Candice McMahon
For The Morning Star
Special to the Vernon Jazz Club, Mimosa presents Visionaries: A Canada 150 Celebration of Canadian Women Songwriters.
This performance is a special tribute to Canada’s 150 anniversary and zeros in on women in music.
One of the main objectives of the show is to create a community context for Canadian culture – to reach out to Canadians everywhere and invite them to be part of the creation of culture and its meaning.
The works to be featured will have an underlying theme relating to a larger vision for Canada in the future. It will touch on topics of social justice, aboriginal rights and reconciliation, environmentalism, transformation in the energy sector and world citizenship.
In their quartet formation, Mimosa has toured all over Canada and the United States and been featured many times at the Vancouver Jazz Festival as well as the Montreal Jazz Festival. They have released two albums, Bucolique, which was distributed in France, and Voyage. Both recordings feature guest appearances from several of Vancouver’s finest jazz artists
At the Vernon Jazz Club will be their quintet, featuring Rebecca Shoichet on vocals, Karen Graveson on sax, flute and backup vocals, Anna Lumîére on piano and accordion, Stefan Bienz on bass and Bernie Arai on drums.
Lumîére, the band leader, is an agile keyboardist and, in effect, performs on two instruments at the same time for the band. While her right hand plays chords and melodic lines, her left provides Mimosa’s bass. After playing for several years in different bands, Lumîére studied jazz formally at Capilano College. She considers herself fortunate to have had multi-instrumentalist Brad Turner and pianist Miles Black among her instructors.
“It was like opening the door to a library,” she said. “In one class with Miles I learned more than in a few months of self-study.”
Shoichet, supplying lead vocals, studied musical theatre at Sheridan College before hitting the road with Amanda Marshall and Tom Cochrane.
“She’s a very, very sexy singer and unbelievably watchable, and it’s not like she’s pushing it or anything; she’s just really focused,” John Mann, Spirit of the West singer, said of Shoichet.
Graves is a multi-faceted musician who grew up on Vancouver Island. She earned a two-year jazz diploma from the acclaimed Malaspina College and is currently very busy leading the band Mother of Pearl, playing as a sideman, and playing as a regular with VICO, Soulstream, Out of the Woods and Mimosa.
Arai has become one of the most sought-after drummers on the Vancouver Jazz scene. His versatility has enabled him to lend his talents to many different projects in various different genres of jazz. Arai has a performed with Brian Lynch, Kenny Wheeler, Dr. Lonnie Smith and Oliver Gannon, to name a few.
Bienz, from Summerland, is captivating on the upright bass. He has played at folk, jazz, blues, bluegrass, country and rock festivals all over North America.
Mimosa will be onstage at the Vernon Jazz Club (3000-31 St.) Saturday, Nov. 4 at 8 p.m. Doors open at 7:15 p.m. Cash only bar on site. Tickets $20 online at vernonjazz.com and at Expressions of Time (2901-30 Ave.), with a $5 rebate at the gig for VJS members.