Maya Rae

Tickets

Cost: $39.50
Find tickets: here

Her debut album, Sapphire Birds, showcases her beguiling, understated vocal style and her totally unique repertoire, which ranges from originals inspired by life at school and home to fresh covers of jazz standards and unique renditions of favorite pop songs by artists such as Meghan Trainor and Christina Aguilera.

Joining Maya are some of Vancouver’s finest jazz musicians:
Maya Rae
Cory Weeds – Sax
Miles Black – Piano
Joel Fountain – Drums
André Lachance – Bass
Vince Mai – Trumpet

Listening to Maya Rae’s Sapphire Birds, it is difficult to believe that the singer is just 14 years old. Her vocalizing is versatile and inventive, her originals are sophisticated, and she sounds very mature, making her age seem irrelevant.

High-points of Maya's career thus far include opening a show for New York pianist and singer Champian Fulton at Frankie’s Jazz Club and garnering national radio play on CBC radio for Maya’s holiday hit song, "I'm Still Waiting For Christmas". Maya considers her singing inspirations to include Eva Cassidy, Nina Simone, Christina Aguilera, Alicia Keys, Joni Mitchell, Sarah McLachlan and Ella Fitzgerald. While she has recorded some individual tracks since cutting Joni Mitchell’s “River” when she was 11, Sapphire Birds is her first full-length CD.
The recorded Blue Frog concert is an important early milestone for Maya Rae, a singer who clearly has an important musical career ahead of her.

Bio Cory Weeds:
A tenor saxophonist with an expressive sound rooted in Jazz tradition, a label owner tirelessly documenting unsung Jazz heroes, one of Canada’s most important Jazz impresarios, the hardest-working man in Jazz business – Cory Weeds is all of these things, and much more.

Weeds may be best known as the founder and owner of Cory Weeds’ Cellar Jazz Club in Vancouver, which he successfully ran for more than 13 years. Weeds built the Cellar to become one of North America’s best Jazz clubs, where masters such as George Coleman, Jeff Hamilton, Louis Hayes, David “Fathead” Newman, Dr. Lonnie Smith, and the finest Jazz musicians from Vancouver and across Canada performed before it closed in February 2014.

But he wasn’t just the club owner. As a saxophonist who studied at the University of North Texas and Capilano College, Weeds spent many nights on the Cellar bandstand as a leader and sideman. He held his own when performing with icons like Joey DeFrancesco and Christian McBride. Weeds has also recorded eleven albums as a leader, including: It’s Easy To Remember (with David Hazeltine, Joe Magnarelli, Paul Gill and Jason Tiemann) This Happy Madnes, (with The Jeff Hamilton Trio), Condition Blue, The Music Of Jackie McLean (with Peter Bernstein, Mike LeDonne, and Joe Farnsworth)., As Of Now(with the Harold Mabern Trio), Let’s Go (with Steve Davis), the Juno-nominated Up A Step(Cory Weeds Quartet), With Benefits (with Lewis Nash and Peter Washington), Just Like That(with the Tilden Webb Trio), The Many Deeds of Cory Weeds (with Joey DeFrancesco),Everything’s Coming Up Weeds (with Jim Rotondi), and Big Weeds (with Peter Bernstein, Mike LeDonne, and Joe Farnsworth).

While the Cellar is now a happy memory, the record label Weeds established in 2001 is alive and well. Cellar Live has put out over 100 recordings, including many that have spent extensive time on the JazzWeek charts, with many more releases planned. In addition to playing on numerous sessions, Weeds has also served as producer on more than 80 recordings.

On the presentation front, Weeds is employed full-time by Coastal Jazz & Blues (the producers of the annual TD International Jazz Festival) where he serves as Programming Manager for Clubs & Special Projects.

Cory Weeds Presents also presents music all over the city at various venues including The Italian Cultural Center, Hycroft at The University Women’s Club and Blue Frog Studios in White Rock.
More info