Jeff Agopsowicz's musical travels have physically taken him "around the world" and into a variety of musical genres, but his clear favorite place to land is in the jazz world and he is thankful for the musical haven provided by the Georgia Straight Jazz Society. The focus will be on familiar jazz standards with a few originals.

He is surrounding himself with a talented group of musicians, some local and some Nanaimo-based. From Nanaimo will be Graham Villette on drums. Graham has been playing professionally for almost a decade with prominent jazz musicians such as Joe Magnarelli, Atilla Fias, and others. Villette attended VIU for his BA and then completed a Masters Degree in Jazz Performance at the University of Toronto.

Kosma Busheikin joins Villette as part of the Nanaimo band contingent. Busheikin brings his love of blues and swing to the bandstand. He has spent the years since his VIU studies establishing himself in the Island Jazz music scene with a wide variety of musicians at music festivals such as the Port Theatre and the Tofino Jazz festival. His love of playing and teaching music began as a 16 year old taking guitar lessons on Denman Island. Busheikin joins the band on guitar for the evening

Local, proven musicians Rachel Cooper and Steve Wallace round out the band. Steve began his illustrious music career playing bass in a high school student run Dixieland band. Since then it has been 47 years of what Steve calls "on the job training" with many jazz greats both from Canada and the US. Steve has been a treasured jazz fixture in the Comox Valley since his move here in 2021. When not playing he is an avid birder, baseball fan, and cryptic crossword addict.

Rachel Cooper is a busy parent/ local music teacher/performer on clarinet and sax who claims that "music chose her" instead of her doing the choosing. Rachel describes herself as "klezmer, classical, and latin infused jazz style". Her advice to aspiring musicians is to focus on the basics of technique, scales, using a tuner and a metronome. "Music is meant to be shared," she states looking forward to sharing her musical passions with the Georgia Straight audience.

Admission to this concert is $15 for members, $20 for non-members. Annual memberships ($20) will be for sale at the door. Doors open at 7:00 pm.

You're invited to visit www.georgiastraightjazz.com to look at the calendar of diverse and amazing jazz performances between now and the end of August. If you're new to the valley and love live music, give us a try: you'll be glad you did

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