The outdoor stage at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery will be home, by chance, to JUNO award winning multi-instrumentalist Gabriel Mark Hasselbach this Friday evening (Aug. 1).
It’s a well deserved “time off” gig for the trumpet and flute wizard who has been keeping a torrid pace on the road of late following four Billboard charting tunes of his own in 2013-2014.
Hasselbach has racked up more weeks on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Charts than any other Canadian artist, and was awarded Album of the Year and Instrumentalist of the Year winner at the 2011 Canadian Smooth Jazz Awards.
In July, he performed in Gino Vanelli’s band, and played a show at Jazz On Blue Mountain in Ontario, and at the Lyric Theatre Outdoor Stage in Winnipeg.
He’s a longtime Vancouverite and kind of stumbled into the date at the cannery because of his love of classic vinyl and record-collecting, which led him to the door of The Beat Merchant, run in Steveston by Frankie Neilson.
Neilson just happens to coordinate the talent for the cannery’s summer series and recognized Hasselbach when he visited the shop, where the two quickly struck up a friendship.
“Apparently my reputation preceded me, and he (Neilson) asked if I would consider a spot on the cannery roster,” Hasselbach said in an email.
“I often play shows with my full band to audiences of several thousand, but always look for opportunities to share my music with any size crowd, in any format.
“I have played gigs from house parties to stadiums, and the smaller events seem to have more connection — it’s all good.”
At the cannery’s wooden deck, surrounded on three sides by wooden buildings for great acoustics, the audience is limited to 160.
Hasselbach, who has played with local stars such as Jim Byrnes and Long John Baldry, said his guest performer for his show will be guitarist Adam Rohrlick, and while it will be a relatively small format, “it will have immediacy and warmth.”
Admission to the Music at the Cannery 2014 series is by donation.
Shows start at 6:30 p.m.
