Calgary Herald from Calgary, Alberta, Canada • 48

1 JL JL JL Mieranmeni i mis biukinvg Editor: Eric Dawson 235-7580 Fax: 235-8725 CALGARY HERALD Tuesday, September 23, 1997 D12 Calgary is moving to the beat of a different drum Rob Galbraith, Calgary Herald JAZZ: Singertrumpet player Johnny Summers with Kjell Gjertsan on drums. DARYL-LYNN CARLSON Calgary Herald he atmosphere is electric. The jazz combo's drummer rips into a solo, building thunderous rolls with precision, and the chatter 1 ill A cafes and bistros. Even coffee shops such as the Good Earth Cafe recently have been staging small jazz acts in tight quarters. And several new establishments, such as Kensington's Diva which has been remodelled into a martini bar, are billing themselves as jazz venues.

The resurgence of jazz is bringing together players and fans of all ages. At the downtown, downstairs Calgary club Beat Niq, "the audience ranges in age from 18 to 80," says owner Rob Young. "It's a different kind of entertainment, not like a U2 show or something," Young says of the jazz groups who play his club. "They have a love for the music," he says. "It's new, but it's not." Although the forefathers of jazz made milestones by incorporating a hard life's pain and passion into their playing, there's an energetic quality to the music being performed by a more wholesome batch of newcomers on the scene that revitalizes the old jazz.

Summers has been playing the trumpet for only eight years, although he's proficient enough to rock the house, and on this night at the Kensington cafe, he did. The drummer rolling the sticks on a four-piece kit in the corner was Kjell (who goes by Shelly) Gjertsan. At the age of 52, Gjertsan has racked up enough life woes to rival some of the past jazz greats. But here he was, playing with the fresh-faced Summers, as the newest member of the Johnny Summers Five, a jazz ensemble that was born this summer and is recording a debut CD this month. Gjertsan's experience seasons the ensemble, which has given him an opportunity to get back on stage.

During a tumultuous career, he toured with popular blues artist Big Miller, played in pick-up bands for Sonny Stitt, Woody Shaw, Pepper Adams and Oliver Jones, and opened for Miles Davis when the legend performed in Edmonton in 1984. But the nightclub lifestyle took a toll on Gjertsan, who incurred addictions, a divorce and an estranged relationship with his teenaged son. "I went to the bottom of the heap," he says. I Gjertsan disappeared from the music scene by the late 1980's, until resurfacing recently with the young Summers. The Johnny Summers Five includes Calgary up-and-coming jazz players Dave Cam well on saxophone, Dave Graber on bass, and Tony Rozic on piano.

Their success has been marked by repeat bookings and the hope that the group's CD will lead to a bona fide recording session with a major label. Other performers, such as The Jazz Infidels, The Ju Ju Barians, Zoe Nimi-jean, Russ Broom and Mark De Jong, are building followings, playing jazz music practically anywhere that can accommodate an audience. Ross Young, owner of Beat Niq's, has lost track of the number of cafes, bistros and coffee bars that are booking young, local jazz musicians. But he says "I don't see this trend going away." "In fact, I see it increasing as long as (the musicians) stick to the roots of the jazz music they're playing now." V. I.Z of the audience ceased.

All eyes and ears are fixed on the performance, which would be as much at home in a back-street New York jazz club as in this small cafe in Calgary's Kensington district. It 's one of those rare moments when the audience and the performer seem to be one. the sound of a trumpet calls the band back into the song, marking the end of the solo and drawing attention to the 19-year-old front man Johnny Summers. I lean-cut and coiffed, Summers hardly personifies the prototypical jazz musician. In fact, the Calgary teen is more typical of a growing number of young jazz musicians throughout North America who are increasingly appreciative of the music of pioneers like Miles Davis, John Coltrane and Chet Baker.

think you're starting to finally see a little bit of a resurgence coming up now," acknowledges Maurice Ginz-Ir, owner of Calgary's long-time jazz spot Kaos Blues and Jazz Bistro on 17 Avenue S.W some younger people, it's new, Ws hip and it sounds good," Ginzer 9ays. --The Calgary International Jazz Festival traditionally draws strong audiences, despite its recent financial troubles, and the music's street-level popularity is surging into small city A-Channel is a bumpy ride new approach to Calgary TV. Cool or not, it's less effective during Gzowski wins Bob Edwards award KEN MCGOOGAN Calgary Herald Peter Gzowski has won the 1997 Bob Edwards Award. The celebrated broadcaster, who has published 11 books and countless newspaper and magazine articles, will receive the award (a plaque) Nov. 24 at the Palliser Hotel.

Gzowski, who was host of A-Channel has hired quite a few experienced journalists, but some on-air people are green, and it shows. A local competitor who didn't want to be I rr. news shows. The kid-with-a-clipboard approach to TV journalism is going to take some getting used to. In A-Channel's first couple of days on the air, it was constantly let down by audio failures and other technical Fasten your seat belts andpopaGravolif you're taking A-Chan-nel for a test drive this week.

Jt's a bumpy ride, he new local TV station has been battling technical problems, which it will probably solve soon. Less curable isCthe learn-as-you-go news ojjeration that demands too much patience from viewers. a named says there's a reason why Calgary stations didn't employ reporters and anchors like Rick Castiglione if BOB ELAKEY Herald columnist CBC Radio's Morningside for 15 years until his much publicized farewell this year, founded a national series of golf tournaments that has raised nearly $5 million for literacy. The Bob Edwards luncheon, a fundraiser for Alberta Theatre Projects, has or Barb Higgins until they had paid their dues in smaller towns and cities for several years. "We (the established three stations) compete Inaccurate clocks at the station caused the launch to begin four minutes late, and even on Monday morning, A-Channel was displaying an 8 a.m.

time at 8:02 a.m. Also, the screen had a habit of going to black, a problem still cropping up on day three. A-Channel president Drew Craig Peter Gzowski against each other, The worst example so far: Monday's 6 p.m. news show, A-Channel's flag-sfiip operation that was nothing short of embarrassing. Chief anchor Glen Carter had to monumental foul-ups that left him shuffling papers while expected news footage failed toroaterialize.

Then for what seemed like an efernity, a street camera just aimed at the near-bjiXRT tracks and pedestrians. In 20 years of T3T journalism, this was probably a first for Carter. )n the plus side, A-Channel has a freshness and energy that will no doubt appeal to young viewers. Certain shows, such as The Big Breakfast, are capitalizing beautifully on the station's location. A cook called Rockin' and the Butt Shredders starred in an entertaining segment Monday morning by making qaesadillas on a sidewalk barbecue and handing them out to passersby.

All the while, A-CEannel's jumpy hand-held camera swung from subject to subject, letting us know this is a cool become known as a venue for controversial speeches. Edwards was a famously outspoken journalist who created and edited the Calgary Eye Opener from 1902 to 1922. Gzowski joins an impressive list of award winners (and speakers) that includes Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, June Callwood, David Suzuki, Peter C. Newman, Rene Levesque, Mordecai Richler and John Ralston Saul. The annual luncheon this will be the 23rd also honors Alberta writers, and each table will include at least one author.

Tickets cost $65 each and this event always sells out. Call ATP at 294-7475 for reservations. but collectively we are proud of the fact our news shows are as good as anything you'll see in Toronto or Vancouver," he says. "This (A-Channel) puts the whole playing field back one step." Of course, we're rushing to judge a station that's been on the air less than three days. And it was never Drew Craig's intention to duplicate what the other stations do.

Why bother signing on if that's your goal? he has said in the past. In the weeks to come, we'll have a better idea of how successful the new formula is. When the fall ratings come out, we'll also find out how tough the viewers are in their judgment. says such glitches were expected in the start-up of a new station. "We're sorting (the problems) out, one by one.

We've got a plant full of new people and very high-tech new equipment." Other stations have problems now and then, too, he says. Maybe so, but A-Channel's competitors at least staff their shows with veteran professionals. Calgary 7, CFCN and CBC all demand plenty of experience from their journalists before they stick them in front of the viewers. One of A-Channel's sports reporters fell apart on camera on the weekend because this is his first TV job. diller Ik PREMIERE r1 Ml HOME IMPROVEMENT DILLER.