Photo courtesy of The Ottawa Citizen, by John Major

Bassist singer Esperanza Spalding, who notoriously bested Justin Bieber at the 2011 Grammy Awards, will play the Ottawa Jazz Festival in June.

Spalding, who won the best new artist Grammy last year, will play the Ottawa festival on June 27, her record label, the Concord Group, announced Tuesday. The label did not state which stage Spalding will appear on.

More on the Ottawa Citizen website: Esperanza Spalding playing Ottawa Jazz Festival

OTTAWA — Feb. 3 will mark the start of Winterlude 2012, the 34th edition the city’s popular three-week long winter festival.

The National Capital Commission unveiled new details about the annual winter extravaganza Tuesday, which will commemorate the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812 as well as the 50th anniversary of the Canadian Coast Guard. There will be various activities honouring the anniversaries throughout the festival.

The NCC will work with more than 50 programming partners — more than ever before — to bring a wide range of indoor and outdoor activities to the event.

NCC CEO Marie Lemay says the increase in partnerships will not only make for a “bigger and better” Winterlude, but it will also bring more community involvement.

“We want the community to take ownership so it’s not just the NCC’s Winterlude,” says Lemay. “Community groups have really taken part in it, building it and taking ownership of it. So it’s everybody’s Winterlude.”

One of the new partners is the Ottawa Jazz Festival, which will launch the first annual Winter Jazz Festival with a series of concerts Feb. 2 to 4, most at the NAC’s Fourth Stage.

Read more on the Ottawa Citizen website: Winterlude 2012 will remember the War of 1812

Looking to get away this winter?

Then your first trip should be to the Ottawa Jazz Festival’s annual fundraiser, December 8 at the Library and Archives of Canada.

The annual event, in which items of all kinds are auctioned off, regularly offers travel packages fit for a snowbird – not to mention getaways to Europe and New York. It’s a great way to bag a bye-bye bargain.

And if your winter getaway plans are already secured, no worries: there’s still the great food and good company of the pre-auction reception, plus the post-bidding concert by Ottawa’s own rising star, Kellylee Evans.

Read more on the Examiner.com website: Kellylee Evans to play Jazz Festival fundraiser Dec. 8

Kellylee Evans returns to Ottawa for one of her first appearances since winning the JUNO Award for Vocal Jazz Album of the year. She performs at the Ottawa Jazz Festival’s annual benefit concert at the Library and Archives of Canada on December 8 at 6:30 p.m.

The 2011 Ottawa Jazz Festival benefit also includes a live auction of several travel and leisure lots overseen by special guest auctioneer Alan Neal of All in a Day, CBC Radio One 91.5 FM.

Visit: OttawaJazzFestival.com

Ottawa Jazz Festival executive producer Catherine O’Grady recently received a Women of Distinction Award from the Ottawa YWCA.

The biennial awards “recognize not only the amazing contributions of our nominees, but the incredible effect these women have on the people they serve, and the programs and activities to which they are devoted,” said Gail DiCintio, the chair of the 2011 awards committee.

At the ceremony on May 31, 2011, O’Grady received the St. Joseph Media Arts and Culture award.

Her award biography said: “Since Catherine O’Grady’s take over as Executive Producer of the Ottawa International Jazz Festival (OIJF) in 1996, the event has seen an audience increase of 300 percent. Her dedication and enthusiasm has emphased success for female jazz musicians – with the creation of Women in Jazz – and art administrators in apprenticeship roles in this typically male-dominated sector.

Read more on OttawaJazz.ca: Ottawa Jazz Festival’s Catherine O’Grady receives award for Festival work

[Source: press release]

Canada’s Capital Region ─ With one month to go until Canada’s 144^th birthday, the National Capital Commission (NCC) is pleased to announce celebration details for two of the three official sites for Canada Day festivities in the Capital: Major’s Hill Park in Ottawa, and Jacques-Cartier Park in Gatineau. Celebration plans for the iconic heart of the party, Parliament Hill, with Their Royal Highnesses, Prince William and Catherine, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, will be shared soon.

The 2011 Canada Day activities will celebrate the Centennial of Parks Canada, the oldest national parks service in the world, the 120^th anniversary of the Canadian invention of basketball and the 150^th anniversary of the birth of its inventor, Dr. James Naismith, the 60^th anniversary of the founding of the National Ballet of Canada, and will highlight three of Canada’s Cultural Capitals for 2011, the City of Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, the City of Lévis, Québec, and the City of Vancouver, British Columbia. The day will culminate in a breathtaking fireworks display.

“Canada’s Capital is an inspiring reflection of the people, values and achievements of this country, and no day is that more evident than on Canada Day,” said Marie Lemay, Chief Executive Officer of the NCC. “On July 1, the Capital will undoubtedly be the ideal place to have a memorable, Canadian experience.”

Major’s Hill Park: Celebrating Canadian Diversity!

Canada Day at Major’s Hill Park will include a variety of shows, workshops and interactive activities that will feature cross-cultural programming focussed on dance and music.

In the Urban Zone, the invention of basketball will be highlighted with acrobatic performances by Slam Dunk, wheelchair basketball demonstrations by Canadian Paralympic athletes and other participatory activities. Visitors can also discover an exhibition on the inventor of basketball, Dr. James Naismith.

To mark the 60^th anniversary of the National Ballet of Canada, visitors will be invited to participate in the creation of three new tutus for the project “60 Tutus, 60 Years”. A photo exhibition on the 60^th anniversary of the National Ballet of Canada and ballet classes will also commemorate this important anniversary.

Visitors are invited to show their patriotism and pride by renewing their oath of citizenship during the Great Canadian Oath (Reaffirmation Ceremony).

The public will also have the opportunity to explore the Avenue of the 2011 Cultural Capitals of Canada. Artists from Vancouver, British Columbia, Lévis, Québec, and Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island will create spectacular murals and collaborative artistic pieces designed with recycled materials.

In the evening, colourful artistic performances combining music and dance from around the world are on the program for a show featuring, among others, A-​​slam (British Columbia), Rise Ashen (Ontario) and Misteur Valaire (Québec), winner of Show of the Year award by the Gala alternatif de la musique indépendante du Québec.

Jacques-Cartier Park: Creativity at Work!
At Jacques-Cartier Park in Gatineau, young and old alike can enjoy enriching experiences and fun through the theme of creativity and curiosity while exploring sounds, shapes and colors.

On the program: Exploring folk and world music, percussion, and hip-hop on the AcoustiQ Stage; the CBC Songwriter Circle featuring artists who participated in the National Parks Project for Parks Canada’s Centennial on the ElectriQ Stage; and the International Village where visitors can explore music and visual arts in many forms inside Mongolian yurts and a traditional teepee.

In the evening, visitors can explore the national parks and historic sites of Canada during a multimedia presentation of the National Parks Project, featuring artists from across the country. They can also dance under the stars to the music of DJ Adam Shaikh.

Ottawa Jazz Festival in Confederation Park

With the participation of the NCC, the Ottawa Jazz Festival will present free performances in Confederation Park on Canada Day. In addition, for a fifth consecutive year the NCC and the Ottawa Jazz Festival are joining together to give young Canadian jazz musicians an unforgettable experience in our country’s capital: the Jazz Youth Summit.

President’s Choice^® Canada Day Fireworks Display

For many visitors, the culmination of Canada Day is the President’s Choice^® Canada Day fireworks display. The best spots to see the display include Jacques-Cartier Park and the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Major’s Hill Park in Ottawa, Victoria Island, and the banks of the Ottawa River. The dazzling show will light up the sky above the Ottawa River at approximately 10 pm.

Building a greener capital

The Canada Day celebrations in the Capital will be carbon neutral for a second consecutive year. To achieve this, a series of green initiatives have been implemented to reduce the carbon footprint of Canada Day, including setting up water stations at all the official sites to encourage visitors to bring their reusable water bottles. In 2010, the water stations filled the equivalent of 32,000 plastic water bottles.

For more information on Canada Day celebrations in the National Capital Region and on access to the sites for persons with limited mobility, members of the public may contact the NCC at 613-239 5000, 1-800-465 1867, 613-239 5090 (TTY), or 1-866-661-3530 (TTY, toll-free). You can also visit the www.canadaday.gc.ca website or go to the Capital Infocentre at 90 Wellington Street in Ottawa. Canada Day is also on FACEBOOK and Twitter.

The NCC is proud to organize Canada Day in Canada’s Capital Region with support from Canadian Heritage and its national sponsor, the Chicken Farmers of Canada, its official sponsor ─ President’s Choice^®, and its other sponsors, as well as it’s more than 500 volunteers.

The NCC also wishes to thank the following partners: Parks Canada, the Ottawa Jazz Festival Inc., the National Ballet of Canada, University of Windsor law students for The Charter Project, the Dr. James Naismith Basketball Foundation and the Mill of Kintail, Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the Canadian Paralympic Committee, the House of Commons, National Defence, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canadian Heritage, OC Transpo, the Cultural Capitals of Canada Program (Canadian Heritage), CBC / Radio-Canada, the Ottawa Police Service, the Services de police de la Ville de Gatineau, the Société de transport de l’Outaouais, Public Works and Government Services Canada, the City of Ottawa, and the Ville de Gatineau.

It’s around this time of year that I and other jazz fans are itching to find out who the TD Ottawa International Jazz Festival will bring to town this summer.

Not that the event wants us to know.

While the lineup has almost certainly been determined for the event’s 31st annual edition, which runs from June 23 to July 3, jazz festival folks are keeping their lips sealed until their April 13 launch.

Read full story: Jazzfest revelations and speculations

Cuba’s sensational Omara Portuondo is unquestionably the quintessential voice of the golden age of Cuban jazz.

The sixth caller through to the Ottawa Jazz Festival office, 613-241-2633, to purchase tickets to Omara Portuondo on Thursday, February 17, 8pm will win two tickets to the Salif Keita concert on Tuesday, April 12, 2011.

“Flowing in the present, but with deep roots in the past – the Cuban singer Omara Portuondo… is still impulsive onstage.” – New York Times

As a young artist, Omara toured extensively throughout the USA with her sister until the Revolution.
Under the Castro regime, she continued to tour internationally (except for America) and became known for her signature “boleros”. A living legend, Portuondo has been the subject of a documentary, Omara, which won an award at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival.

For more than sixty years Omara Portuondo has passionately exuded her country’s musical culture. The Cuban-born diva became synonymous with Cuban music after the instant success of the recording “The Buena Vista Social Club” and the band’s first international tour produced by Ry Cooder. Here she left her indelible mark alongside the legendary BVSC co-stars, Ibrahim Ferrer, Compay Segundo and Reuben Gonzalez.

Ottawa audiences will recall her two sell out performances with the Buena Vista Social Club and subsequently with the critically acclaimed Barbarito Torres. Omara is unquestionably the quintessential voice of the golden age of Cuban jazz.

Reserved tickets are $40. General admission is $32 and Student prices (11 to 25 years, with valid student ID) are $22 (HST included). Tickets are on sale at the Ottawa Jazz Festival office: 294 Albert, Suite 602, 613-241-2633 or through our website at ottawajazzfestival.com; Compact Music (2 locations); CD Warehouse (all 3 locations) and Ottawa Festivals – 47 William St. in the Byward Market.