Dave Klinger will take listeners on a historical tour of New York Jazz piano at the McMillan Arts Centre (MAC) on Sept. 18.
The afternoon will include compositions from 1910s ragtime tunes to 1930s swing to the funk revival of the 1950s, said Klinger, who added he likes to introduce the songs and give the audience some background about it and the composer.
“This concert is a very relaxed sort of thing. I do a lot of talking, I’m a former teacher so I’m not afraid to talk to people,” he said with a laugh.
The performance is based off a course Klinger taught at VIU’s ElderCollege — he has a master’s degree in piano performance. He said he likes to a take a historical approach to the show, which he said will be roughly an hour long.
The afternoon will feature jazz forms such as blues, swing, bebop, funk and ragtime, in addition to an original composition of his — an homage to Count Basie, who he once met.
He said the set also features a piano arrangement of Louis Armstrong’s ‘What a Wonderful World’.
“No one else can ever sing that song, for me, again,” Klinger said. “But I can play it. And so I put together an arrangement that I’m quite proud of.”
READ MORE: Friendship at heart of new MAC exhibit in Parksville
He said sometimes people he meets will say they don’t like jazz music, but then it turns out they can name a few songs they enjoy.
“What they’re talking about, in my opinion, is they’re talking about bebop,” Klinger said. “And they’re talking about jazz solos, which tend to be too long.”
He recalled a story where Miles Davis complained about how long John Coltrane’s saxophone solos were. Coltrane’s excuse was he didn’t know how to end a solo.
“Try taking the saxophone out of your mouth,” was Davis’s reply.
Klinger said he finds the demographics in the Parksville Qualicum Beach area very receptive to jazz music.
He has lived in Parksville since moving from Calgary 12 years ago.
The show is part of a three-concert series at the MAC, with performances by Jeanie Paterson following on Oct. 16 and Nov. 6.
Tickets for the Sept. 18 performance are $15 and can be purchased on the MAC’s website.