Salt Spring jazz music fans will have another regular way to get their fix with the initiation of a weekly Jazz at the Harbour House series.
Starting Wednesday, March 5, people can take in live jazz from local and visiting musicians every Wednesday from 7 to 9 p.m. in Woodley’s Restaurant at the Harbour House Hotel, whether enjoying dinner or just having a drink.
Saxophonist Iain Duncan is the series founder, who was inspired by positive responses he received from by-donation jazz shows he presented twice in the ArtSpring gallery space and at Mateada on a monthly basis last year.
“We found that our crowd likes to come out earlier, likes to come for dinner time and seems to be happy to come out on weeknights,” he said. “So I’m just essentially moving the series, doing it the exact same way we did it at Mateada, but at the Harbour House.”
Duncan said hotel general manager Kelly Armstrong is excited to host the weekly event at Woodley’s.
With so many excellent jazz musicians both on Salt Spring Island and in the region, Duncan said, there is no shortage of talent and experience to draw from.
“What I did was talk to some of the wonderful colleagues that I’ve met here and line up a few configurations and suggested to everybody that we want to make it a mixture of out-of-town and local people. That’s what I was doing at the Mateada as well.”
The first show on March 5 sees Duncan playing with his good friend Nick Peck, “who is originally from England and an amazing piano player. He’s certainly one of the best in the province.”
They will be joined by Victoria bass player Ryan Tandy, who is part of several ensembles in the city.
The next four events are as follows:
• March 12: vocalist Kate Trajan and friends;
• March 19: Iain Duncan with pianist Mary Kastle and Ryan Tandy on bass;
• March 26: Mary Kastle, Simon Millerd (trumpet) and Daniel Snowden (bass);
• April 2: organist Chris Gestrin with Iain Duncan and Bert Hollingsworth (guitar).
Duncan said offering the music on a by-donation basis has worked extremely well, with some people’s generosity helping to ensure retirees on fixed incomes, for example, are able to attend.
“We wind up making an average that’s the same as if we had charged a regular cover charge, but we’re able to have people who wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford to come, and that’s been really well received.”
He said the format will allow attendees to have dinner and/or drinks and conversation, rather than it being a “recital” situation.
Reservations to secure a table can be made through the Harbour House at 250-537-4700.
Duncan studied music at Capilano University (then a college) as a young man, but ended up pursuing computer science and working in that field. He then started taking music/jazz courses at Vancouver Community College, and when he moved to Victoria in 2014 pursued a master’s degree at UVic, studying with world-class computer music professors. He is now working on his PhD in that field.
Duncan, who moved to Salt Spring in 2022, is grateful to a number of people who have helped develop the jazz series behind the scenes, including Grace McNab, who coordinated the Capilano University jazz music program for many years and retired to Salt Spring. McNab can be seen playing piano at the popular every-other-Sunday afternoon Jazz Jam at the Legion.