Toronto blossoms into a great modern city of the arts
August 02 2010
Some tell you how good they are. Some just show you.
Toronto artists won't tell you how good they are. Their art will.
This Toronotonian, the Pianobabbler, will abandon his Canadian reserve, tell you, and would love to show you that Toronto has matured into a world art city. New York, Paris, Berlin... Toronto. A qualitative match. Not quite a quantitative match, but more than punching above our weight.
Canadians, by and large, are a get the job done, not too much bluster lot. Hockey heroes Gordie Howe, Jean Belliveau and Wayne Gretzky exemplify the type. I'd bet that Gary Cooper's cells ran thick with maple syrup.
As a jazz guy, the Pianobabler knows his way best around Toronto's jazz scene. It reflects Toronto's art prowess perfectly.
Toronto has long served as home to defining jazz musicians. Gil Evans was born here. Lenny Breau lived here. Oscar Peterson ruled here.
Jazz has also had a thriving past here. Many clubs. Many classic recordings made here: Jazz at Massey Hall, Grand Piano (the Pianobabbler's all time favourite piano recording), Paul Desmond Quartet Live.) Many musicians: Ed Bickert, Phil Nimmons, Don Thompson, Peter Appleyard, Jim Galloway, and many more.
Happily, these musicians still walk (in some cases, play) among us. Now, though, they form part of a larger community with a largesse of gifts. All ages, all instruments, all styles, all ethnicities. Four university-level programs send some 400 graduates into the jazzoshpere yearly.
Jazz-only clubs have been closing, but musicians find places to play throughout the city. And we always have The Rex, ground zero for jazz in Canada. On any given night, you can hear dozens of the Pianobabbler's colleagues.
Names? Plenty: Jane Bunnett, Elizabeth Shepherd, Sundar Viswanathan, Sophie Milman, Amanda Martinez, David Braid, Richard Underhill, Kelly Jefferson, Mike Downes, Ted Warren, Brandi Disterheft, Lina Allemano, Jordan O'Connor, Adrean Ferrugia, Jake Wilkinson, Chris Donnelly, Cindy Fairbank, Ross MacIntyre. Daniela Nardi (aka my wife.) And me. And so many more.
We live in a time of Toronto jazz plenty.
As it goes for jazz, so it goes for the arts in general. Festivals: Luminato, Nuit Blanche, the Toronto Jazz Festival, Corso Italia, Caribana, Toronto International Film Festival, Hot Docs, Mariposa Folk Festival, Irie Music Festival, Fringe Theatre Festival, and the list of festivals runs on.
Arts institutions: The Canadian Opera Company, Toronto Symphony, Soulpepper Theatre, Art Gallery of Ontario, Royal Ontario Museum, Royal Conservatory of Music, and... and...
American media have noticed Toronto's flowering into a vibrant city, including
Huffington Post and the New York Times.
The Pianobabbler is here to tell you those media have got it right.
Except, I should really be showing and not telling you.
The Pianobabbler has babbled.
The Pianobabbler is a RonDavisMusic production. The Pianobabbler's blog posts appear weekly at pianobabber.com. Please remember to leave your comments and thoughts below. Subscribe to the RSS feed. And subscribe to RonDavisNews by clicking on the link, above right. And follow us on Twitter.
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