The NOLA NightHawks, directed and arranged by pianist Andrew Homzy, celebrate the Music of Old and New Orleans — from Jelly Roll Morton to Wynton Marsalis, at 2 p.m. Sunday, June 16 at Pat’s House of Jazz in Crofton’s Osborne Bay Pub.
Homzy’s shows are always popular and always different. Once again, he has arranged and prepared an entirely new program – bringing us a melting pot of song, improvisation and dance that forms the basis for a large part of the history of 20th Century popular American music.
“The show highlights traditional and contemporary music from the city that gave birth to jazz,” said pianist/arranger Homzy, who leads the 10-piece jazz band. NOLA, which stands for New Orleans, LouisianA, presents music as diverse as some entire countries.
“This concert will include classic compositions associated with Louis Armstrong and his wife, Lillian Hardin, Jelly Roll Morton and Bix Beiderbecke as well as some from a new generation of New Orleans based composers such as John Ellis, a headliner at the Nanaimo Jazz Festival, trumpeter Nicholas Payton, and trombonist Wycliffe Gordon,” he said.
Homzy, who moved to Nanaimo in 2009, was a key figure on the Montreal jazz scene for more than 40 years, where his Jazz Orchestra played regularly at the Montreal Jazz Festival and whose performances were broadcast many times on Radio-Canada.
He formed the NOLA NightHawks by selecting some of the best professional musicians in the Nanaimo area: Derrick Milton and Greg Bush on trumpet, Darren Nilsson and Paul Nuez on trombone, Claudio Fantinato on clarinet, Rod Alsop on baritone sax, Adam Robertson on drums, Rob Uffen on bass and Keanu Barned on guitar.
Admission is $20.