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.

Here’s another feature I wrote and voiced (for CBC Radio 2) about the song “The Maker” and how Daniel Lanois got the lyrics from the Liffey River in Dublin, Ireland.

This feature I wrote and voiced (for CBC Radio 2) was on the song “American Woman” by The Guess Who and their rejection of American culture.

This feature I wrote, voiced and produced (for CBC Radio 2) was on the song “Last Song” and about Larry Evoy of Edward Bear, who was in love with a go-go girl in Yorkville, Toronto.

This feature I wrote and voiced (for CBC Radio 2) was on the song Life Is A Highway and how Tom Cochrane felt after his missions in East Africa with World Vision.  It was produced by Reuben Maan.

How could I forget.  I pitched a Christmas show called “O Soulful Night” to Radio 2 with my friend Jeanette Cabral, the music programmer there.  It got approved (!) and aired December 24th night on 94.1 in Toronto.

This feature (for CBC Radio 2) was on the song Taking Care of Business and the relationship between Randy Bachman and his younger brother Gary.

I had a good time putting this feature together.  I spoke to King Lou of the Dream Warriors for a long time about how he grew up in Toronto and his life as a musician.

CBC’s getting ready to do its Hip Hop Summit… my girls Garvia Bailey and Sarah Liss are heavily involved in the project and working very very hard to make sure it’s a great experience. Radio 2 is using its regular “O Canada” feature to um… feature some Canadian hip hop greats like Maestro Fresh Wes. Here’s that piece, which I wrote, voiced and produced.