I have been invited to take part in this special concert and memorial in Montreal on October 4 to honour my former teacher and mentor Jan Jarczyk. First, I’d like to tell a bit about him and how he was such an important influence in our lives. Then I hope you might consider joining my Patreon page as a paid subscriber for a month to help me get to Montreal

https://www.patreon.com/moniknordine

I met Jan in September, 1993 when I arrived at McGill to start my Masters degree. At the time, he was the chair of the Masters program in Jazz Studies, so me and my student cohort all had him as our advisor. He was also our composition teacher and for some he was a piano instructor as well. He assigned our courses and checked our compositions. Jan basically held our hands and made sure we graduated – not that he wanted to get rid of us – but he did want us to finish. Jan always made time for us and was available to perform with us if we asked him to do gigs off campus, he was always willing. He did several $30 gigs with me while I was a student, which for me was a schooling in itself. While he maintained his own teaching and performing career, as well as his home life, he also made time to be personally involved with his students. Maybe that’s why he talked so fast and also why he was so fast playing through the students’ compositions: he played the assignments so fast that I think all of us students came out of the office a bit dazed and wide-eyed. He genuinely cared about us and liked to spend time with us. Because I was far from home it was helpful to have a teacher like him who seemed to care. After we finished our studies many of us went out on cruise ships as musicians to pay our students loans. We sent post cards to Jan from distant lands, and he posted some of them on his office door. Later when I went on to have my own teaching and performing career I kept in touch with Jan and would sometimes call him with questions and performed with him in Montreal in 2007. That was the last time I saw him. I was living in Victoria and was busy with my career and family and it was too difficult to get to Vancouver when he came in early 2014. In August that same year he was gone.

Since then, it has never ceased to amaze me at how many people knew about Jan. I went to hear a Polish jazz group performing in Victoria in around 2018. We ended up talking about Jan, as he was an inspiration to them as well. In 2017 when I recorded my third album, I dedicated it to him because without him I couldn’t have done the things I did in my life, at least not in the way that they happened. It was mainly just a feeling that he gave us, and for that I will always be grateful.

Monik Nordine Trio

Shaw Auditorium Nanaimo

March 22, 2024

The Monik Nordine Trio has been performing for audiences from Stockholm to Vancouver Island since 2021 starting with Monik’s collaboration with Andreas Hellkvist and Daniel Olsson in Sweden.  Monik Nordine Trio | Andreas Hellkvist.   The material ranges from soul jazz with a nod to Sonny Stitt and Don Patterson to calypso and jazz rock fusion in the Miles Davis tradition. Joining Monik on March 22 at the Shaw Auditorium are Nick Peck on organ and Hans Verhoeven on drums.  

We were in the studio yesterday and today recording “The Kiss”. TK on bass, Jonathan Charles on drums, Rellon Brown on flugelhorn, myself, Owen Shade, engineer

If you are in Vancouver in November here are some places you can catch me with Sharon Minemoto and Jared Burrows

November 1, 6pm to 9pm – La Fabrique St-Georges with Sharon Minemoto on piano and Brent Gubbels on bass https://www.fabriquestgeorge.com/lounge-info

November 5, 6:30pm to 9:45pm – 2nd Floor Gastown with Sharon Minemoto on piano and Brent Gubbels on bass https://www.waterstreetcafe.ca/2nd-floor-gastown

The Monik Nordine Trio has been featured from Stockholm to Vancouver and consists of Sharon Minemoto on piano and Brent Gubbels on bass.  Monik is a saxophonist and vocalist who recently returned from  Trinidad where she joined the band Pantar.  She has toured with Hugh Fraser’s band  VEJI and recently completed a residency in Stockholm, Sweden with funding from the Canada Council for The Arts and the BC Arts Council to work with Ann Sofi Söderqvist.  

Sharon Minemoto is a Canadian jazz pianist and composer who recently recorded a new album “Dark Night, Bright Stars” with her own group.  Since the age of sixteen she has been performing to audiences around the world her groups have been featured at jazz festivals and jazz clubs across Canada.   

Brent Gubbels is a Vancouver bassist who has worked with the Hard Rubber Orchestra, Gypsalero, Rumba Calzada, John Reischman, and the Vince Mai Project among others. He has toured North America and Europe to perform for many jazz and folk festivals and can be heard on recordings by Oscar Lopez, Gypsalero, Juno nominees Susan Crowe and Compadres, Juno winner James Keelaghan, and others.

Together they are the Monik Nordine Trio!  

November 15 – Presentation House with Thunder Lizard (Jared Burrows, guitar; Nick Peck, organ; Joe Poole, drums)

https://www.phtheatre.org/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsD9_-vfw_8

November 16 – Capilano University lunch hour concert series

Also, keep on the lookout for this Balkan band….

I have three gigs coming up in September and a new track to check out –

My latest song “What Good Is It” here on Bandcamp https://moniknordine.bandcamp.com/track/what-good-is-it

September 3 with Sue Newman and the Frank Allen Four at the Salt Spring Legion https://www.facebook.com/events/818356193104146/?ref=newsfeed

September 10 with Len Aruliah at Hermann’s Jazz Club https://hermannsjazz.com//show/590744/view

September 21 with Toronto drummer Zaynab Wilson at Mateada on Salt Spring Island https://www.mateadaguayaki.com/new-events

From 2 to 5pm at the winery Fabrique St. George on East 7th Ave. on Saturday, July 22

with Sharon Minemoto on piano and Steve Holy on bass

On April 29 at Fulford Hall Magenta Music presents the sounds of the Caribbean with Bernard Fernandes and his steel drums, our own Saltspring version of a Caribbean Carnival called Steelpan Extravaganza.  Bernard is bringing a set of steel drums for this event, and in tandem with Swing Shift Big Band there will be a concert featuring him, his workshop participants, and a few sax solos from Monik Nordine.

Monik and Bernard met up in Port of Spain this February to hear the pans at the Panorama competition after a two year hiatus because of Covid, and what a party! Bernard will be bringing twelve tenor pans to Salt Spring for people to try out at Fulford Hall – the newest pan band on the coast.  Joining Swing Shift Big band as a soloist for some of their repertoire is sure to be an ear tingling experience with some added spice from Monik Nordine on the alto saxophone.

Originator of the bands ‘SweetPan Entertainment’ and ‘Carib X Press’, Bernard performs as a solo artist on steel drums, piano, vocals, & guitar. He has arranged for and/or led La Tropical, Karib Brass, Cinnamon, Fernandes & Co, Sweet Pan & Panarimba. With Fernandes & Co, an instrumental & vocal group featuring Caribbean, Latin & North American music, Bernard released a CD of all original music in 1994. For three years, prior to the closing of the Music Gallery he was Music Entertainer at Science World, BC. Finishing his music degree in 1992, he makes his living teaching, making & composing music.

Bernard will be bringing twelve tenor pans for folks to try out in the workshop at Fulford Hall on April 29.  The Steel Pan Food Truck will be joining us at Fulford Hall with some Caribbean delicacies and colourful clothing and dancing is highly encouraged.   

Workshops will run in the hall from 3pm to 6pm and the concert will take place from 7pm to 10pm

The cost for the workshop is from $20 to $60 depending on the amount of time and includes admission to the concert.  Concert tickets are $20

Tickets and sign-up are at Mondo and Company in Ganges

Sponsored by: Apple Photo, Mondo and Company, The Steelpan Foodtruck, Bandemonium Music Society and The Salt Spring Jazz and Blues Society

Finally decided to write the book “This Is Why I Love to Practice the Saxophone”, which is an anecdotal account of my musical life and teaching, intended to inspire and elicit a few smiles.

Its coming out first on Patreon, and those who wish to be involved in the process and the community here is a link

Monik’s Creations

I am really excited about working with Mungal and joining his band for the North Coast Jazz Festival in Trinidad at the end of May!

North Coast Jazz – Facebook

Had the pleasure of jamming with Pantar and Mungal Patasar today, what a beautiful vibe

Meet David Boothman of the Caribbean Renaissance Foundation https://caribbean-renaissance.org/

In January and February I will be in Trinidad to study the music of the pan yards. With the help of my friend Salah Wilson and his book, as well as friends in Trinidad such as Base-E-Fexx Sound Associates I hope to bring some of the sounds back to Canada and do a concert on April 29 on Salt Spring Island with Bernard Fernandes.

We will be joined by local musicians and community collaborators for this very special event. Follow me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter for updates!

https://www.facebook.com/saxgirl.ca

https://www.instagram.com/monik_nordine/

In fall of 2021 Monik went to Sweden to study with composer Ann-Sofi Söderqvist and now the Victoria Jazz Orchestra is gearing up for a concert on November 19 at Hermann’s Upstairs to perform Music from Sweden.  The first half of the concert will feature Söderqvist’s work and the second half will feature Monik’s work, along with some Canadian favourites by Hugh Fraser and Ian McDougall.

Joining the Orchestra for this show is vocalist Jennifer Scott, a far-reaching talent who has collaborated with the likes of Tommy Banks, Kenny Wheeler, and Clark Terry.  Jennifer “brings a striking emotional intelligence to everything she sings, no matter the context. As much a song stylist as an improviser, she puts her stamp on material through her supple sense of swing and deft, slippery phrasing” (Seattle Times).  In 2018 she joined the Victoria Jazz Orchestra at the Nanaimo Jazz Fest for a performance with the Mingus Dynasty Band and excerpts can be heard here

Rainy Night House | The Victoria Jazz Orchestra (bandcamp.com)

Tickets are available here Music from Sweden

Also joining the Victoria Jazz Orchestra on November 19 are section leaders

Derrick Milton on lead trumpet

Doug Awai on lead alto

Jeff Agopsowicz on lead trombone

On Sunday, September 25 The Monik Nordine Trio with Nick Peck on Hammond organ and Miles Fuller on drums is on the road this fall with some delicious soul jazz in the spirit of the Sonny Stitt and Don Patterson collaborations of the 1970’s. The Monik Nordine Trio has been featured from Stockholm to Vancouver over the past year and is looking forward to this performance of funky soul jazz.  In addition to leading her trio Monik directs The Victoria Jazz Orchestra and has also performed with Hugh Fraser and VEJI, The Hard Rubber Orchestra, Ian McDougall, Rob McConnell, Guido Basso, Michael Buble, the Victoria Symphony Orchestra and more.

Tickets are available here http://www.frankiesjazzclub.ca/upcoming-events/

Hear the group at Hermann’s Jazz Club in August here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN7fw0UIUyc