On Friday April 27th, as we step into a new season with the Jazz at JR's we are stepping back downstairs. The downstairs pub is where Jazz at JR's began a year last August and there are fans who still wax sentimental about the Fridays we could play pool or lean on the bar at the same time as we shared the live jazz. There will be a small cover charge of $2.00 to help pay for the music and the same excellent meals supplied upstairs will be available downstairs.
Helping us to make that a really enjoyable evening will be the Dave Renaud Trio.
Dave has played at JR's several times, with Alan Wilkinson as part of the "Reeds and Rhythm" line up and as "Dr Jazz" with bass player Bob Langley and Guitar Paul Cheatley.
David Renaud is one of Ottawa's leading reed players and is in popular demand as a clarinet and tenor saxophone player. For the last twelve years he has worked with the NAC orchestra in various pops and he has played numerous times with the Ottawa Symphony. He has performed 416 shows with the "Orpheus" pit orchestra at Centrepointe theatre and been featured in the Ottawa Jazz Festival every year since 1985. This is a musician who is equally comfortable playing jazz, classical, and everything in between. He is part of a group named "Classic Klez" that plays two or three Jewish weddings a month and he leads a twelve piece dance orchestra known as the "Starlighter Swing Band". This band accompanies dances sponsored by the City of Ottawa at Lakeside Gardens and will be playing for the Smiths Falls Hospital Fundraiser on May 5th. He also plays with the "Impressions in Jazz" orchestra, a newer large jazz combo currently gaining popularity in Ottawa. In this formation he plays tenor sax, bass clarinet, clarinet, and flute. Dave, while respected as one of the most capable sax and clarinet players in Ottawa, is an accomplished performer on all the single reeds, flute, and piano and he likes to think of himself as a multi-instrumentalist. He sings too, particularly with his small Jazz combo Dr Jazz.
Dave Renaud now lives in Hull but as a youth he lived in Ashton and attended Carleton Place High School, studying music under the tutelage of David Ennis. While still at school he played with a popular Dixieland Band that used to perform at the Ashton Auction Hall. Graduating from the music program at Carleton Place High School he went on to study music at Ottawa University for a year before going off to Humber College to take their Jazz Program, returning to Ottawa to complete his degree. He was the University's lead clarinet player for five years. His first professional job was in the summer of 1981 as a musician playing for the "Changing of the Guard" in Ottawa. Dave has now become a registered piano technician, tuning for several major concert halls and a large client base.
Since studying here all those years ago David Renaud has been coming back to this area as a musician, playing in festivals, parades, restaurants and concerts. There is no better showman or performer. Come and listen for yourself April 27th at JR's in the downstairs Pub.
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Val & Alan Wilkinson
263, Clayton Lake Road,
RR2 Clayton,
Ontario KOA 1P0
613 256 4324
613 256 5294
