Calgary’s 19-member Prime Time Big Band has a lot to celebrate on September 13. Not only does the date mark the band’s 20th anniversary, but it is also the opening show of Prime Time’s 13th season of Saturday brunch concerts at the Ironwood Stage & Grill.
The season opening concert will salute Prime Time’s long standing association with the Ironwood with a few selections from its first show there. The event also will be the first anniversary of Calgary singing sensation Deanne Matley as the band’s permanent vocalist.
The brunch shows have become a local phenomenon. And any band, especially one of this size, playing regularly in the same venue 13 years in a row, is unusual– Prime Time likely is the only one in Canada to do so.
Founded as a rehearsal band for professional musicians in 1994 by its director Dave Jones, calls soon started coming in for the band to play for live audiences at special events and festivals. It became clear that the band was in demand for more regular performances.
Calgary’s Ironwood Stage & Grill, a venue with an international reputation for its presentation of live music, was receptive to having a band on Saturday afternoons, Dave Jones says. “Within six months we had developed an audience and the concerts started paying for themselves.”
Playing every second Saturday, September through June, to packed houses of all ages who come to hear music ranging from Count Basie standards to The Big Phat Band’s exuberant contemporary tunes, Prime Time at the Ironwood is a Calgary institution.
Prime Time Big Band is the city’s second longest established regularly performing music ensemble (Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra is the first). Its membership is made up of many of Calgary’s top musicians, and almost all of the city’s most veteran jazz players, including Eric Friedenberg (flute, saxophone), Al Muirhead (trumpet, flugelhorn), John de Waal (drums) and Kai Poscente (bass). The high quality of Prime Time’s musicianship is why so many great world class jazz stars, such as bandleader/trumpeter Doc Severinsen, trumpeter Jens Lindemann, saxophonist PJ Perry, trombonist Al Kay and pianist/bandleader Tommy Banks, have been eager to come and perform with the band, says bandleader Jones. The new season will feature as its first special guest U.S. trumpet virtuoso Allen Vizzutti, on November 22.
The Ironwood Stage & Grill is located at 1229 9 Ave S.E., phone 403-269-5581. Admission for the September 13 concert, 2 – 4 pm, is $20 adults and $15 students, plus GST.