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By Chris Brown

CoJazz runs Nov. 8-15

Medicine Hat JazzFest going online with others next month

Oct 30, 2020 | 5:00 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – COVID-19 cancelled Medicine Hat JazzFest and jazz festivals across Canada this summer.

Medicine Hat JazzFest is among 15 of them have come together for a free week-long online festival from Nov. 8-15.

The Canadian Online Jazz Festival (CoJazz) is the initiative of the Calgary festival. In part, it’s an attempt to get out in front of any long-term gathering restrictions that could stretch into the 2021 festival season.

Medicine Hat JazzFest’s Lyle Rebbeck says “we want to continue to support those great jazz artists as well who are for the most part scrambling to try to keep their livelihood going. And we also want to all test the waters a bit for next (year).”

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He adds that all festivals are working on contingencies and most will likely end up as hybrid approaches featuring at least some online events.

Medicine Hat’s offering to CoJazz will be on Zoom, putting a focus on interaction between the audience and the artists.

“We’re hoping that it can be the kind of environment where people can go ‘Hi, I haven’t seen you for ages, how are you doing?’” he says.

Rebbeck says they’re trying to replicate a little of the intimacy of the Medicine Hat JazzFest.

“We’re all of course still making comparisons to what it was like when we met on top of the parkade and had a dance party,” says the executive/artistic director. “You know, we’ll get back to those days, absolutely we will but it might take a little longer and in the meantime we can still have these really meaningful connections with art and music and with one another and community building all the these that JazzFest does and is known for.”

Medicine Hat JazzFest’s portion on Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. Two festivals are featured each night, with Medicine Hat sharing Saturday with the Toronto Jazz Festival. Rebbeck says when you compare the size of those two cities you get an idea of the kind of company Medicine Hat keeps in jazz festival circles.

The local portion features Stephen Bishop and The Zubot Brothers, who each grew up in the Medicine Hat area and studied at the college’s conservatory of music and dance.

A bio on the Medicine Hat JazzFest site describes Bishop as “a trumpet player who grew up in Medicine Hat and now resides and works in Paris, France. While in Medicine Hat, he studied jazz at the Medicine Hat College Conservatory of Music and Dance and played in the Crescent Heights High school bands. He studied classical trumpet at the Royal College of Music in London, England and has been living in Paris, France since 2008.

Of the Zubots, it says Jesse and Joshua Zubot both studied violin at the Medicine Hat College Conservatory of Music and Dance. They have gone on to active music careers across Canada, and between them, their accomplishments have included multiple JUNO Awards, Western Canadian Music Awards, National Jazz Awards, film scores and numerous recordings.

Visit medicinehatjazzfest.ca for free tickets and for more information about CoJazz.