BY MALCOLM HOLT

Special to the Record

This week鈥檚 jazz concert at the Little Red Church in Comox will be an exciting affair when Jeff Agopsowicz leads his own quintet of regional jazz friends.

As a professional trombone player, Agopsowicz鈥檚 musical travels have physically taken him around the world and into many musical genres, but his personal favourite place is in the jazz world right here in the Comox Valley, and this concert is his personal expression of thanks for the musical haven provided by the Georgia Straight Jazz Society.

He performs on March 30 at the Little Red Church at 7:30 as a bandleader. The focus will be on familiar jazz standards and some of his own superb original compositions.

For this concert, Agopsowicz is surrounding himself with a talented group of musicians, some local and some Nanaimo-based.

鈥淕raham Villette from Nanaimo, will be on drums,鈥� said Agopsowicz. 鈥淕raham has been playing professionally for almost a decade with prominent jazz musicians such as Joe Magnarelli, Atilla Fias, and others. He attended VIU for his BA and then completed a master鈥檚 degree in jazz performance at the University of Toronto.

鈥淕uitarist Kosma Busheikin joins Villette as part of the Nanaimo band contingent. Kosmo brings his love of blues and swing to the bandstand. He has spent the years since his VIU studies establishing himself in the Island Jazz music scene with a wide variety of musicians at music festivals such as the Port Theatre and the Tofino Jazz festival. His love of playing and teaching music began as a 16-year-old taking guitar lessons on Denman Island.鈥�

The quintet is rounded out with a couple of Comox Valley staples.

鈥淔inally, I鈥檓 pleased to include two of the finest local musicians, Rachel Cooper and Steve Wallace, to round out the band,鈥� Agopsowicz said. 鈥淪teve began his illustrious music career playing bass in a high school student-run Dixieland band. Since then, it has been 47 years of what Steve calls 鈥榦n-the-job training鈥� with many jazz greats both from Canada and the U.S. Steve has become a treasured jazz fixture in the Comox Valley since his move here in 2021. Rachel Cooper is a busy parent/local music teacher/performer on clarinet and sax who claims that 鈥榤usic chose her鈥� instead of her doing the choosing. Rachel describes herself as 鈥榢lezmer, classical, and Latin infused jazz style.鈥欌��

Admission to this quintet event is $15 for Georgia Straight Jazz Society members, $20 for non-members. 2023 memberships ($20) will be available at the door. If you鈥檝e yet to experience the fine standard of weekly jazz that occurs each Thursday, you鈥檙e invited to bring yourself and a friend to this comfortable and safe venue, and put yourself into a wonderful frame of mind. You鈥檒l be glad you did.

For more information about the upcoming calendar of weekly concerts in this season鈥檚 schedule, please visit www, georgiastraightjazz.com.

Malcolm Holt is the president of the Georgia Straight Jazz Society