Celebrating a Seven Year Musical Journey with the Toronto Concert Band and Mike Field

jaybroderick
Jun 17
2 min read

By: Michael Drukarsh

Toronto, ON - If it's live, it's LOUD and if it's LOUD we cover it at LoudTO.

Saturday, June 14 at the Glenn Gould Studio in the heart of Toronto, a concert, one that has been in the making for seven years finally came to fruition. The Toronto Concert Band (TCB) joined forces with Jazz musician Mike Field and his band for a night of toe tapping, hand clapping, moving in your seat music!

Master of Ceremonies Peter Van Wart opened the concert with a warm welcome and introduced the night’s program.

TCB, a group of musicians who volunteer their time to come together and create beautiful music, started the evening off with a few selections that really got the sold out crowd into a jazzy state of mind. Conductor Les Dobbin led the group through jazz infused opening number "Danzas Cubanas" before handing the baton over to Conductor Ken Hazlett who didn’t let the crowd forget that the Stanley Cup playoffs are still going strong with a powerful rendition of the Hockey Night in Canada theme. Another highlight from this set included a piece entitled "Spain" by Chick Corea that took the listeners on a wonderful journey as it painted flowing pictures with its beautiful jazz sounds.

Mike field performs live in Toronto. Photo By: Michael Drukarsh

After a brief intermission special guest Mike Field Quintet took the stage and really ramped up the jazz vibe. Band leader and trumpet player Mike brought warmth and humour while he shared stories of how each piece came to be. Along with Jacob Gorzhaltsan on tenor sax, Scott Metcalfe on piano, Russ Boswell on upright bass and Dave MacDougall in drums, Mike Field Quintet delivered some incredible jazz feeling with the three song set of "High Altitude", "Bad Lessons" and "Five Days in Hermosa".

The final set was extraordinary as both the TCB and Mike Field Quintet took the stage to perform together in what was the culmination of seven years of hard work and dedication. Performing original pieces by Mike Field and arranged by legendary composer Shelly Berger, both sounds melded together perfectly taking full advantage of the amazing acoustics provided by the Glenn Gould Studio. Again sharing conducting duties, Les Dobbin and then Ken Hazlett led the combo through a three song set featuring "Dance of the Biometrics", "Attic Jump", and "Rush Mode".

The night came to an end with an encore of Theme "Gonna Fly Now" from Rocky performed by the TCB. As the lights came up, the audience took to their feet in appreciation for the hard work and dedication the volunteer members of the Toronto Concert Band demonstrated by performing an incredible night of jazz.

Concert Photo Gallery