Juno award winner returns to Strathmore

Shannon LeClair 

Times Reporter

 

Last fall blues musician Jack de Keyzer come to Strathmore at the request of the Musical Arts Society, and had people dancing the night away. For anyone who missed his soulful performance last year, there will be a chance to catch him at the Travelodge in October.  

“That was a really fun show for us,” said de Keyzer about his last gig in Strathmore.

In 2010 his album Corktown Sessions won the Juno Award for Blues Album of the Year, something de Keyzer said they are still riding high on. He is also a seven-time Maple Blues Awards winner. 

“I’m bringing a new band. I have a bass player named Kit Johnson. I worked with Kit many years ago in Toronto in various roots bands and rockabilly bands, and he’s been living in Calgary now for the last 10 years or so,” said de Keyzer. 

Whenever he is on travelling gigs de Keyzer said he likes to work with different players, though he does have a steady band in Toronto. It’s been a busy summer for de Keyzer and his band mates. He played the Montreal Jazz Fest about a month ago, was at the Dutch Mason Blues Festival in Truro, Halifax, and most recently was at the PEI Jazz Festival in Charlottetown. 

Now that the festival season is winding down de Keyzer is doing a lot of club shows and the odd late festival. He also was fortunate enough to have a chance to play for the Canadian Armed Forces at Alert Base in Nunavut, an opportunity that he said was amazing. Though he hasn’t recorded a new album in a while, de Keyzer said he has kept busy writing new songs and hopes to make a new studio album soon. 

“I hope to be in the studio sometime this fall for sure, with a new album out by late 2011 or early 2012,” said de Keyzer. 

de Keyzer will be in Strathmore Oct. 8, and tickets are already on sale for the show. Cocktails start at 5:30 p.m., dinner between 6:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. and the show begins at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $50 and include dinner. They are available at Music Centre Canada, PJ’s appliances, Assist Business Centre and Pro Water Conditioning.