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Georgia Straight settling into new digs

Thank you to the Avalanche for the hospitality; it looks like things are working out well.

After two blockbuster weeks in our new digs, it looks like jazz aficionados and members of the Georgia Straight Jazz Society are really settling in to a comfortable routine.

Thank you to the Avalanche for the hospitality; it looks like things are working out well.

This week, we progress to the Mike Irving Quintet.

Five months back, when Mike’s combo last played for us, he received a standing ovation and responded with an encore. The audience had been wowed by a talented core of musicians from the Arrowsmith Big Band. Thanks to Mike’s creativity, he is presenting a different lineup for this Thursday’s performance.

Michael’s former band student is now one of VIU’s hottest students: Curtis Reich on bass displays how fortunate we are to have such a wealth of young talent — tomorrow’s big names — right on our doorstep. Paul Nuez, well known to local jazz enthusiasts, will be playing trombone.

Rounding out the quintet are; Colin Campbell, recently retired from teaching music at Oak Bay Secondary in Victoria and the newest member of the Arrowsmith Big Band on guitar (and a great vocalist, too, as many local fans will remember from his earlier performance this season) and Hans Verhoeven, drum instructor at VIU on drums.

Michael is the music director at Dover Bay Secondary School in Nanaimo, but is better known to jazz fans in this area as the lead trumpet for the Arrowsmith Big Band.

He has performed with such artists as Phil Dwyer, Ingrid Jensen, Alan Jones, P.J. Perry, Fraser MacPherson, Ian McDougall, Oliver Gannon, Louise Rose, Hugh Fraser, Rob McConnell, and has performed with many local groups including the Victoria Symphony, the Victoria Operatic Society, the Nanaimo Chamber Orchestra, the Prince George Symphony, the Commodores Big Band, South Island Musical Theatre Society, Bard To Broadway, and the Nanaimo Theatre Group. As a musical director he has been the guest conductor of National Band of Cuba.

Show time is 7:30.

For more information about the Georgia Straight Jazz Society, visit  www.georgiastraightjazzsociety.com or see us on Facebook.

Regular jazz fans are reminded that there will be no Thursday night jazz performance on March 21 because the Avalanche features Comedy Night on the third Thursday of each month.

— Georgia Straight Jazz Society