Recording: Tara Kannangara

Artist: Tara Kannangara

Songs: Cinematic Beauty + Zero Seconds Pause [Deerhoof cover]

Recorded at Burdock Music Hall (Women From Space Festival – Night 2), March 6, 2020.

Tara Kannangara - Cinematic Beauty

Tara Kannangara - Zero Seconds Pause

It's generally acknowledged that the key to a successful sequel is in making things bigger and more explosive while staying true whatever it was that made the original feel special and unique. The second annual Women From Space Festival applied that maxim to great effect, cosmically expanding in all directions while nourishing its core ideal of creating Space for a diverse range of women-centred creative expressions. Joined by a nimble backing band (Matthew Fong on guit, Julian Anderson-Bowes on bass and Mackenzie Longpre on drums), Tara Kannangara showed off her pop side to close out this night — but her pop sensibility is expansive enough to encompass quite a lot of terrain, including her love of Sondheim showtunes, funky jazz-prog jams and even a shout out to "Saved By The Bell"'s Lisa Turtle.

Recording: Colour and Noise

Artist: Colour and Noise

Song: Saguaro, Whale of the Desert

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Women From Space Festival – Night 2), March 9, 2019.

Colour and Noise - Saguaro, Whale of the Desert

The first Women From Space Festival saw four excellent concerts take place over the course of the International Women's Day weekend. Organized by Bea Labikova and Kayla Milmine, the festival felt like a really savvy gathering, always more than the sum of its parts and showcasing the depth of talent in the city's various creative music streams in a women-centred environment.

The night closed with a set from this improvising ensemble playing pianist Ashley Urquhart's compositions. The pieces leave a lot of room for the other members (Tara Kannangara on vox and trumpet, Patrick O'Reilly on guitar, Alex Fournier on double bass, and Aidan Sibley on trombone) to explore and drift, often pulling back into duos and trios given suble shadings by the remaining members.

[Three of this group's members will be playing with Triio (which is not a trio) at their CD launch at The Rex on Sunday, June 2nd.]

Recording: Alex Fournier & Tara Kannangara

Artist: Alex Fournier & Tara Kannangara

Song: Improvisation #2 + Wild Heart [Stevie Nicks]

Recorded at Wenona Lodge (Track Could Bend #44), November 6, 2018.

Alex Fournier & Tara Kannangara - Improvisation #2 + Wild Heart

Rising jazz star Tara Kannangara had been on my list of people I was hoping to get out to play at TCB for a little while, so I was pleased to be informed after booking Alex Fournier for a set that he was bringing her along. The pair, who have worked together in a few different projects, had a tasty sense of interaction as they tackled improvisations and songs (including some Sondheim). Mixing trumpet and voice with Fournier's double bass, Kannangara left plenty of uncluttered space in the music, sending out some "positive basement" vibes.

[Alex Fournier will be back in Wenona's basement tomorrow night (Thursday, December 27th) alongside Mo Mitchell and Tak Arikushi in a Furniture Music show (before that series shifts to its new home on the 4th Tuesday of the month). Tara Kannangara will be performing at Burdock's Piano Fest on Sunday, January 27th. And meanwhile, the first Tuesday of January is New Year's Day, so TCB is making a rare shift to the second week and joining forces with Andrew Furlong's JAOIM series. We'll be co-presenting Lina Allemano's Titanium Riot plus McEachern/West/Zurawinski on January 8th. Not to be missed!]

Recording: Emily Denison & Tara Kannangara

Artist: Emily Denison & Tara Kannangara

Song: [excerpt]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (Synaptic Circus Sundays), July 29, 2018.

Emily Denison & Tara Kannangara - [excerpt]

With only two-thirds of a scheduled trumpet trio playing in this set, there was plenty of space for Emily Denison and Tara Kannangara to explore their contrasting approaches to their instrument. Kannangara worked in more melodic terrain, giving some firm ground for Dennison to dodge and weave around with a series of drones, gurgles and noise-plops.

Recording: Kyle Brenders Big Band

Artist: Kyle Brenders Big Band

Songs: Prudent + Rivers of Gold [Bry Webb cover]

Recorded at The Tranzac's Southern Cross Lounge (416 Toronto Creative Improvisers Festival – Night 4), November 5, 2016.

Kyle Brenders Big Band - Prudent

Kyle Brenders Big Band - Rivers of Gold

This set closing out this year's edition of the 416 Festival also turned out to be a bit a chapter-closer for ensemble leader Kyle Brenders as well. On the eve of move out west to take up the position of Program Manager for Performing Arts at the Banff Centre, Brenders pulled together material from a few of his diverse projects to explore with this all-star big band.¹ From ambulatory drift to sections of Brenders-esque lockgroove repetition there were a lot of tasty moments here. The meditative flow of Bry Webb's "Rivers of Gold" was previously essayed by the Massey Hall Band under Brenders' leadership and features his sax playing the main melodic line, with some lovely work on the vibes from Davison as well. I'm sure Brenders won't be a stranger to the city, but the questing curiosity of his projects will be missed.

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¹ So far as I could make out, the ensemble on this night consisted of the following:

• Kyle Brenders, tenor sax
• Jeff LaRochelle, tenor sax
• Karen Ng, alto sax
• Peter Lutek, baritone sax + bass clarinet
• Heather Saumer, trombone
• Tom Richards, trombone
• Emily Denison, trumpet
• Rebecca Hennessy, trumpet
• Tara Kannangara, trumpet
• Scott Peterson, double bass
• Brandon Valdivia, percussion
• Michael Davidson, vibraphone