The Classical Jazz Quartet

Classical Jazz Quartet Musicians

Classical Jazz Musicians

Grant Freeman – Piano/Musical Director/Arranger

With 40 + years as a music educator, Grant is back to performing and composing music. Since moving to Parksville, he completed an Orchestral Work, ‘Salish Sea Suite’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktHs85yqMG4. He has finished his first draft of a musical/opera based on the life of BC architect Francis Rattenbury.

Grant’s other love is playing Jazz piano. He played with the Swingsations Big Band, for over 10 years in Trail B.C. Grant has studied at the Sorrento Jazz Camp with Michael Creber, and at the Vancouver Symphony School of Music with John Stetch and Miles Black.

Grant has played in Rock and Jazz Bands since High School, arranging, composing, playing piano and singing with his own band, Slinky Jazz in the West Kootenays. He arranged an Andrew Sisters tribute for Company Jump that played around BC. Since coming to Parksville he played for 2 years with the Ed The Funk Band and he teaches piano online at insyncsoundstudio@gmail.com.

Grant enjoys walking with his wife Dee and Miniature Aussie Shepherd on the beaches and trails around Parksville and Qualicum Beach.

Wayne Finucan – Drums

Started playing music in the late fifties jazz and rock scene in Winnipeg. During the early 60’s he played on more than 300 TV shows including Music Hop where he played with the legendary guitar player Lenny Breau. Check out YouTube “Young Lenny Breau” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A76MlkhFOYs for a video clip.

In Winnipeg, he owned a well know recording studio and film production company and played in night clubs and TV shows during the 70’s and 80’s. In 1990 he moved to Vancouver and worked as a sound mixer for 15 years on dozens of shows including Highlander, Stargate and Battlestar Galactica.

In 2005, he retired and moved to Qualicum Beach to renew his musical interests. He plays drums, sings, guitar and saxophone, and currently performs with the Nanaimo Concert Band, The Oceanside Concert Band, The Just Us Dance Orchestra, Peggy Kinsmen and is active in the local jazz scene.

Judith Pazder – Flute

Judith Pazder grew up in Halifax and attended Dalhousie University.  She landed in Victoria before the blizzard of ‘96 and stayed anyway, becoming an active teacher, arranger, and composer. She is a founding member and performs regularly with the Victoria High Notes Flute Choir, a group the promotes new music featuring the works of local composers.

Currently Judith is a Suzuki teacher on flute and recorder at the Nanaimo Conservatory and the conductor of the Academy Flute Choir at the Victoria Conservatory. 

Dave Mitchell – Fretless Bass

Dave lives in Qualicum Beach and plays Upright Bass with Gypsy Jazz bands and small swing combos and like to play acoustic guitar and ‘old style’ Blues for open mics. The rest of his time he goes on excessively long bike rides and exercising his dog Frieda, in order to get a break from rehearsals.

Next Performance

Previous Performances

Previous Performances

Classical Jazz ‘live’ at 39 days of July 2025

Set List for Jan.11, 2026 – Duncan Showroom at 131 Station Street

Lullaby of Birdland – George Shearing, (trans. G. Freeman),

Suite for Flute and Jazz Trio by Claude Bolling.

1. Baroque and Blue,
2. Sentimentale,
3. Javanaise,
4. Fugace,
5. Irlandaise,
6. Versatile
7. Veloce

Intermission

Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring – J.S. Bach (arr. J.Loussier),

Air On A G String – J.S. Bach (arr. J.Loussier),

Prelude #1 – J.S. Bach (arr. J.Loussier)

Here’s Comes The Sun (Jazz Waltz) – George Harrison (arr. G. Freeman),

El Manisero – arr. Hilario Duran (trans. G. Freeman).

‘I’ve Got You Under My Skin’, – Cole Porter

‘Cheek to Cheek’ – Irving Berlin 

 ‘No More Blues’ – Antonio Carlos Jobim

Program Notes

Lullaby of Birdland – George Shearing wrote “Lullaby of Birdland” in 1952 for Morris Levy, the owner of the New York jazz club Birdland. Levy started a regular Birdland-sponsored disk jockey show, and he wanted Shearing to record a theme which was “to be played every hour on the hour.” Levy originally wanted his own music to be recorded, but Shearing insisted he could not relate very well with it and wanted to compose his own music. They compromised by sharing the rights of the song; the composer’s rights went to Shearing, and the publishing rights went to Levy.

Shearing stated in his autobiography that he had composed “the whole thing […] within ten minutes.”The chord changes were partly from Walter Donaldson‘s “Love Me Or Leave Me“.

Incidentally, Nanaimo’s own Jazz Bassist Neil Swainson began touring and recording with George Shearing in the late 1980’s into the late 90’s. He also played with Victoria Jazz Flutist Paul Horn, before moving to Toronto.

CBS Columbia Records released in 1975

Suite For Flute and Jazz Piano – Claude Bolling – Pianist/Composer, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Flutist

One Floor in the CBS Building (on 6^th Avenue in New York City) houses Columbia Records A. & R. divisions – pop, jazz and classical. A feeling of camaraderie generally exists among the workers but the sound of a tape or disc reference denoting a new release can, and often does, lead to patient shrugs or tempered verbal exchanges between people of widely differing musical persuasions. A happy exception to this attitude of reluctant laissez-faire occurred recently when Claude Bolling’s Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano was played in the producer’s office. The universal appeal of this record became immediately apparent when other producers and secretaries from all divisions converged spontaneously in an expression of enthusiastic interest.

Here, Claude Bolling joins forces with his friend, the master flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal. In his first non-classical recording, Rampal and avid jazz enthusiast, noy only reveal a startling affinity for modern music but also premiers a welcome addition to the flute’s repertoire.

In the Baroque era (c. 1600-1750) a suite was an instrumental collection of dance movements. In this work, however, the term is used in its modern application, signifying an instrumental composition with a number of contrasting movements. There is also great fluctuation of moods within the movements of the Suite, caused by the constant dialogue between the jazz and classical elements which seem to fight, to interrupt, to stimulate, to mimic, and even to embrace each other. Whether in a musical mood of joy or melancholy, tenderness or impishness, Bolling and Rampal, (ably assisted by drums and bass) combine talents to create an unconventional work that seems to stimulate and satisfy both classical and jazz audiences.

–Bobby Finn

Jesu Joy of Man’s Desiring Air on a G String, Prelude #1 – arr. by Jacques Loussier, adapted by Grant Freeman.

 Jacques Loussier (1934-2019) created a refined and sophisticated synthesis of jazz and classical music born from improvisation. A conservatoire-trained pianist, Loussier created a veritable sensation in 1959 by establishing a trio with string bass player Pierre Michelot and the drummer Christian Garros to record jazzed-up interpretations of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach.

Here Comes the Sun – arr. G. Freeman

Based on George Harrison’s most popular Beatles song from the album ‘Abbey Road, I have reframed the song as a Jazz waltz with Piano and Flute trading off the melody. Later in the song you’ll hear the repetitive Chorus: “Sun, Sun Here it Comes”, but with sets of descending 9ths chords and one ascending set. The end of the arrangement reference to the original George Harrison version with its closing arpeggiated chords.

El Manisero was a very popular song at the beginning of the 20th Century in Cuba. The title translates as ‘The Peanut Vendor’. They used to sing melodies like these to promote their products in the street. This style of Cuban music uses a repeated melodic/rhythmic/harmonic pattern of 2 measures called a ‘montumo’. The Flute later plays solo over the ‘montumo’ in this arrangement, based on the traditional melody of the Peanut Vendor.

I’ve Got You Under My Skin – arr. Phil Mattson

This arrangement is fashioned after the original orchestral arrangement by Nelson Riddle famously recorded by Frank Sinatra in 1956. It featured a dynamic, symphonic big band sound with woodwinds doubling on flutes/clarinets, creating a lush backdrop for Sinatra’s vocals, a masterpiece of orchestration born from a rush-job car ride to the studio. The story goes that the night before the recording session CBS decided they needed one more chart for the album. Nelson Riddell had finished the score but when his wife drove him to the recording studio, he was still writing out the parts on a leaf from their dining room table, while in the back seat of the car.

“Cheek to Cheek” is a song written by Irving Berlin in 1934–35, specifically for Fred Astaire, the star of his new musical, Top Hat, co-starring Ginger Rogers. Covered by many singers including Ella Fitzgerald, Peggy Lee Doris Day and more recently as a duet with Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga.

No More Blues (Chega de Saudade) is one of the hallmark pieces of Bossa Nova music. Released in 1958, this song was instrumental in spreading Bossa Nova music worldwide. The word “Saudade” refers to a uniquely Brazilian sense of longing and melancholy, emotions that are intricately woven throughout the piece. English lyrics are by Jon Hendricks and Jessie Cavanaugh, with Cavanaugh being a pseudonym for music publisher Howard S. Richmond, adapting the Portuguese lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes.

Upcoming Events:

November 23, 2025 – Classical Jazz Trio – 2:30 PM with Oceanside ‘Pop’ Choir and Concert

Band Seasonal Concert – Knox United Church, Parksville B.C.

January, 11, 2025 – Duncan Showroom (131 Station Street-ground floor) – 3 PM – Duncan B.C.

May 9, 2026 – 2:30 PM – Knox United Church, Parksville (Guests of Oceanside ‘Pops’ Choir’)

September 3, 2026 Georgia Straight Jazz Society – 7-9 PM – 40 Knots Winery, Comox B.C.