The Patrick Godfrey Trio will be the featured performers at Jazz Vespers at St. John’s United Church, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m.
Joining Godfrey will be drummer Kelby MacNayr and bassist Joey Smith.
Godfrey was born in Toronto, learned piano on his own, and began playing for church dances at age 12. Since then, he has gone on to record with the likes of Bruce Cockburn, Raffi, Marc Jordan, Shirley Eikhard, Ben Mink and Daniel Lanois.
Of his solo piano concert at The Montreal International Jazz Festival, the Montreal Gazette said: “positively spiritual … the stunning material he played to an awe-struck crowd ranged freely from Bach to boogie, with flat-out jazz, romance and the hypnotic music of the East filling in the spaces in between.”
Godfrey has composed the scores for many animations, including Richard Condies’ Oscar-nominated classics The Big Snit and La Salla. He scored all 52 episodes of Bob and Margaret, the animated TV series based on the Academy Award winning National Film Board short Bob’s Birthday, which also featured Godfrey’s music.
Godfrey’s production work includes the million-selling Classical Kids recordings Mr. Bach Comes To Call, Mozart’s Magic Fantasy, and Beethoven Lives Upstairs, and albums featuring artists such as Holly Cole, The Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band, The Lafayette String Quartet, and Michael Jones.
Godfrey has recorded 11 albums of his own, and is presently working on a new CD entitled Old Soul, due out in the spring. Godfrey also teaches improvisation, composition and song writing at the Victoria Conservatory of Music.
Kelby MacNayr is active in many of Victoria’s musical communities and enjoys performing jazz, classical music, dance accompaniment, and the traditions of Brazil, Cuba, and Portugal. He has studied under Joe La Barbera, Alan Jones and Salvador Ferreras, and at the University of Toronto, the Banff Centre and the University of Victoria.
MacNayr has performed with many of Canada’s most respected jazz musicians including Phil Dwyer, Louise Rose, Ingrid Jensen, Don Thompson and Hugh Fraser.
In Victoria, MacNayr performs regularly with the Ron Hadley Trio, Anne Schaefer Group, Sara Marreiros Quartet, Gnu Standards and Elephant Island.
Bassist Joey Smith is much in demand in the Victoria area. Originally from Tennessee, he came to Victoria via the Glenn Miller Orchestra, for which he played bass for two years. He has also played with a long list of jazz luminaries which includes Cleo Laine, Herb Ellis, Rosemary Clooney, Charlie Byrd, John Dankworth, George Essihos, Daniel Lapp and CanUS.
In addition, he has appeared at numerous jazz festivals in Canada and the US, including a performance at Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.
All Jazz Vespers services begin at 7 p.m. St. John’s United Church is located at 10990 West Saanich Rd., across from Deep Cove school. There is no admission charge, and an offering will be taken.
For further information, please call Bernadette at 250-656-0875 or email bernadettegreene@shaw.ca.