Filling You In On The Singers At Parkdale: A Reinvention

Just to give you an idea of the range and significance of the singing talent performing Elizabeth Shepherd's 2008 Parkdale album at the Gladstone Hotel Ballroom this Sunday the15th at 7 p.m....

Singer	Home Town	Personal Best Gig	Best Show Ever Seen	Connection To Elizabeth Shepherd / Parkdale
Carin Redman  (Red, Whyte & Tollar)	Toronto ( via Denmark)	The debut show the trio did at Musideum was small, intimate and filled with magical harmonies with Mark Kieswetters beautiful arrangements.	Gregory Porter (always) and Trombone Shorty(mind-blowing)	She first played my club Ten Feet Tall in 2007, loved her then and still love and follow her now
Yvette Tollar (Red, Whyte & Tollar)	Toronto	Kensington Jazz Festival which I'll be doing again this year as I have since its inception.	Miles Davis at Roy Thompson Hall, and  Brian Blade's Fellowship Band at Koerner Hall.	I met Elizabeth in Vancouver at the Junos in 2009. We were nominated in the same category. Best jazz vocal. Me for my album Ima. Elizabeth for Parkdale. Since then we have become friends and toured across Canada and to the States with Michael Occhipinti's project The Universe of John Lennon. We both appear on the album together. I also sang back ups for her latest CD The Signal. We did a gig together recently at the Jazz Bistro featuring music from both our projects.  I lived in Parkdale for about 11 years in the 90's and 2000's. Cool neighbourhood in that you've got all the best of city life but are also 5 minutes walk from nature by the lake.
Chloe Watkinson	Toronto	My friend Kate's wedding, I was also a bridesmaid. Seconded by a song at Preservation Hall with Doc Houlind.	Fireworks over Central New York (about 10,000 ppl, playing Dark Side of the Moon under a full moon and fireworks). Best shows I've seen: Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Selecter, Fishbone, Max Webster.	Lived in Parkdale for 6 years
Charmizelle Jorman (The Memberz)	Brampton	Pavilion at Kensington Market Pedestrian Sunday	Stevie Wonder	My significant other lives in Parkdale
Valeria Matzner	Montevideo, Uruguay.	Vancouver International Jazz Festival at a packed David Lam Park	Astor Piazzolla’s concert in Buenos Aires	We are both women and singers and we have the same bassist.
Jessica Stuart	Vancouver	The Yokohama Jazz Promenade at the majestic Minato Mirai Concert  Hall	My first mind-bending show as a teenager was Jamiroquai - it was the first time I had seen a band complete with horn section, xtra percussion, etc playing such groovy interesting music that made me dance my butt off.	Connection to Elizabeth Shepherd - former label-mates on Do Right! Music, have shared festival stages, Elizabeth played Rhodes on The Jessica Stuart Few's last full-length album The Passage and was a guest co-lead vocalist on a tune as well.
Collette Savard  (The SavantEs)	North Bay	A concert series at the Almonte town hall. It was a full house of appreciative folk and the space looked and sounded amazing. I dream of doing shows like that all the time	Lyle Lovett and his large band. It had it all: the best rhythm section, bluegrass players, soul singers etc. and the charming Lyle delivery great songs.	I lived at Brock and Dundas for a year and according to the boundaries from Wikipedia Roncesvales is the border so I still live in Parkdale. Who knew?!
Rebecca Campbell (The SavantEs)	Ottawa (born in Toronto; early childhood in Sackville NB; Ottawa in ’71; university in Montreal…)	With Jane Siberry: The Wiltern in Los Angeles with The Roches; a run at OCA in London; Whelan’s in Dublin; our 3 month series at The Bottom Line in New York… in the round at the Amphitheatre;  with Fat Man Waving: Longevity John’s dog’s wake in a tent in Duncan BC; Halloween night at The State in Ithaca NY with The Horseflies; our final shows at The Downstairs Club and Blue Skies in 1995;  with Three Sheets To The Wind: opening up for Leo Kottke at The Kenricia Hotel in Kenora (and dinner with him before the show…)	Buffy Sainte-Marie this past Sunday night from side stage at Mariposa FF… Bob Marley at Lansdowne Park in Ottawa a year before he died; David Bowie in a relatively small bar in Queens on his tour of the Five Boroughs; Prince at Wembley Stadium; a million Rough Idea, Tranzac, Irene’s, Downstairs Club… shows…	I live on the outer reaches of Parkdale.  I spent much of my many childhood visits to Toronto in Parkdale, where my aunt lived (above the Home Hardware on Queen) for many years, among other Parkdale locales… She worked in multiple antique stores along the strip… Margie was a true old—school Parkdale denizen.
Raha Javanfar	I was born in Tehran, grew up in Toronto.	When I did my thesis at theatre school and played a set of original music using my piano, violin, vocals, and loop station and did the lighting design for the entire thing that included over 400 cues in 20 mins and a whole bunch of haze in the air. That was fun.	I saw a band in St Louis and I have no idea what the name of the band or the venue was but I was so blown away and I can distinctly remember the singer's face and her voice but that's about it!	I lived on Tyndall Ave for a couple of years
Jocelyn  Barth	Toronto	Playing with my trio (Dave Restivo & Artie Roth) at The Jazz Room in Waterloo on June 16th, 2018	Private concerts of my mum practicing at home when I was a kid.	There was a beautiful photograph of Elizabeth at Jaymz Bee's old loft that I noticed every time I was there. That's my only connection.
Denielle Bassels	Toronto.	Upstairs, in Montreal with Drew Jurecka and Andy Mac	James Brown at Ontario Place. He was old but he could still move! As an adult my favourite concert was Elise Legrow at the Orbit Room!	“Parkdale" is a beautiful homage to a part of town that I am so familiar with. Hearing Elizabeth Shepherd struck me in a whole new way. Never since Nina Simone have I seen a woman in Jazz so masterful in their compositions. Her rhythms and harmonies are complex without feeling contrived and her compositions are all at once intelligent, raw, and transparent. Her voice is ethereal yet approachable, she speaks to you. For me, I hear that it is alright to be vulnerable and masterful at once. She brings a whole new light to being a female in jazz today.