Three great jazz trios and quartets from across the country came together for an event called Urban Jazz Landscape at the Glenn Gould.  I was asked to host and enjoyed the music.  It was curated by the folks the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal, Toronto Jazz Festival, and Vancouver International Jazz Festival, and featured groups from each city: Kyle Brenders Quartet, Parc X Trio, and the Gordon Grdina Trio.

Usually during my job the musicians I meet fall into the singer-songwriter/adult alternative bracket. It was a nice change to meet equally talented artists in a different genre.

I had the pleasure of interviewing the American singer-songwriter and guitarist Josh Ritter as part of the International Festival of Authors in October for CBC.  It was my first time, and a pleasure to work with someone who’s written his first novel, “Bright’s Passage”.  The book is about a young soldier who returns home from the war and has to take care of his new baby after his wife dies in childbirth.  He is guided by an angel who is very human in character, and he takes a journey with the baby and the horse.

I didn’t give myself much time to read the book, but I did finish it.  It was good – Josh’s descriptions gave the novel a quiet, somewhat heavy and introspective atmosphere that isn’t as depressing as you might think.

Josh himself was light and positive.  He started out by reading a passage from the book and as he did he came to a funny bit, and laughed at himself! It was very charming to see someone enjoy his own creations like that.

I told him backstage I’ve always envied writers.  It’s such a great undertaking. So Josh for your first novel – congratulations.