Celebrate Women in Jazz: world-touring vocalist Angela Verbrugge + expressive pianist Ashley Wey

Here in Saanich at the acoustically beautiful First Unitarian stage, traditional pop, swing, and jazz vocalist Angela Verbrugge (Western Canadian Music Awards Jazz Artist of the Year 2024 nominee), pianist Ashley Wey, and rising star jazz bassist, Bella Fedrigo perform for you.
Come join us for an evening of joyful, moody and sometimes contemplative jazz music in the church space across from Red Barn on West Saanich Rd. They will be presenting songs rooted the Great American (and Canadian) Songbook.

The Vancouver Islanders:
ANGELA VERBRUGGE and ASHLEY WEY
BELLA FEDRIGO (from Saanich, living in Vancouver)
SWING, CHEMISTRY AND CHARISMA
Vocalist Angela Verbrugge and pianist Ashley Wey have one last 2024 concert to perform for you after their big Atlantic Canada tour that saw them share music in concert space, festivals and venues from Newfoundland to Cape Breton, Halifax to PEI.

Angela has been touring the world (Taiwan, Japan, France, UK, Germany, Turkiye) singing about love gone right (or very wrong!). Her lyrics range from humorous tales of romance while trying to eat buttery corn at a summer picnic, to the mad dash panicked adventure of being late, to sweet reflections newfound infatuation, to sour reflections on feeling wholly unloveable.

The whimsical style takes inspiration from vintage movie musicals (such as those with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers), traditional swing era pop and American songbook (such as those sung by Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole and Julie London), and jazz standards (such as songs performed by Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Torme and Newfoundland vocalist Heather Bambrick).
Born in Kingston, Ontario, Angela has a penchant for drama having studied theatre in Toronto (and just generally being a dramatic person!) before moving to western Canada in 1997. Verbrugge has released three critically-acclaimed albums, in 2019, 2022 and the latest in May 2024 on USA-jazz labels. She won the JazzTimes’ Magazine poll for Best Female Vocalist, and was nominated for Jazz Artist of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards. Rave reviews of her recordings have resulted in performance opportunities in far-flung places including Japan, Turkiye, Luxembourg, Germany, France, Taiwan, UK and many Canadian provinces, all in the last four years. Her music has been played on radio around the world including CBC, NPR, and she took the number one spot of the Earshot charts multiple weeks.

Angela is joined by Ashley Wey, a red-head, born-and-bred, infrared west coast pianist (yes, we love rhymes!). The vibrant, passionate and swingin’ pianist started at the tender age of 5, and turned pro at age fifteen, never looking back. She attended Humber under mentors such as Don Thompson before setting sail to play jazz on cruise lines and in Australia. Returning to settle in Victoria, she became one of the busiest most in-demand musicians as both a leader and an accompanist on Vancouver Island. An in-demand educators for all ages, Ashley spent several years as one of the captains of the ship at Hermann’s Jazz Club, helping it weather the pandemic storm… curating programming, doing sound and operations. In one moment she will deliver a ridiculously swinging Oscar Peterson tribute. In the next, she is a tasteful interpreter of soul/pop sounds. Ashley’s on-stage charism and joy have built her a huge following in British Columbia.
These two dynamic Vancouver Islanders offer the attendees a lively evening of fun and flirty classics with a modern twist.
They are joined by Bella Fedrigo, a rising star on upright bass in the jazz field. She is presently working on compositions and appearing in Vancouver’s series such as Infidels, as well as completing her degree in jazz studies at Capilano University.

Special Guests:
Brenda Morie (flute, vocals) and Stella White (vocals)

Website:
https://www.angelaverbrugge.com
https://www.ashleyweymusic.com

Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/angelaverbrugge/
https://www.instagram.com/ashleyweymusic/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/angelasjazz
https://www.facebook.com/ashleyweymusic

Twitter:
Tweets by AngelaLovesJazz

URLs:
Website: https://go.evvnt.com/2745918-0?pid=10320
Facebook: https://go.evvnt.com/2745918-2?pid=10320
YouTube: https://go.evvnt.com/2745918-3?pid=10320

Date and Time: Sunday, 24 November 2024 at 19:15 to 21:30

Venue details: First Unitarian Church of Victoria, 5575 West Saanich Road, Victoria, British Columbia, V9E 2G1, Canada

Category: Live Music

Price:
By donation : CAD 20.00

Artists: Angela Verbrugge, Ashley Wey, Bella Fedrigo