Jazz lovers can expect an evening of classic swing with a fresh twist when saxophonist John Greene and the Winnipeg Swing Project take the stage at the Fort Garry Hotel this Sunday, May 4 at 7 p.m. Presented by Jazz Winnipeg, the performance will spotlight timeless tunes from jazz greats like Duke Ellington, Count Basie and Billy Strayhorn — with a few surprises in store.
Greene, a recent graduate of the University of Manitoba’s Desautels Faculty of Music, is steeped in the sound of jazz’s early icons. “What’s really always connected to me was, you know, these great players from the past, like Coleman Hawkins, Ben Webster,” he said. “For them, it’s really a sound thing. Like, total mastery of the sound of the instrument — incredibly lyrical, melodic. To me it doesn’t get better than that.”
Greene has been studying with celebrated saxophonist and educator Jon Gordon since Grade 12. “He’s really like one-of-a-kind musician,” said Greene. “You know, you don’t get to work with those people often.”
His upcoming show will feature the Winnipeg Swing Project, a band he’s been building for some time. “We’ve gone through a few iterations,” he said. “I think we finally landed on something that sticks, and I’m hoping people will really enjoy it Sunday.”
Their first gig was at a swing dance hosted by the U of M’s Student Faculty Association — a setting that helped define the group’s musical direction. “There’s very specific repertoire you have to play for dancers because you don’t want to play anything too fast or crazy,” Greene explained. “So,guys like Count Basie are definitely in.”
Now an 11-piece band with seven horns, rhythm section and vocalist, the group focuses on arrangements from the golden era of swing — but reimagined for a smaller ensemble. “It’s a really interesting challenge to put together these full big band arrangements, but you have to pare it down a lot because we don’t have quite that many horns,” said Greene.
He and bassist Liam Allen have been handling the arrangements. “A lot of the time it’s a matter of like transcribing off the recordings or going to the original scores and then seeing what we can move around, make it work,” he said.
Sunday’s setlist will include a mix of classics and lesser-heard gems. “We have some Count Basie in our set list. We also have some Charles Mingus. Oscar Pettiford is a really great bassist and composer we’d like to feature,” Greene said. From the Ellington-Strayhorn catalogue, audiences can expect “Main Stem” and “Chelsea Bridge,” a ballad Greene calls “one of my favourite Billy Strayhorn compositions.”
Expect plenty of swing, but also space for exploration. “We can do those kind of big band shout choruses, but then we can also have some flexibility because we have a smaller group and we can open up and be more exploratory in certain places,” said Greene.
The show will also include an original composition by Allen. “I won’t spoil it,” Greene said, “but we’re going to do that one. It’s going to be really fun.”
Ultimately, Greene hopes the performance shows just how alive this music still is. “Even though it’s old, you can still play it and you can play it with a bit of a modern sentiment to it,” he said. “Yeah, it’s still very much relevant and still very vibrant.”
If you go:
What: John Greene & the Winnipeg Swing Project
When: Sunday, May 4 at 7 p.m.
Where: Fort Garry Hotel, Winnipeg
Tickets & Info: jazzwinnipeg.com
