A jazz nerd explains why this is the best time of year

For as long as I can remember this has been my favorite time of year. The early sunrises and late sunsets allow extra time to work more, or play more, or do a whole lot of nothing more.

But for a few years now the time between the solstice and July 1st has meant time to enjoy great music more. It’s TD Ottawa Jazz Festival time here in Canada’s capital, and that means the city is swarming with world class jazz musicians from every corner of the globe and some of the most open-minded, respectful jazz fans you’ll ever find. This finely tuned machine thrills these fans at more than half a dozen venues across downtown with every variation of the music you can imagine.

Music festivals are warm weather happenings, and in a place where we ain’t got much of that it’s easy to go overboard and squeeze a year’s worth of summer doings into a few short weeks. That’s just not a healthy thing to do, and it’s exactly my plan for the next week and a half. I hope you’ll check back here, and at NCPR’s Facebook page and my twitter page (@thebridgeonncpr) for highlights from this wonderful jazzy gathering. Oh, and please allow me to give a shout out to the festival folks who have given me media access here since 2012 (NCPR is the only media organization from the U.S. with such privileges.) I’ve said it before, I’m a kid on Christmas morning being around all of this music.

Thank goodness the days are long…there’s a lot of music to get to. Sleep? That’s what July is for.

 

Tags: jazz, ottawa, thebridge