Canterbury Music



RK, Laila Biali, George Koller and Ben Riley

 Just after coming back from New York I went into Canterbury Music in Toronto to record a few more songs. Lately, I have been both writing and adapting classical music with jazz. One piece in particular which I wrote last year called St. Johann has been particularly problematic especailly coming up with a drum part. Ben Riley in some ways is the perfect player for this music as his mother and uncles are all classical string players and his dad an accomplished jazz musician. Strangly,we have never played in Toronto together but we have toured in China twice, once with erhuist George Gao and another time with Dadawa. Laila and George also perfect in the way they share the sensitivity to both jazz and classical.

The Iridium Club

The Iridium Club is a music venue on Broadway and 51st street in the Times Square entertainment area. The club is well known for presenting Jazz fusion music and for its long association with the legendary Les Paul, “The Father of The Electric Guitar." Of Jim's band only Steve Lucas and Jesse Gress had played this place before. When we went downstairs for the soundcheck there was a huge group of high school kids being serenaded by the waitresses singing pop karaoke like Britney Spears and Katy Perry.  We played two sets one at 8pm and another at 10pm. It was a lot of fun and the audience was filled with many New York area musicians. Annie Haslam from Renaissance was there as well and it was a pleasure to meet her.

At The Strand

This trip was to play with the Jim McCarty Band again. John Hawken from the Strawbs was joining us again and since he lives in nearby Metuchen the drummer Larry Crowe and I stayed at his place during this trip. Our first gig was in Lakewood New Jersey at the historic Strand Theater. I actually had played in this theater before as a headliner with Ray Hickey in the late 90's. The Strand is still as nice as ever. This concert was the first with the American guitarist Jesse Gress joining the group. Jesse has played with Tony Levin and also in Todd Rundgren's band and is well known in the guitar world for making transcriptions and various other music books. His soloing was so amazing at the show I found it hard to concentrate on my own parts.

New York, New York

It has been quite a while since travelling down to the New York area. Actually, I haven't been there since before 9/11. There is a decidedly different mood from what I remember of the various periods I have visited. Times Square has lost its seediness in exchange for a Disney Theme Park family friendly safeness. Crime is down and the panhandlers are almost non-exsistent, yet New York doesn't seem to display the same confidence I remember. I wonder if it is just my perception has changed since I have visted so many more Asian cities and now New York seems rather tame.

Aidan's Birthday

My good friend Aidan Mason turned 60 on April 26th. The night before a gathering of his friends and colleagues turned up at the Laisy Daisy Cafe in little India to celebrate. Aidan is a Chinese-South African guitarist who came to Canada and played in Anne Murray's band for 30 years until she retired. As many of his circle are musicians, spontaneous noise was of course naturally going to break out. Here you can see Aidan far left with Jorn Anderson on percussion, Carlos Lopes on guitar and RK on the flute.

Ian Clarke spotted at Spotted Dick

Celebrated British flautist Ian Clarke gave a concert in Toronto at St. Andrews on Bloor Street. The program was a nice assortment of his own music with some standard repertoire such as a Bach Sonata and the Carmen Fantasy. After the show a bunch of us Diane, Patricia and Cathy Miller from Miyazawa all went to a nearby English pub called the Spotted Dick. In this shot you can see Ian and I caught in the act of air fluting while discussing the differences and similarities between the French flute and various World flutes.

Final Bows at Hugh's Room




(L to R) John Hawken, RK, Larry Crowe, Jim McCarty,
Jann Close,  Jean-Michel Kajdan, George Koller   

 Final bows of the night wrapping up an intense few days. It was a nice way to complete the European touring earlier in the year by playing a few show in Ontario. It was also nice to revist Hugh's Room with this band. Last March we played there with a different line up.

Shapes Of Things

For the last songs of the night Jim played drums and had the yougsters out front. Here Ron and Jann Close rock out to Shapes Of Things. Jann is a musician who is originally from Germany but now lives in the Bronx where he is carving out a living as a solo singer songwriter. Jann joined Jim's tour in Canada as an opening act.

Isadora - British Prog

In this show we played some classic Renaissance material like Madonna Blue and Isadora. It was a great chance for to play authentic progressive rock with two master musicians.

Beyond The Day

Here Jim and Ron are performing a song from the Renaissance Illusion album which was released in 2001. On the CD Ron recorded his flute part at Chiswick Reach Studios. Like many top facilities Chiswick closed many years ago. Beyond the Day has always been a favorite. RK likes the challenge of singing backing vocals and switching to whistle. 

Having a deep conversation with a drummer

On Wednesday we played in Toronto with the Jim McCarty Band. Here Larry and I spend a quiet moment before soundcheck discussing the finer points of rock music.

John Hawken

(LtoR) John Hawken, RK, Larry Crowe, Jim McCarty, Goerge Koller, Jean-Michel Kajdan

As always on Jim's tours with the Yardbirds he likes to spend some down time in his favorite North American city.
Jim recorded his album Sitting On The Top Of Time in Toronto and this past trip it was a chance to play some of the material with a full band as well as invite his friend pianist John Hawken. John played in the Nashville Teens, Renaissance (with Jim) and The Strawbs in the early days of the rock and roll scene in London. It was the first time in 30 odd years Jim and John had played together. In this shot the band is playing at This Ain't Hollywood in Hamilton. Jean -Michel came from Paris to participate in the gigs.

Monty Hall's 90th birthday party

Here is a shot taken at Monty Hall's 90th birthday party at the residence of the Consulate General in Los Angeles. photo  The organizers put me up at The Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. That day I had to get up early and take a propeller prop plane from Eureka to San Francisco and then to LAX. Shortly after I arrived at the hotel I was picked up and taken to the residence to run through the songs with the band.
The whole event was an incredible variety show hosted by Peter Marshall with entertainers like Gloria Loring, Norm Crosby, Nita Whittaker and Jack Jones. Paul Anka and David Foster both gave birthday salutations via video. My whole contribtuion was two songs Cuchulainn and a brand new piece called Cantata.




Monty Hall, his wife Marilyn, R K and Canada's Ambassador in Washington D.C. His Excellency Gary Doer.



Saturday Night at the Flute Festival in Oakhurst

One of the participants was kind enough to take Ron on a tour through the park and seeing the giant Sequoia trees. It is really a thrill to experience such incredible nature.

That night Ron headlined a concert with two other acts at the Sierra Sky Ranch. Halfway through his show he was joined by native musician Randy Granger on the halo drum. For his encore Ron was joined by the two other performers Rona Yellow Robe and Rafael Bejarano. The following morning Ron gave a class on breathing and tone production.


 

Yosemite Flute Festival

Got a ride from Los Angeles to Yosemite Flute Festival with Scott August who is a prominent flutist in the Native Flute genre. His albums are featured in all the American National Parks gift stores. The lovely organizers of the festival Rick and Linda Dunlap provided a beautiful ranch style house for the artist outside of Oakhurst where the festival is held. Really enjoyed hearing the other musicians and what they have created using the Native Flute.

Yardbirds at The Key Club

As a complete coincidence the Yardbirds were in California doing a tour while I was in LA enroute to my activities at the Yosemite Flute Festival. The Yardbirds were playing 20 dates in the States from New York to Hawaii. I took my friends Linda Stella (Bill Evans my keyboard player's wife) and Makoto Tani a life long friend from Japan to see them at the Key Club in West Hollywood. Great show. I would have to say the band is sounding better than it ever has. Linda went to their next gig to do some photography.

Orchestra Rehearsal

Orchestra rehearsal for a concert at The Queen Elizabeth Theatre. RK is the opening act and also featured playing solo flute for the NY singer Michael Castaldo. The date chosen was an interesting one 9, 10,11. It was fun to play with some Classical musicians that RK went to University of Toronto, Faculty of Music.

Kitchener Waterloo Chamber Society

The following day Anne and Ron performed at the Kitchener Waterloo Chamber Society. The duo perfomed a very eclectic program contrasting major classical works with jazz, blues and world influenced pieces.  One such piece was Winter in Gros Cap written by Anne for bass flute and piano inspired by the beauty of the nature of Northern Ontario.
Other pieces included were:
Prokofiev Flute Sonata in D Major
Franz Liszt: Etude de Concert "un sospiro"
Wladislaw Szpilman: Suite "The Life of the Machines"
Winter at Gros Cap, composed by Anne Louise-Turgeon

Sergei Rachmaninoff: Two Etudes-Tableaux op.39 nos. 1
Rachmaninoff-Kreisler: Liebeslied
A Muse, Dark Eyes, Casco Viejo, La Sirena, Mozart's Wedding, Pasqualiti House, Canata by Ron Korb

Classical music at Q

Here Anne and RK are playing a concert at the Q Music Summertime Music Series in Toronto. They were the only artists to perform Classical music in the series and without any amplification. The beautiful Bechstein grand piano certainly made it a pleasure. The audience was mainly comprised of many local musicians and composers. Afterwards it became kind of an reaquaintence party for many.

Rehearsals with pianist Anne Louise Turgeon

Ron attended U of T with Anne Louise and her husband Ed Turgeon before the couple went to graduate school to get their masters and PhDs in music at Yale University.  Both Anne and her husband are professors of music Florida Atlantic University.  Here Ron and Anne are practicing the Prokofieff Sonata in D and some original pieces.