Again this year our festival keeps the focus on celebrating the incredible music talent in PEI and Atlantic Canada, beginning with an intimate jazz show Thursday June 28th at the historic St. Paul’s Church, with presentations to honour Ken Fornetran, this year’s Doug Riley Artist.
“Doug Riley Artist” is a designation awarded each year to an Island musician who exemplifies the spirit of dedication to musical excellence and to developing the jazz and blues community as personified by Doug Riley, the late, great keyboard master, composer, producer and arts exponent who chose PEI as his home.
After moving to PEI in 2012, Ken has been very active in the local music scene performing regularly across the Maritimes with Paul Tynan, Tom Easley, Island Jazz, Alan Dowling, and Ian Toms to name a few. Ken has also taught saxophone and woodwinds at St. FX University and Holland College School of Performing Arts (SOPA).
Originally from Windsor Ontario, Ken moved to Toronto in the late eighties to study music at Humber College. He has performed at most of Canada’s major jazz festivals and clubs with many of Canada’s finest musicians including Bernie Senensky, Norman Marshall Villeneuve, David Occhipinti, Roy Styffe, Bob Mover, Jerry Fuller, and others. He has played in a wide variety musical settings ranging from jazz great Curtis Fuller to Canadian pop icon Alan Frew (Glass Tiger) and Classic Albums Live.
His debut CD recording “Shadows and Short Stories” received an impressive 4 star review in Downbeat Magazine and was later listed as of of the “Best CD’s of the Year” in the same prestigious magazine. In addition to his career as a musician, Ken has also earned a reputation as one of Canada’s finest woodwind repair technicians.
For our first show of the 2018 TD PEI Jazz & Blues Festival, and this years Doug Riley Concert Ken will present an intimate evening of music that crosses genre labels, featuring special guests Emmanuelle LeBlanc of Vishtèn and trumpeter Paul Tynan who recently won the 2018 ECMA for Best Jazz Recording. As usual the concert will be held at the beautiful St. Paul’s Anglican Church, one of the best sounding venues for jazz in Atlantic Canada.
Visit peijazzandblues.ca for more information about this concert and the rest of our 2018 schedule. Tickets can be purchased in advance at the Eastlink Centre Charlottetown.
Join us June 28 to 30 and help celebrate our 100% East Coast Jazz & Blues talent here in Atlantic Canada.