Show announcement: Trombone Mayhem @ Hermann’s, PLUS new shows for The Nick La Riviere Band

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Trombone Mayhem!
@Hermann’s May 12th

They say you’re only as old as your last promo photo… so I’m feeling about 10 years younger! This band is one of my older projects, but it’s a lot of fun.  This is my co-project with former Naden Band trombonist, Jeff Agopsowicz.  Jeff is a seriously great trombone player, and I’m really looking forward to the show. We’ll be joined by Karel Roessingh on keys, Ross MacDonald on bass, and Damian Graham on drums.  We’ll play a variety of wild jazz, including our version of the Buddy Rich Big Band West Side Story Suite – rearranged for 2 bones and rhythm section.  If you don’t know that piece, it’s a monster of a chart, but we have some fun with it.  We’ll also be playing some Chick Corea, originals, and other energetic standards.  For the second set, we’ll bring up Duncan Meiklejohn on vocals and guitar, and play some danceable 70’s funk and more!  This show is a lot of fun, so come on down and enjoy!

Reservations are recommended, you can make them online at http://hermannsjazz.com/show/465747/view

Upcoming dates with The Nick La Riviere Band

I’ve been working hard on my main project, The Nick La Riviere Band, and it’s been paying off. We’ve got some great shows coming up this summer.  I’ve also been dedicating at least a day each week to composing.  It’s one of those things that’s far too easy to let slide because it takes so much time, and there’s always something more immediate that needs doing.  So by dedicating time to work on it, I’ve been able to come up with some new music that I’m very excited about!  I’m really looking forward to premiering the new songs, which we’ll do at our next Hermann’s shows.  Next step once I’ve got enough new tunes ready – new album.. stay tuned!

Here’s what we’ve got (so far) coming up:
•June 16: The Gibsons Landing Jazz Festival
•June 30, 1:15pm: The Victoria Jazz Festival
•July 26, 12pm: Free lunch hour show at Centennial Square, sponsored by the City of Victoria
•July 27 & 28: Hermann’s Jazz Club!  These 2 nights are going to be great! We’ll be premiering brand new original tunes, and we’ll have great players and energy..  These are 2 nights not to be missed!  
•August 11th: The Harmony Arts Fest, Vancouver – I’ve played this fest many times with The Paperboys, and it’s a fun one!
•September 1st: Frankie’s Jazz Club, Vancouver
•October 12th: The Rubber Boot Club, Victoria – this one will be a lot of fun. It’s a dancing venue, so our show is going to be a little more geared to getting your feet moving. Mark it in your calendars and I hope you’ll come out and have a great time!

Click here for a complete listing of upcoming shows (including shows with other bands)

Big calendar update!

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I know I’m a little slow at updating the show calendar, but I’ve finally managed to update it for the next few months, including shows with The Nick La Riviere Band at the Gibsons Landing Jazz Festival, The Harmony Arts Festival in West Van, Victoria Jazz Fest, Hermann’s Jazz Club for 2 nights, Victoria’s city sponsored series at Centennial Square, and Frankie’s Jazz Club in Vancouver… plus more to come!!

Dont miss Trombone Mayhem at Hermann’s May 12th with Jeff Agopsowicz…

Plus mark your calendars for October 5 & 6 when I’ll be playing with 54-40 at the Commodore in Vancouver.. those will be great shows!

Click for complete show listing

Upcoming Nick La Riviere shows in Nanaimo & Victoria

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I’m busy working on booking a few things for my bands, as well as writing new original tunes for my next album (stay tuned) which I’m really looking forward to recording.

In the mean time, here are a few opportunities to see my projects coming up (more to come!):

•Friday, April 6th at the Shaw Auditorium at the Vancouver Island Conference Centre: The Nick La Riviere Septet (featuring 2 violins, cello, piano, bass, drums and myself) will perform jazz and more, sponsored by the Nanaimo Jazz Festival

•Saturday, June 30th at the Victoria Jazz Festival: The Nick La Riviere Band will perform as a 5 piece

•Thursday, July 26th at Centennial Square, Victoria: The Nick La Riviere Band (full 7 piece group with horns) will perform a rockin’ lunch hour set

•Friday and Saturday, July 27-28 at Hermann’s Jazz Club: The Nick La Riviere Band (full 7 piece group with horns) – 2 big nights of music.  We’re going with 2 nights this time due to the overwhelming response at our last show there. Thanks everyone for making the night so successful, I hope you had as much fun as we did!  And apologies to those who couldn’t get in.

The Nick La Riviere Band plays Hermann’s Jan 27th!

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The Nick La Riviere Band @ Hermann’s January 27th

Well, it’s the end of a massively busy seasons of gigs.  I’ve been playing at Butchart Gardens, with the Paperboys in Whistler and Wenatchee, with the Festive Brass backed by the Vancouver Island Symphony, and more… Plus my regular gigs. I had around 50 gigs between December 1st and January 6th, sometimes doing 3 shows in a day.

Now that things are back to a more reasonable pace for January I can focus on preparing for my show on January 27th.  The last show this band did at Hermann’s in November went really well.  It was sold out, and the audience and band had a blast.  We’re all really looking forward to playing again.  The band will feature Miguelito Valdes on trumpet, Barrie Sorensen on Sax, Aidan Miller on keys/vocals, Kelly Fawcett on guitar/vocals, Dave Spidel on bass, and Damian Graham on drums.  And of course, me on trombone, vocals, conch shells, wine glasses, and anything else I can get my hands on.

Reservations are recommended – all you need to do is go to Hermann’s website at this link, and click ‘register for a ticket’.  This guarantees you a seat if it sells out, which it did last time.  Or you can still try your luck at the door, we managed to sneak a few extra people in to the last show.

Tons of new videos!

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Finally, after a lot of work mixing the audio, editing the video, and dealing with (far too many) computer/technical issues, I’ve got 10 complete song videos edited from the Nick La Riviere Band performance at Hermann’s in November.  These were all professionally filmed, and the audio was recorded in multitrack from the mixing board, and then mixed (by me).  I think they look and sound pretty good!

Check out all 10 songs in this youtube playlist! 

I’m also on the lookout for more opportunities for the band to perform.  In an effort to make things nice and easy for promoters, who typically have many many applicants for their venues and festivals, I’ve made a 3 minute pitch video.  Now even the busiest promoter can quickly see what the band has to offer.

Check it out:

This weekend The HiFi performs at Hermann’s, PLUS highlights from 54-40!

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The HiFi
Friday and Saturday October 13 & 14 at Hermann’s Jazz Club

Happy thanksgiving everyone!  I hope you’re all having a great weekend.  I know I have, between playing some great shows with 54-40, preparing to move (we bought a house!), and all the other gigs I play… busy (but good) times! I wanted to send out a quick email to let you know about some shows this weekend with The HiFi.

The HiFi featuring Nick La Riviere, Damian Graham, ‘Art Booker’, and Ryan Tandy are at it again this Friday and Saturday! As usual, the night will feature Damian’s witty banter, awesome energetic music, top notch improvisation, and a variety of music ranging from originals to Allen Toussaint, Little Feat, Bob Marley, and Dr John covers. Reservations are highly recommended. New Orleans – West coast Brouhaha!

54-40

This Thanksgiving Weekend I’ve had the privilege of performing with big time Canadian rock legends, 54-40.  After spending a few weeks cramming to come up with horn charts for their tunes for myself and trumpet player Miguelito Valdes, it was a great couple of sold out nights at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver, playing all the hits plus a tune from their new record.  Want to see a little bit of the show?  Here’s a Facebook Live broadcast Heather filmed that features a trombone solo with wah-wah pedal.  The camera is moving around little bit because of the Commodore’s bouncing dance floor and the rockin’ crowd.. still, good times!

Other Upcoming Shows

•November 17th – Hermann’s Jazz Club – The Nick La Riviere Band (the new 7 piece version with horns! Funky, fun, and a big sound!)

•October 20 – The Paperboys 25th Anniversary Performance with special guests at The Imperial, Vancouver (tickets)

•November 24-25-26 The Paperboys perform at The Triple Door in Seattle, it’s a great venue so come on down if you’re in the area!

•The Festive Brass will be doing a few shows backed by symphonies this year: December 2nd & 3rd with the Vancouver Island Symphony, December 9th with the Victoria Civic Orchestra.. for a full listing of shows (which I’ll update as soon as I have a chance) click here.

Winner announced for tickets to The Nick La Riviere Band July 21 + Denmark Tour Dates + Follow me to New Orleans!

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Ticket Winners, Denmark Tour, and New Orleans!

ANNOUNCING TICKET WINNERS FOR THE NICK LA RIVIERE BAND + SPECIAL GUESTS

HERMANN’S JAZZ CLUB
Friday, July 21st, 8pm

Congratulations to ticket winner Joan Dick!  Joan, you’ve won 2 tickets to The Nick La Riviere Band on July 21st.  Just give your name at the door and you and a friend are in!

Everyone else who entered, thanks very much for your entry and I hope to see you at the show anyway!  And good luck next time, I’ll probably make this a regular thing for my shows.

About the show: The music will be funk, jazz, R&B, originals, and great tunes by people like Trombone Shorty, Sly & The Family Stone, Dr John.. everything fun!  I’ll be joined by the great Cuban trumpet player Miguelito Valdes, Barrie Sorensen on sax, Damian Graham on drums, and from Vancouver Aidan Miller on keys, and Jim Bennett on bass. If you don’t know Jim, check out his viral video.  He’s got 3-million views on his bass cover of Get Lucky by Daft Punk, where he plays the melody, chords, and bass line all at once without a looper.

I’m really looking forward to this show.. if there’s one of my gigs to see it’s this one!

Reservations can be made online here. (Click register for a ticket)

 

Follow Me To New Orleans

What happens when a musician goes on vacation? Check out these videos to follow me and my wife Heather to New Orleans. In part one we arrive in New Orleans and get a quick look at the city and Bourbon St, before boarding a cruise ship to visit Jamaica, Mexico, and Grand Cayman. And of course I sit in with the band on the ship. In part two we check out what New Orleans has to offer, I sit in with a bunch of bands including Delfeayo Marsalis, and we check out the New Orleans Jazz Festival where I get a backstage pass for The Meters and The Preservation Hall Jazz Band. There’s also some great shots of tons of other festival performances, and of course Stevie Wonder’s set, which included some unexpected crying, an anti-Trump speech, and Stevie Wonder DJ-ing.

Off to Denmark!
In August I’ll be off to Denmark to play with The Midnights. The Midnights is the professional band that evolved from The Vic High R&B Band, which I’ve written about 80 charts for with singers, horns, and rhythm section.

August 17 – Aalborg Blues Fest
August 18 – Frederiksberg Café
August 19 – Drop In Cafe, Copenhagen
August 20 – Bjarne Rassmusens, Malov
August 23 – Bakken – apparently it’s the world’s oldest amusement park, first opened in 1583
Aug 25-27 – Ballerup Musik Festival

Thanks very much for keeping in touch and allowing me to let you know about what’s going on! I hope to see you on July 21st at Hermann’s!
Nick