by Edith Cody-Rice
JazzNhouse, is the brainchild of Almonte resident Arnie Francis, who with his wife Ingrid Kadoke, has been organizing these concerts for the past four years. Arnie introduced the series in his house on William Street in Almonte. The idea was to build an appreciative audience of jazz lovers, through a house concert series, featuring the best jazz performers from around the Ottawa area.
The key elements of the concert series are:
- Fine jazz artistry;
- An audience who wants to “engage” with the music and musicians in smaller group settings; and
- The notion of local “parlour gatherings” where hosts welcome people into their home for a common purpose – in this case, live jazz.
JazzNhouse has curated a series of over 36 concerts with a variety of jazz artists and jazz forms. It has featured performers not only from Ottawa-Gatineau, but also from Montreal, Toronto, Guelph and Winnipeg. These highly acclaimed artists, including a 2014 Juno winning duo, have presented a variety of musical styles from hard bop to fusion, from improvisational jazz, to mainstream and from Latin to funk. All the while, these creative musicians – be they young performers or seasoned international veterans – bring their unique training and approaches to well-known jazz standards as well as to their own original works.
The goal is to provide audiences with an immersive experience through a professional-calibre, live jazz concert – an experience that is not available elsewhere in the region.
The series has gone from a single venue to an itinerant series going from one house to another, both in Almonte and Appleton, over an eight-concert season. Although this was not the original intention, the ever changing venue has brought a refreshing “House Tour” flavour to the series.
Hosts volunteer their homes, making room for theatre style seating for 35-40 guests focused around the performers. This ensures that guests and performers have a personal connection. Guests bring their own beverages. Many bring snacks to share and often there is friendly competition for unique and original treats!
JazzNhouse concerts feature two sets, with an interval during which the guests and musicians mingle, often in the kitchen. It gives everyone a chance to have a drink, to sample the sweets or savouries and most importantly to chat.
Concerts are consistently selling out, which indicates there is certainly a demand for this model of live jazz in our area.
In 2013, after Arnie moved from his house in Almonte, he and Ingrid put a call out to some of the JazzNhouse regulars to see if anyone else might like to host. They were thrilled at the response. People stepped forward to offer up their homes with a zeal that both surprised and encouraged them. Since then the concert series has had several gracious hosts with beautiful venues which have certainly added to the appeal of the overall musical event.
Now, however, moving into its fifth season, the organizers are finding that they need to “refresh“ their inventory of homes for the concert series. Some of the hosts have downsized and others have moved away. All to say, JazzNhouse is actively looking for new hosts and venues before it can commit to a full 8-concert 2016 – 2017 JazzNhouse season.
Arnie and Ingrid need to hear from local home-owners who would like to consider hosting concerts in their living rooms. Anyone who has been to a JazzNhouse event will know the set-up required. They work with their hosts to make certain that indeed it is a suitable venue, looking at things like general accessibility, room layout, and parking. The organizers take special care in helping hosts open up their homes to their neighbours and friends.
Arnie would be thrilled to hear from anyone who is interested in offering their home as a venue; just drop him e a line at info@jazzn.ca. Sooner than later would be preferable!
If it doesn’t meet its hosting goal, the concert series may have to plan for a “three-plus-five” series: three concerts would be confirmed for the fall and five concerts will be planned but unannounced for the spring pending new hosts and venues.
A new pilot series in Manotick – JazzNhouse (Manotick) – seems to be enjoying a rapid take-off, which bodes well for Manotick. JazzNhouse has also had had interest from the eastern reaches of Ottawa and organizers continue to talk with potential hosts in the Westboro, Hintonburg and Kanata neighbourhoods. They don’t want to fragment the house concert concept, but rather to run a full series in several communities simultaneously. There is certainly enough superb musical talent to draw upon.
The dialogue forum with jazz musicians in Ottawa – called JazzNottawa- is bringing the issue of performance space in Ottawa to the fore. The bottom line is that for the flagship “JazzNhouse” series to stay in the Almonte area, and continue with the full 8-concert slate for 2016-2017, it will need to find 4 – 5 new hosts very shortly.
Arnie is optimistic that once again our great community will step up. Those that have attended the sold-out shows have expressed their enjoyment with the quality and intensity of the performances. The organizers are gratified that JazzNhouse in Almonte has, over the last four years, brought a lot of pleasure to live music lovers in our community at a very affordable price. They would be thrilled for it to continue, but if not, that’s not a problem for the jazz lovers themselves – there are many options for satisfying the appetite for live jazz just a drive away in Ottawa.
Contact information:
Arnie Francis
JazzN.ca info@jazzN.ca
613.282.8712
