Can’t stop the bop

After some thunderous storms, the forecast looks strong: a near week of the best jazz that Canadian stages have to offer June 16-21. May we walk in the sunlight once more, to paraphrase the jazz classic Stormy Weather.

The Winnipeg International Jazz Festival’s centre of gravity is the Exchange District. There, venues and thoroughfares flood with people and musicians like a New Orleans street parade, announcing that downtown Winnipeg is wide awake for the summer. And the party’s nucleus is its mainstage in Old Market Square, with dozens of free concerts every day.

“There’s phenomenal dance and groove music on the Old Market Square lineup, and there are acts coming from around the globe to share their talents,” says Jazz Winnipeg’s artistic director Zachary Rushing.

A few out-of-town mainstage highlights include Ontario five-piecer Shebad, sounding like a cross somewhere between Amy Winehouse and Daft Punk; Juno-nominated Montreal-based drummer and composer Salin, fusing the sounds of Northern Thailand with 1970s West African psychedelia; and pioneering Hungarian fusion artists Djabe.

“We have people from city hall walking over as soon as we set up, and they’re like, ‘Thank you for doing this. This is amazing,’” says Angela Heck, the festival’s executive director.

Drawing more than 30,000 people each year, the jazz fest gives a jolt to a downtown that struggles to sustain a vibrant cultural and nightlife economy. Out-of-town acts fill up hotels, while audiences stay hydrated in the festival’s beer gardens — ordering tall boys supplied by local breweries such as Little Brown Jug, Good Neighbour and Trans Canada — and buy band merch between sets or hit up the nearby restaurants and food trucks.

Heck hopes more audiences this year will follow the sounds of jazz emanating from the surrounding area to see ticketed concerts at the Burton Cummings Theatre, the West End Cultural Centre, the Club Room at the Fort Garry Hotel and beyond. And if you miss an act, there’s always a chance they’ll show up to the nightly jams hosted by Winnipeg bassist Lindsay Woolgar and Winnipeg drummer K’ Waters, starting at 11 p.m. at the Times Change(d) High & Lonesome Club.

This year’s marquee concerts include, on the Canadian side, world-class jazz singer Molly Johnson (Wednesday, June 17, at Desautels Concert Hall) and Winnipeg’s Soul Supreme, led by Keisha Booker (June 17, at the Burton Cummings Theatre).

On the international side, there’s a scaled-down version of Australia’s celebrated Cat Empire (Thursday, June 18, at the West End Cultural Centre) — as well as American jazz royalty Miles Electric Band (Sunday, June 21, at the Burton Cummings Theatre) and Jason Marsalis Quartet (Friday, June 19, at Desautels Concert Hall).

The Miles Electric Band has a rich musical legacy, related to Miles Davis’s famous turn toward more more psychedelic influences beginning in the 1960s. Davis was worried that jazz would become a museum piece if it didn’t adapt, and the times were a changin’, with an explosion of kaleidoscopic and electric sounds.

His plan to make a record with Jimi Hendrix was cut short by the guitarist’s early death, but he had other found other young collaborators — jazzers who’d drunk the psychedelic Kool-Aid such as Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock and John McLaughlin. One result was Bitches Brew (1969), a watershed moment in jazz fusion.

Several of the current Miles Electric Band members played with Davis — including his longtime producer nephew Vince Wilburn Jr. (drums), former musical director Robert Irving III (keys) and others — after Davis underwent this shift, collaborating with him in the 1980s when he was responding to electric and pop influences such as Prince.

But Davis soon found detractors — such as young trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, Jason Marsalis’s older brother. Wynton accused Davis of abandoning jazz’s roots in swing, blues and bebop in favour of rock backbeats and flamboyant rock-star showmanship.

A beef was ignited, culminating in a legendary clash at the 1986 Vancouver International Jazz Festival. Responding to what he claimed was Davis’s trash-talking, Marsalis strutted onstage unannounced during Davis’s set, and began playing a trumpet solo — before being booted offstage by Davis.

Winnipeg in 2026 is not Vancouver in 1986, and nearly 40 years later, tempers between the two jazz currents have ebbed.

“Jazz is this interesting music in that it holds, in one hand, innovation, and in the other, tradition, right? And it’s spent all of this time trying to reconcile the cognitive dissonance,” Rushing says.

Concerts this year, such as Winnipeg’s Soul Supreme, also reflect more recent developments in jazz’s push toward pop, funk and electronic music. Organized as tribute to the late R&B singer D’Angelo, the concert will also be a show of force for Winnipeg’s younger musicians who grew up on the sounds of jazz-influenced hip hop and neo-soul.

Among the festival’s ticketed offerings is the Fort Garry Hotel’s Club Room series — with highlights that include Winnipeg-born, New York-based drummer and composer Curtis Nowosad; French acts Jean-Michel Pilc Trio and Robinson Khoury/MŸA; Iceland’s famous ADHD, blending jazz, ambient and Nordic folk; Danish jazz crooner Kristin Korb, backed by Winnipegger Will Bonness on the keys; and Winnipeggers Erin Propp and Larry Roy, bringing Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life to the stage.

With 50 artists from eight countries, jazz fest is both more local and more international since its origins in 1989 when Canada’s jazz festivals were more American-centric.

Many of this year’s international artists are discoveries from the Jazzahead! conference, which also served as a touring launchpad for the half dozen local acts that Jazz Winnipeg brought to the German showcase. Heck says this participation reflects Jazz Winnipeg’s proactivity about seeking diversified partnerships to support the local festival and the city’s musicians.

And there is no shortage of Winnipeg acts on its mainstage this year, including pianist- composer Danny Carroll, known for his two- decade residency at the Fort Garry Palm Room; young eight-piece collective NYOH (Not Your Ordinary Hooligans) blending hip-hop, R&B and jazz; Winnipeg pillars and Latin jazz/salsa orchestra Papa Mambo and many more.

“All these pieces we’re talking about — the local, national and international artists — are represented on Old Market Square,” Rushing says.

“(And) we really pride ourselves in making Old Market Square free and accessible. That’s something we need to continue to do because it’s a benefit to all Winnipeggers,” Heck adds.

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