance techniques, or if you just want to hear some incredible big band jazz in an intimate club setting, don’t miss the return of the Big dig! Band!

Band members include*:

Will Bonness – piano
Steve Kirby – bass
Quincy Davis – drums
Jocelyn Marie Gould – guitar
Jon Gordon – alto sax
Shannon Kristjanson – alto sax & flute
Neil Watson – tenor sax
Niall Bakkestad-Legare – tenor sax
Ken Gold – Bari Sax
Brad Shigeta – trombone
Bill Green – Trombone
Joel Green – Trombone
Karin Carlson – Trombone
Derrick Gardner – Trumpet
Simon Christie – Trumpet
Bill Kristjanson – Trumpet
Jeff Johnson – Trumpet
Andrew Littleford – Trumpet

*Lineup subject to change month-to-month.

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