Georgia Straight Jazz Society’s live jazz season continues this Thursday with a Victoria-based small group: a duo which includes a polished and charming vocalist who will steal your heart, Edie Dapont.
Dapont regularly appears in the Sidney and Victoria area, and her first Thursday Night Jazz appearance last year was one of the lovely surprises of the season. Her most recent CD release Young at Heart was receiving critical acclaim at that time.
In 2016, she was nominated as Vocalist of the Year by Vancouver Island Music Awards. Emotive and passionate, her voice lends itself perfectly to a wide range of jazz standards, seamlessly moving from jazz to Bossa Nova, switching between English, Portuguese, Spanish and French numbers. At 7:30 p.m. at the Avalanche Bar &Grill, she will be accompanied by the wonderful Joey Smith on bass, to present her two-hour treat.
Always the consummate southern gentleman with his impeccable manners and elegant style, Smith originally moved from the deep south to Rochester, N.Y. to study for his masters degree at the Eastman School of Music after touring for two-and-a-half-years with the Glenn Miller Orchestra as bassist and arranger.
For the past 25 years he has been bassist for many local groups and collaborated with various artists during their stops in Victoria. He has written numerous arrangements for different groups: from the Glenn Miller Orchestra to the Victoria Symphony, to arranging music for the Commonwealth Games in 1994.
Currently several of his arrangements appear on The Bills, Marc Atkinson Trio and Edie DaPonte’s latest CD. This week, Smith breaks with his bass tradition, and accompanies Edie on guitar.
As a duo the pair create a wonderful intimate atmosphere, engaging audiences large and small, drawing the listeners in and rewarding them with classic numbers they love to hear. This show will include a special focus on songs made famous by Edith Piaf.
Admission is $10 for members and $12 for non-members.
For more information about this show and the upcoming calendar of performances for the 2017-2018 season, visit georgiastraightjazz.com.