Apollo Suns performs on the Esplanade lawn on June 22, 2023. (Photo Courtesy Bob Schneider)

By Chris Brown

Workshops give a more intimate show at JazzFest

Jun 22, 2023 | 4:03 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Anyone who sat down on the front lawn of the Esplanade on Thursday afternoon may have received a bit of a musical education courtesy of Apollo Suns.

The Winnipeg-based instrumental collective hosted a workshop there and played for about 60 people and numerous passers-by.

Apollo Suns founder Ed Durocher says workshops like this are unique to folk, world and jazz festivals and give the audience a more intimate and casual experience than they get at a regular show.

“Especially with instrumental music, a lot of the songs we write have certain ideas or situations or emotions or feelings that we want to convey through like the melody, our chord choices, how we’re playing or our tones,” he says. “So sometimes it’s nice to just to have these like smaller, more intimate settings to be like ‘this is what this song is about’ or like you know like this is what we wrote about and kind of inform.”

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Durocher formed Apollo Suns about six years ago. Since then they’ve released three EPs, have a full-length album on the way and have toured extensively in Canada and the U.S. in the past few years.

“We call ourselves a blend of psychedelic jazz-funk, some rock thrown in and pop music stuff in there.”

Apollo Suns have played in Medicine Hat before but this is the group’s first appearance as part of JazzFest.

Durocher says everyone has been easy to work with and very professional.

“I like playing jazz fests in general because all the volunteers are supporters. They like the music, they like working with musicians and the organizations and it’s very supportive,” he says.

There is one more workshop Friday afternoon featuring Caity Gyorgy on the Esplanade front lawn and JazzFest wraps up on Sunday.

Find the full schedule and more details at medicinehatjazzfest.com.