At The Music Room: Angela Verbrugge Jazz Trio from Vancouver

Here in Halifax, all the way from Vancouver Island to perform traditional pop, swing, and jazz is vocalist Angela Verbrugge (Western Canadian Music Awards Jazz Artist of the Year 2024 nominee), pianist Ashley Wey, and veteran Canadian jazz bassist, Dr Paul Rushka.

Come join us for an evening of joyful music in the sonically beautiful Music Room concert hall in Halifax North. They will be presenting the Great American (and Canadian) Songbook.

All the way from Victoria, BC, vocalist Angela Verbrugge and pianist Ashley Wey are in Atlantic Canada to perform for you for the first-time! Angela has been touring the world singing about love gone right (or very wrong!). Her lyrics range from humorous tales of romance while trying to eat buttery corn at a summer picnic, to the mad dash panicked adventure of being late, to sweet reflections newfound infatuation, to sour reflections on feeling wholly unloveable.

The whimsical style takes inspiration from vintage movie musicals (such as those with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers), traditional swing era pop and American songbook (such as those sung by Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole and Julie London), and jazz standards (such as songs performed by Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé and Newfoundland vocalist Heather Bambrick).

Born in Kingston, Ontario, Angela has a penchant for drama having studied theatre in Toronto (and just generally being a dramatic person!) before moving to western Canada in 1997. Verbrugge has released three critically-acclaimed albums, in 2019, 2022 and the latest in May 2024 on USA-jazz labels. She won the JazzTimes’ Magazine poll for Best Female Vocalist, and was nominated for Jazz Artist of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards. Rave reviews of her recordings have resulted in performance opportunities in far-flung places including Japan, Türkiye, Luxembourg, Germany, France, Taiwan, UK and many Canadian provinces, all in the last four years. Her music has been played on radio around the world including CBC, NPR, and she took the number one spot of the Earshot charts multiple weeks.

Angela is joined by Ashley Wey, a red-head, born-and-bred, infrared west coast pianist (yes, we love rhymes!). The vibrant, passionate and swingin’ pianist started at the tender age of 5, and turned pro at age fifteen, never looking back. She attended Humber under mentors such as Don Thompson before setting sail to play jazz on cruise lines and in Australia. Returning to settle in Victoria, she became one of the busiest most in-demand musicians as both a leader and an accompanist on Vancouver Island. An in-demand educators for all ages, Ashley spent several years as one of the captains of the ship at Hermann’s Jazz Club, helping it weather the pandemic storm… curating programming, doing sound and operations. In one moment she will deliver a ridiculously swinging Oscar Peterson tribute. In the next, she is a tasteful interpreter of soul/pop sounds. Ashley's on-stage charism and joy have built her a huge following in British Columbia.

These two dynamic Vancouver Islanders offer the attendees a lively evening of fun and flirty classics with a modern twist.

They are joined by Dr Paul Rushka (Doctor of Music from McGill, professor at St Francis Xavier). Paul and Angela used to perform together regularly in Vancouver at Frankie's Jazz Club until he moved east. Paul is one of the best jazz bassists in all of Canada. He is a first-call side musician for a who's who of today's top jazz musicians for performances and recordings, and has appeared at many Canadian jazz festivals, in Europe, US and Asia. He has worked with Peter Bernstien, Eric Alexander, Mike LeDonne, Kirk MacDonald, PJ Perry, Cory Weeds, and Joe LaBarbera to name a few. His creativity extends to his respected compositions, arrangements and his work as an educator.

Website:

https://www.angelaverbrugge.com

https://www.ashleyweymusic.com

https://www.paulrushka.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/angelaverbrugge/

https://www.instagram.com/ashleyweymusic/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/angelasjazz

https://www.facebook.com/ashleyweymusic

Twitter:

Https://www.twitter.com/AngelaLovesJazz

Host or Publisher Angela Verbrugge