July 8 8pm: Jazz Soul Night featuring Elizabeth Shepherd & Chantal Thompson with Michael Occhipinti

Elizabeth Shepherd & Chantal Thompson with Michael Occhipinti July 8

Toronto’s Elizabeth Shepherd joins Kingston’s Chantal Thompson and Michael Occhipinti for what promises to be a fantastic evening of music. The show starts at 8pm at the Renaissance Event Venue. (285 Queen St.)

$20 tickets are available on-line or at the door.

Elizabeth Shepherd

Velvety-voiced pianist Elizabeth Shepherd arrived on the international scene in 2006 when her debut album ‘Start To Move’ was voted one of the Top 3 jazz albums of the year by the listeners of the influential Gilles Peterson Show on BBC Radio Worldwide. Since then, the globetrotting souljazz innovator has released five widely acclaimed records, picked up 4 JUNO nominations, and toured extensively in North America, Europe, Japan and Latin America. Her latest record, The Signal, has been hailed as a “masterpiece” and appeared on numerous Best-of-the-Year list across the world.

Elizabeth has been hailed as “a jazz virtuoso blessed with a pop sensibility”, praised by critics worldwide for her arrestingly original writing and soulful delivery. Along with artists like Esperanza Spalding, Robert Glasper, and Jose James she is seen as part of a wave of jazz musicians bringing the art form to a new generation of music fans. Elizabeth is also the only jazz vocalist to ever have been nominated twice for the Polaris Prize – Canada’s most prestigious music prize.

Chantal Thompson

Chantal Thompson is a local jazz and multidisciplinary artist who just moved back to town from NYC, where she recorded her first solo jazz CD with some great players from New York and Kingston. Chantal toured around previously with other bands such as Directions a seven piece fusion band playing the Montreal Jazz Festival and the Jazz Café in London England and was remixed by numerous international DJ’s. On her latest CD Sirens & Stars, Chantal re- imagines beautiful soulful standards and originals in the cool jazz genre, with a bluesy introspection. “People have described the record as having a cinematic quality and this is something I am definitely interested in exploring.” To sum it up, Nina Simone, Billy Holiday and Ornette Coleman.

Michael Occhipinti

An eight-time JUNO Award (Canada’s Grammy) nominee for Best Contemporary Jazz Album, guitarist/composer Michael Occhipinti’s inventive approach to creative music of all kinds has earned him a broad array of listeners and the respect of critics and musicians alike. Crossing genres that include jazz, chamber music, funk, world music, and anything involving modern guitar sounds, Michael is both a versatile musician and an imaginative band leader. His Sicilian Jazz Project has been called “a masterpiece of cross-cultural fusion” and has thrilled audiences in Canada, the U.S., Italy, and Mexico.