New Vancouver music festival aims to provide 'something for everyone'

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Julian Lage is on a train going from work to work. It’s a perfect place to reach the acclaimed guitarist, who seems to be always on the move.

Besides holding down a day gig as a professor at New York’s acclaimed The New School’s school of jazz and contemporary music, Lage’s night gigs include everything from his own groups to John Zorn’s New Masada Quartet and six-string duties in Bob Dylan’s Never Ending Tour band.

He brings his quartet with bassist Jorge Roeder, drummer Kenny Wollesen and keyboardist John Medeski to the Chan Centre as one of the headlining acts at the new VanJazz ’26 music festival, running at multiple venues across the Lower Mainland from Oct. 14 to 25. Tickets and information at van-jazz.ca.

“There is no doubt that I’m on the road a lot, but the payoff is touchstones like this coming gig in Vancouver,” said Lage. “A lot of planning goes into being busy, and this show has been on the books for a few years.”

Lage and Roeder have played together for decades. Wollesen has worked on a number of Zorn projects. Medeski, whose trio Medeski, Martin & Wood is legendary in jazz and jam band circles, was a recommendation. The band’s 2026 Blue Note debut is Scenes From Above.

“It’s a blessing that we get to be part of each other’s lives and create wonderful, original improvised music,” he said. “With this level of talent, it feels like there are endless options to evolve. We haven’t performed together that many times but, even in this short time, I’ve seen it going somewhere new.”

Scenes From Above is Lage’s 17th album as leader or co-leader. His discography numbers 60-plus releases including albums from duets with Wilco guitarist Nels Cline and Yoko Ono, to ’60s jazz legend Charles Lloyd and Norah Jones guitarist Jesse Harris.

It’s quite a resume for any artist, let alone a 38-year-old. Of course, Lage performed at the 2000 Grammy Awards at age 12 and was a faculty member of the Stanford Jazz Workshop at age 15.

“My father played guitar and I wanted to play with him, so I asked for a guitar,” he said. “My very supportive family structure then allowed it to become a focus. Growing up in a time without social media made it easier to concentrate and develop in this beautiful, organic way, free of distraction.”

This explains how the musician honed his considerable chops across multiple styles. But he credits Zorn for influencing his approach to playing.

“John magnifies what the conception and obligation of a composer and a player is in making music, and influences everyone he works with,” said Lage. “Like Dylan, his understanding of bringing together players is uncanny. He told me for years that Medeski and I were going to have to do something.”

Lage’s wide-open music-making pairs perfectly with the lineup for VanJazz ’26. Conceived by Grammy-winning local Cory Weeds, the Cellar Music Group label head and Frankie’s Jazz Club presenter and saxophonist, and Infidels Jazz mastermind Tim Reinert, VanJazz ’26 promises “something for everyone,” according to the duo. 

“Tim and I both noticed our, and others’, efforts were not always reaching one another and thought we could bring it all together under VanJazz ’26,” said Weeds. “It’s bringing together multiple venues and partners to reach a lot of different audiences under one umbrella.”

With artists ranging from blues rocker Robert Connely Farr and psychedelic collective Earthball to Krystle Dos Santos’s Amy Winehouse Tribute and Vancouver’s rising star big band the Ghibli Jazz Orchestra, VanJazz ’26 has over 100 performances at venues ranging from the Chan and the Alliance Français Theatre to the intimate setting of Guilt & Co. or the Zameen Art House.

“All the partners have done so much growing their specific audiences in the last few years, and this is a chance to expand on that,” said Reinert. “It was spearheaded by us, but it’s really a case of entry being, ‘Do you have a good idea?’ Because we want everyone to be included across the region.”

Reinert and Weeds both wanted a big tent approach to their new event rather than the more standard festival designation, so they purposely left the word festival out of the VanJazz name.

“One of the reasons we didn’t add the word festival in the name is because people in Vancouver already have a picture in their minds of what this city’s jazz or folk festivals are,” said Weeds. “We see this more as a banner event to draw attention to the work of people like Steelhead Sound, Apollo’s, Shadbolt Centre and what others are doing in the community all year long rather than a stand-alone traditional festival model.”

Having multiple partnerships also spreads the financial burden around, helping to avoid the fiscal problems that have led to so many long-established festivals folding in the last year. Creating a situation where diverse audiences can discover new places to hear the music they like contributes to continuing new audience development and a healthy all-around scene.

All of which makes a VanJazz ’27 more likely to happen.

Will 100-plus performances, VanJazz ’26 packs a lot of music into its 11-day run. No one can see everything, but a fine mix of sounds can be put together easily using the event’s website that has conveniently separated shows into 13 search categories ranging from the big tent of avant-garde and experimental, to tributes, trumpets and global sounds.

Here are six recommended shows:

When: Oct. 14, 8 p.m.

Where: Tyrant Studios

Pianist Ban and violist Maneri celebrate newly discovered music compiled by composer Béla Bartok on his journeys researching folk traditions.

When: Oct. 15, 8 p.m.

Where: Alliance Française Theatre

Vancouver pianist/composer Plimley was an absolute character and an incredible performer who died in 2022. This tribute to his genius features a who’s who of the local creative music scene.

When: Oct. 19, 7 p.m.

Where: Frankie’s Jazz Club

One of this city’s few long-running big bands swings hard through arrangements by leader/conductor Townsend and guitarist Bill Coon, played by some of Vancouver’s veteran jazzers.

When: Oct. 23, 8 p.m.

Where: The Rickshaw

Tyrant Studios and the Rickshaw present a trio of Vancouver Zappa tributes, including Zappostrophe, UnZappologetic and Let’s Make the Water Turn Black, blasting out classics from the late Zappa’s large catalogue.

When: Oct. 24, 7:30 p.m.

Where: Chan Centre for the Performing Arts

This 18-member ensemble under the direction of guitarist Isabel Leong combines a deep love of composer Joe Hisaishi’s Studio Ghibli movie soundtracks and 1940s big bands into an experience that has been selling out concerts constantly.

When: Oct. 25, 8 p.m.

Where: Alliance Française Theatre

For her first appearance in town in seven years, pianist Melford brings her new trio with bassist Michael Formanek and drummer/vibraphonist Ches Smith for a performance inspired by the work of American post-abstract expressionist painter Cy Twombly.