What a great tour the West Coast Banjo Hockey tour was. So many highlights but the last five days in Comox valley were really special. I am going to keep it brief for now but yesterday the Hornband and I played a 90 minute workshop that turned out to be a concert with Dobro legend Jerry Douglas. It also featured the Mighty Squirrels, Shamik (human beatbox), a russian percussionist named Boris, Rene Worst and Jennifer Scott. What a jam!

Also hung out with and played happy birthday to Arlo Guthrie on the banjo (Jay Burr played tuba) and met the guys in the Del McCoury band (even had to play after them on the same stage...ouch)

The Vancouver Island music festival is a magical festival. I highly recommend buying your tickets now for next year (maybe wait a couple weeks)

does anyone have bootleg of the show we did with Jerry Douglas yesterday? (it was called; All the Crazy People)

please contact me:
tim@guildwoodrecords.com

iPod blogging in a motel in comox BC.
Great tour. Now rehearsing for colab. Project here. Fun!
Can't wait to hear del mccoury.

I am really looking forward to all the upcoming gigs for the Banjo Hockey tour. Tonight we play at the Trane Studio (Bathurst St. just north of Bloor) at 9pm. It is really the first time I have led a band at this club so it will be a nice treat.

Right now I am heading down to chat with Jaymz Bee and Ralph Benmurgi on Jazz FM. These guys are fun to be around. It is very cool that they continue to be supportive of what I do, even though it has so much banjo in it...ha!

Please let your friends know about our West Coast gigs; July 4 Victoria Jazz Fest, July 5 Vancouver Jazz Fest, July 6 Gabriola Island, July 7 Denman Island and then we are at the Vancouver Island Music Fest in Comox all weekend.

I am excited about stretching out on these new tunes with the band and finding some of the magic inside of them (and inside of us)

See you out there!
tim

Wow...this is a pretty great review. Timely too as we head to the West Coast next week. Awesome.
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Tim Posgate Hornband cracks the code to a new form of jazz on Banjo Hockey
By Alexander Varty

Tim Posgate Hornband
Banjo Hockey (Black Hen)

Let’s see: trumpet, tenor sax, banjo, and tuba? Tunes that smash modern jazz, klezmer, Celtic, bluegrass, and New Orleans styles together with cracked abandon? On paper, Banjo Hockey sounds like a little bit of a mess, but in practice Tim Posgate has cracked the code to a new form of jazz, one that’s wildly creative but that also has plenty of populist appeal.

Posgate, a Toronto guitarist who turns to his trusty banjo for most of this disc’s 11 tunes, has a keen ear for melody and an even better one for supportive collaborators. On Banjo Hockey, he scores big points for enlisting jazz legend Howard Johnson, a veteran tuba and baritone sax player who’s worked with the Gil Evans Orchestra, Taj Mahal, and the Band, among many others. But the other Hornband horns—Lina Allemano on trumpet and Quinsin Nachoff on tenor sax and clarinet—are equally attuned to their leader’s playful, genre-bending ways.

Whether channelling the spirit of Louis Armstrong and friends on “Big Top Blues”, adding Eastern European spice to a funky hoedown on “Moosamin Eh!”, or sounding like a tiny big band on “Going to the Island”, these four make smart music that’s also unusually friendly. In fact, it’s hard to listen to this disc without cracking a smile; it’s a rough-hewn yet highly sophisticated treat from start to finish.

It is hard to get surprised in music these days but thank god it keeps happening occasionally. Tonight I played at the Tranzac with Ronley Teper and the Lipliners. Yes, she surprised us with some songs we had never played before but the opening band was the real surprise.

They are from Wolfville New Brunswick (am I making that up?...am I way off?) Anyways; they are called Thugs @ Bay and they are really fun and interesting. They are a duo with mostly fiddle/voice and Guitar/bass or percussive vocalization. The compositions are well thought out. Interesting use of different metres simultaneously and they have fun lyrics and a great stage vibe.

I hope you can catch them. Apparently they will be at the Tan Cafe near queen and ossington all week as part of the jazz festival. Sorry I don't know more than that. If you are really curious drop me a line and I will try to find out more for you. They are worth it!

tim

BurlingtonPost.com: News: Story: Tim Posgate happy to be returning to his roots

A nice little article in the Burlington Post before our weekend gig. (I used to deliver this paper as is mentioned in the article.)

BurlingtonPost.com: News: Story: Tim Posgate happy to be returning to his roots

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Shout out to all those Rochester folks that made us feel so welcome this past weekend. It is especially fun to read the blogs of folks that attended the shows. I even like reading those who didn't enjoy it! (funny that some decided that we weren't improvising since we have charts on the stage) It is nice to read some raw, negative emotion as the mildly complimentary feedback and reviews can get a bit tiring after a while.

Nugent runs a tight ship there and it seems that the local jazz fans do really appreciate how fortunate they are to have a world class festival like that.

I even had a nice random act of kindness there when I cut-off a car pretty bad when I was trying to find the highway. She pulled up, rolled down her window and asked if we were lost. She proceeded to let us follow her all the way to the onramp and pleasantly waved goodbye...so cool!