Music enthusiasts came together to celebrate their collective love for jazz and live music at the TD Ottawa Jazz Festival on July 2. The welcoming atmosphere present throughout the night was a friendly reminder of the unifying power of music.
Audience members gathered in front of the TD Stage to see R&B musician Corinne Bailey Rae open the night.
While other musicians accompanied her on the synthesizer, guitar, drums and backup vocals, Bailey Rae also played an acoustic and electric guitar herself at various points of her performance.
Throughout the set, the audience was entrapped by Bailey Rae’s alluring music and stage presence, bopping their heads and watching the concert unfolding in front of them.
They were also quick to sing and snap along when prompted by the singer, joining the immersive and interactive experience.
She then launched into a chilling rendition of Bob Marley’s “Is This Love,” her alto voice harmonizing incredibly with the tenor range of the backup vocals. Her rendition of the song won Best R&B Performance at the 2012 Grammys.
“Everywhere we travel around the world, people seem to love the music of Bob Marley,” Bailey Rae said to the audience.
Towards the end of her performance, she encouraged audience members to sing along to her 2006 hit single, “Put Your Records On.” More than familiar with the song, the festival attendees happily chorused alongside her.
Bailey Rae ended her set by singing “The Skies Will Break,” prefaced by a heartwarming speech about pain and opportunities slipping away.
“I wrote this next song for anyone who’s having a hard time. I wrote it for you, and I wrote it for me,” she said.
After Bailey Rae’s performance, the crowd filtered out across the street to the festival’s OLG Stage to see Canadian jazz trumpeter and singer Tara Kannangara.
She performed original songs such as “Touched” and “Apartment,” her vocals nicely contrasting the accompanying keyboard, guitar, bass and drums.
The last performance of the evening on the TD Stage was Pink Martini, featuring China Forbes. The band features 12 musicians capable of singing songs in 25 different languages.
The first few notes of “Let’s Never Stop Falling in Love” were already enough to set the mood. The first song was only a taste of the Latin American jazz music and upbeat rhythm that was yet to come.
The band performed long-time hits, including “Amado Mío,” “Dónde estás, Yolanda?” and “Sympathique.”
Singing alongside Pink Martini, Forbes’ vocals were fervent and animated. Her hand gestures and flowy vermillion dress also added to the ambiance, pairing nicely with the lyrics and music genre.
Throughout the evening, the cadence and passion of the music had audience members dancing in their seats and, for those standing on the sidelines, dancing with each other.
Bandleader and pianist Thomas Lauderdale prefaced many of the songs, giving audience members a chance to connect with the stories embedded in the lyrics, even if they were in a foreign language.
He introduced “And Then You’re Gone,” a song about a woman who was tired of her lover coming and going. The next song, “But Now I’m Back,” continued the narrative from the lover’s perspective. The crowd laughed when Lauderdale revealed that the lover was only gone to get a snack.
The evening shifted to more classical-jazz tones with “La Soledad,” which uses Arabic lyrics to tell the experience of a refugee longing for a homeland to which they would never return.
At the end of Pink Martini’s multilingual repertoire, the crowd stood up in one final round of applause.
The spectacular evening of spiritual R&B and buoyant classical-latin-jazz ended there for many spectators, though others surely headed to the OLG Stage to see Michie Mee & Family fronting the after-dark performance series.
While the performances were over, the night’s catchy tunes surely remained in spectators’ heads for much longer.
Featured graphic by Angel Xing.
