YOW Jazz, January 7: Live Recordings from 2024
In this look back at live recordings released in 2024, we will hear Lakecia Benjamin, the Canadian Jazz Collective, the Ryan Oliver Quartet, Hannah Horton, Alvin Queen, and others
This will be the first YOW Jazz of 2025. The goal of YOW Jazz is to highlight live jazz in the National Capital Region as well as featuring new releases. For the first show of the year, I will look back at live recordings released in 2024.
One of the more dynamic performances at the Ottawa Jazz Festival in 2024 was Lakecia Benjamin. Shortly after her performance at the National Arts Centre, she released a live album, “Phoenix Reimagined”. We will hear a track from that release.
Canadian-born Ben Wendel will be performing at the Ottawa Jazz Festival’s Winter Jazz Festival on February 1st. He has recently released a live album recorded at the Village Vanguard. I will play a track from that release.
Also playing at the Winter Jazz Festival will be the Virginia MacDonald Quartet. In 2024, she played alongside the Canadian Jazz Collective in a live performance in France. We will hear a track from that release. Here she is soloing with the Canadian Jazz Collective.
We will also hear a track from the new Alvin Queen live release, “The Jazzcup Cafe Blues”. Alvin Queen will be 75 this year. He has a Canadian connection - he was the house drummer at Rockhead’s Paradise in Montreal for 2 years in the 1970s. He also played with Oscar Peterson. Here he is at the Montreal Jazz Festival.
The show will also include live recordings of the Ryan Oliver Quartet, Brandon Goldberg, the Matt Anderson Quartet and Hannah Horton.
2024 was a good year for live jazz and 2025 is looking promising - get out and listen to some live jazz!
You can listen live on Tuesday from 11 a.m. to noon at 93.1 on the FM dial in Ottawa or through online streaming at CKCUFM.com. The show will also be available for on demand streaming.