C#

Back to the 10 things format, except a few of them deeper in are different angles of one particular thing that stole my attention yesterday. Inside baseball? Maybe. Batter up!

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At Fabrique on Wednesday, I got to observe and enjoy a funny, wholesome bandstand moment between visiting saxophonist Allison Burik and our own Jodi Proznick. During their first set billed as drummer Mili Hong's trio, the chordless group launched into John Coltrane's "Equinox". Now, you may recall from me that I heard Proznick play this tune a few weeks ago. Back then, she called it in the key of concert C minor. However, the tune's standard key is in C-sharp minor, up a halfstep.

Here's what I think happened, keep in mind I could be misunderstanding. Jodi set up 12 bars' worth of bassline, again in C minor. Burik entered with the melody in C#! The moment seemed to last only a millisecond before Burik slipped down a halfstep; the only reason I noticed anything is because they both started laughing, otherwise it'd be too fast for me. I hope they'll forgive my joining in the ear-to-ear smiles quite visibly.

The rest of the set with Hong's typically vibrant drumming and the standards they chose was also enjoyable on the busy night, despite Fabrique patrons on both sides of me talking loudly to their significant others throughout.

Burik is in town with musical partner and spouse Claire Devlin to play as the band Bellbird, whom I wrote about below (and also had their bandmates, Eli Davidovici & Mili Hong, on the podcast for). Bellbird played Jazz at the Bolt last weekend and were one of the bands I got the most positive feedback about from passersby who hadn't heard them before.

Tonight, we have two Infidels shows featuring three Bellbird members each; a New Thing at Zameen Art House with Burik solo plus a Devlin / Hong duo, and a Frankie's After Dark where Devlin, Davidovici, and Hong join our own Chris Fraser. Tomorrow night, Bellbird plays All-City Athletics for Infidels. Sunday, Burik and Davidovici partake in a workshop experience at ARC Studios.

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The trio of Nebyu Yohannes, Dean Thiessen, and Cole Schmidt – billed as nebyoha for Brentwood Presbyterian Church's Jazz Evensong also on Wednesday – wasn't one I had on my bingo card. Dean and Nebyu are both longstanding friends, and I'm getting to know Cole better in recent years, with him currently being immersed in booking the 2025 jazzfest. You can see me in the second row on the stream's initial wide shot and catch my attempt at stoic reaction to Brian Fraser's guitar joke.

Nebyu divided the two parts of his Evensong into a first jazz-oriented part with trombone, Stevie Wonder, and Mingus followed by a second part where he sang his own songs and played alternatively-tuned guitar. It resembled his previous performance with the same instrumentation that I wrote to you about, but with no spoken word. A candid, emotional artist who doesn't flinch, Nebyu spoke about the events that inspired his songs, including the Charleston church shooting and the arson and vandalization of a church in Mississippi. The piano and electric guitar accompaniment was ambient and avoided getting noisy in favour of washes and vamps, with few out-and-out solo sections on the arrangements.

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I did a Jazz at the Bolt postgame again this year, like I did last year – except this one won't get crossposted to the Rhythm Changes Podcast, so here's a link to the Instagram video that I'll maintain.

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