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Event Description

The Victoria Premier Has Been Announced of Valdy Goes Big Band

Canadian folk icon and Juno award-winning performer Valdy is teaming up with the Victoria Jazz Orchestra and will be performing a big band-infused cross-genre show within the innovative rarer folk-jazz genre. The concert will feature the beloved music of folk legend Valdy with treasured jazz standards March 16, 2019, at the Alix Goolden Hall in Victoria, BC, at 907 Pandora Ave. Tickets will be available in January and can be purchased at the Victoria Conservatory of Music at 900 Johnson Street, by phone at (250) 386-5311 and online through alixgooldenhall.com. Students and seniors’ tickets are $32, general admission is $37. The concert starts at 7:30 pm and the doors open at 7:00 pm.

The Victoria performance will feature Valdy’s hits from the 1970’s until the present day including the favourite hits “Peter and Lou,” “Easy Money,” “Daddy’s OK,” “Highway 63,” and jazz standard gems for big band. Multi-JUNO award winner Valdy is a recipient of the Order of Canada and has received seven JUNO award nominations. With fourteen albums to his credit and having achieved sales of nearly half a million copies (four of which are certified gold), he received SOCAN’s National Achievement Award in 2005 and currently maintains a busy touring schedule across Canada and abroad.

The Victoria Jazz Orchestra, Vancouver Island’s premier big band has been featured at the Victoria and Nanaimo International Jazz Festivals. Led by gifted talent Canadian saxophonist and composer Monik Nordine, the orchestra features lyrical Victoria area jazz soloists such as guitarist Rob Cheramy and tenor saxophonist Andrew Greenwood. Nordine formed the band in 2013 and many of the big band’s first performances were held at Victoria’s historic Hermann’s Jazz Club. The Victoria Jazz Orchestra has teamed up with soloists, composers, and conductors from BC and other parts of Canada including Chelsea McBride, John Korsrud, Jennifer Scott, Jill Townsend, and Bill Coon. Having been featured as a performer with VEJI, The Pat Coleman Quartet and The Jon Miller Quartet, bandleader Nordine has three captivating well-crafted original jazz albums to her name – not just to but over the moon, Departure and The Old-New Town.

Valdy Goes Big Band evolved on Salt Spring Island as a collaboration between the jazz and folk communities and was first presented by the Swing Shift Community Big Band on Salt Spring Island in June of 2018 under the direction of powerhouse trumpet player Derrick Milton. Renowned songwriter Valdy has always had a deep respect for the jazz tradition and has been a closet jazz player for most of his life and is keen to perform his music with the Victoria Jazz Orchestra. Joining the Victoria Jazz Orchestra for the first time, dazzling trumpet player Derrick Milton currently performs with The Foothills Brass and directs Salt Spring Island’s the Swing Shift Community Big Band.

Singer-songwriter Valdy meets the swinging sounds of big band with orchestrations of his original compositions as scored by saxophonist and VJO bandleader Monik Nordine, Capilano College jazz studies program founder Mike Reveley, bandleader and pianist Andrew Homzy, and trombonist/arranger Keith Ollerenshaw.

Mark it on your calendar! Join us for an evening of Valdy’s hits with Vancouver island’s most acclaimed big band. Don’t miss the fun with the Victoria Jazz Orchestra for this memorable Victoria big band concert premier featuring favourites performed by folk legend Valdy not-to-be-missed — see you there!