“He’s somewhere between Louie Prima, Jerry Lewis and a male model.”īarbra Lica & The Sparklettes, Sam Broverman, Sunwing founder Colin Hunter, Pam Hyatt and Amy McConnell will also be lending their voices to the cause Thursday. “Most songs will come from movies everyone knows and will be performed in various dance styles with the focus being swing music.Īlso on the bill is New York singer Chris Norton, who Bee says has a huge cult following of kids who love to dance. “This is an 18-piece band under the direction of Anthony Terpstra who has put together charts with a movie theme,” Bee tells me. Thursday’s silver screen-themed swing show features Don Francks, who Bee calls one of Canada’s jazz heroes, singing trad jazz, folk and blues as well as the Hollywood North Starlight Orchestra that promises to be the highlight of the night. Many independent agents, managers and others have no benefits package to speak of.”īee says that in the past year-and-a-half, Unison has offered free counselling services, “and as soon as we raise a million bucks, we will be able to provide short-term financial assistance for a wide range of services including medical costs and general living expenses.” “I have some close friends who could’ve really used the help: Singer/flautist Lisa Particelli, folk singer Ken Whiteley, blues master Julian Fauth and especially jazz singer Alex Pangman - who had a double lung transplant - all could’ve used the services of this fund when they had health issues. “After spending over 20 years self-employed as a singer, I totally empathize with people who work full-time in music and have no access to the type of assistance many people probably take for granted,” he says. He says he jumped at the chance to join Unison. The brainchild of Jodie Ferneyhough and Catharine Saxberg, the fund helps those who don’t have access to pension plans, unemployment insurance, employee assistance programs, sick leave and medical benefits.īee - a musician and DJ on Jazz.FM 91 - is a member of the fund’s board and will be hosting a benefit for the organization at the Palais Royale Thursday. They may not sing the blues when tragedy strikes, but the Unison Benevolent Fund is acutely aware of their predicament and is doing a fantastic job raising awareness of the issue and providing a shoulder to lean on. Listening to Jaymz Bee rattling off the names of local musicians who had little or no access to extra cash when experiencing hard times got me questioning how little we invest in those who hustle so hard to enrich our lives. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.
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