Thursday September 27th 2018 at 7:30pm

Conversations with John Lee and Tony Genge

Members $10 , non-members $12

After last week's red hot performance, Let the Good Times Roll, with the Connor Stewart Quintet, highly acclaimed multi-instrumentalist and composer John Lee returns to the Georgia Straight Jazz Club for another exhilarating evening.

Jazz audiences fondly recall Lee's May project In The Spirit Of Ray Brown that reflected upon the repertoire, energy and the music stylings of Brown's legendary trio. This year John Lee has something new to present to the Comox Valley. In November 2017, a project called CONVERSATIONS was born in which John Lee began collaborations with acclaimed musicians to capture the art of personal and intimate one-on-one musical conversations in jazz improvisation. Dr. Tony Genge, widely acknowledged as one of Canada's top pianists and organists, was the first artist Lee sought out to launch the project. They return to the Avalanche stage for an evening of power driven and explosive jazz with Tony on organ and John on drums.

When you attend a performance by the charismatic John Lee, you can always expect a virtuosic show infused with a vigorous positive energy. Equally at home on drums, bass, guitar and keyboards, he leads the John Lee Trio of Kelby MacNayr and Sean Drabitt. Much sought-after by jazz groups, he has shared stages with some of the leading international jazz artists such as Terell Stafford, Ingrid Jensen, and Cyrus Chestnut as well as Canadian jazz artists Christine Jensen, Jodi Proznick and Phil Dwyer.

One of Canada’s leading jazz keyboard artists, Dr. Genge performed here three weeks ago with the Ryan Oliver Quartet. Known for his work as a composer, educator and author, Dr. Genge has performed with many leading Canadian and International jazz artists. He has recorded with Joe Coughlin and Paul Horn and written groundbreaking books on legendary jazz pianists Red Garland and Wynton Kelly. Dr. Genge’s music is characterized by its distinctive harmonic language, elegant orchestration, and postmodern mix of musical elements.

This not-to-be-missed performance promises to be a night of slick grooves with many tributes to the styles of great jazz organists and drummers of the past 70 years.

Browse the website for more information about the 2018 fall season's 16 jazz performances, and the 38 scheduled concerts in the forthcoming year 2019. That way, you will quickly realize why Courtenay has become a significant performance destination on the Canadian jazz scene.

GSJS showcases jazz live in the Comox Valley, giving music lovers an opportunity to enjoys local, regional and internationally-known jazz musicians.