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Nordstrom’s band provides quality entertainment

Music encompasses a range of different genres
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Monte & The Providers, top left, during the 39 Days Of July in Duncan. Sittin’ on the dock of the bay, right, watching the tide roll away is Monte Nordstrom at the Crofton dock. (Photos by Don Bodger, submitted)

Crofton’s Monte Nordstrom & The Providers are appearing in concert at the Duncan Showroom Friday, March 23 at 8 p.m.

Joining Nordstrom on The Providers are Pete Stacey on guitar and vocals; John Robertson on stand-up bass; and Charlie (Super Smooth) Wade on drums and percussion.

Monte & The Providers are the house band at Providence Farm in Duncan, providing the back line equipment and specially prepared material for the Farm’s annual fundraising event, ‘Dance Under the Stars,’ that takes place in June and features a variety of entertainment. The band comes by its name quite honestly, as Nordstrom and Stacey both work at the Farm and play together as part of the weekly music program there.

“Pete and I have been playing music probably for 3-4 years at Providence Farm,” pointed out Nordstrom, who turned 64 on March 4 and is a legendary performer in these parts.

“I also do sing-a-longs with the seniors at St. Anne’s Garden Club.”

For the past two years, Nordstrom and Stacey have been performing as a quartet with jazz bassist Robertson and Belize-born drummer/percussionist Wade, who also drummed with Monte & The Beaumonts, Nordstrom’s previous renowned local group. The Providers have developed a repertoire of original material in a wide variety of styles from reggae, blues, Southern soul, progressive and other genres.

This concert will feature upbeat original material selected from Nordstrom’s catalogue of eight studio albums, several live albums and more than 200 original songs. Several of the songs in the Duncan Showroom program are directly connected to the Cowichan Valley and inspired by the west coast.

“We’re trying to reach out to folks and we’re doing an original show,” noted Nordstrom. “We’ve been working on this material for quite a while.

“It’s a real concert atmosphere. It’s definitely being able to experience the music without other things going on.”

Nordstrom first came to local attention in the Duncan-based group Ptarmigan, starting in 1970 at Cowichan Secondary School and, after touring the Eastern Canadian coffee house circuit that included a two-week stint opening at Le Hibou in Ottawa for jazz legend Lenny Breau, Ptarmigan recorded its self-titled album which was produced by jazz legend Paul Horn at Mushroom Studio in Vancouver and released on Columbia of Canada in 1973.

Nordstrom went on to record his first solo album, Silhouette of Our Insanity, at Ed DeBree’s Little Fosch four-track studio in Duncan. His second collection of original songs, Voodoo Rage, was recorded in 1983 in Edmonton.

Returning to the Island in 1986, Nordstrom established his new band, Monte & The Beaumonts, who hosted a popular weekly open stage event at the Brigantine Pub in Maple Bay for 10 years.

“It’s been an intense long journey, fraught with periods of what’s going to happen next?” said Nordstrom.

“The Cowichan Valley is a place I love to be. We live in paradise, especially with the ocean.”

Admission for the event is $15 per person in advance or $20 at the door.

For more information visit www.montenordstrom.com and follow the links.

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Don Bodger

About the Author: Don Bodger

I've been a part of the newspaper industry since 1980 when I began on a part-time basis covering sports for the Ladysmith-Chemainus Chronicle.
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