Toronto’s acclaimed Kensington Market Jazz Festival will continue its annual tradition, showcasing hundreds of Canadian musicians this September 13th, 14th, and 15th.
Celebrating its fourth year in a row, the three-day event will feature more than 300 Canadian jazz musicians with over 100 JUNO Awards to their names, from across the country in some 150 performances throughout 23 venues drawing more than 4,000 concertgoers.
Kicking off the all-cash, no-advance-ticket music festival will be six-time JUNO Award nominee Carol Welsman, performing at Supermarket September 13th at 9:00pm.
“The Kensington Market Jazz Festival is proud to showcase hundreds of established musicians on the Toronto jazz scene, in one of the city’s most vibrant neighbourhoods, in the heart of Toronto’s heritage district,” says founder, singer-songwriter, artist and philanthropist Molly Johnson. “We are hard at work curating and preparing for what is sure to be the most exciting year yet. As we have continued to curate more and more exclusive festival performances, we fully expect to draw a much larger audience for this amazing event.”
This year’s collection of special guest venue curators include CBC Big City, Small World Host and educator Errol Nazareth (Cafe Pamenar), Dave Wall, a beloved member of the music community who specializes in community outreach and education (Kiever Synagogue), Colleen Allen, a revered saxophonist and Humber College faculty member (St. Stephen-in-the-Fields Church), guitarist extraordinaires Eric St-Laurent (LOLA) and Kevin Barrett (Trinity Common), and celebrated bassist and educator Steve Wallace.
In addition to the annual Festival, the KMJF team have brought many other projects to the Kensington Market neighbourhood, including winter and spring series in the market, two live recordings, and KMJF Kids Music, launched in 2018 in partnership with the festival’s patron saint, Tom Mihalik of Tom’s Place, Yamaha Canada Music Ltd., Discovery Through The Arts, Youth Arcade Studio, and St. Stephen’s Community Centre. KMJF has continued support from Slaight Music, Long & McQuade, Yamaha, City of Toronto, and other private donors.
Born and raised in Kensington Market, Kensington Market Jazz Festival founder singer-songwriter and philanthropist Molly Johnson O.C. had been dreaming of this festival for years. On September 16th, 2016, her dream came true. 4 years later, the original philosophy still holds true. “The Kensington Market Jazz Festival is proud to be an artist-driven, volunteer-fueled festival that has been met with overwhelming support. KMJF wishes to honour the history in the market and strives to ensure that our vision remains in-tune with that of the neighbourhood.
“We look forward to presenting more music in 2019, and invite you to join in the excitement!”
