Stetch Brings his Jazz to Barrie

By Halya Wawryshyn

From June 8-19, Barrie, Ontario hosted its annual Jazz and Blues Festival featuring many musicians who performed on stages and venues throughout the city. 

Jazz pianist John Stetch, who hails from Edmonton and now lives in Ithaca, New York, gave a solo performance at the Barrie City  Hall Rotunda in the evening on June 16. His performance was superb, but unfortunately it was not well attended as there was little publicity for the event beyond Barrie. 

Barrie is only a stone’s throw from the Ukrainian National Federation's camp Sokil in Hawkestone. Perhaps next year more cottagers  might consider spending an evening enjoying Stetch’s music. Courtesy of the city, his fabulous concert was free of charge.

Stetch’s life as a professional musician began when he moved to Montreal in the late 1980s.  He recorded his first album Rectangle  Man in 1992, which led to tours, additional recordings and airplay on radio programs.

In 1993, Stetch won second place in the prestigious Thelonius Monk Composer’s Competition and in 1998 he won the Grand Prix du Jazz du Maurier at Montreal’s jazz festival. 

Stetch began his Barrie concert with a medley from his CD Green Grove, which is reminiscent of his happy days as a youngster at the Zelenij Hai Ukrainian camp in Alberta. 

Later, Stetch played some bluegrass arrangements of his favourite jazz musician Thelonius Monk. Stetch showed that he can play both soft mellow numbers, such as "Never Let me Go," as well as bouncy, happy numbers with great expression. 

Often Stetch utilizes surprise and playful endings. At times he ends on a tremendous valley of sound, as in his number based on Monk’s "Sweet Georgia Brown." Yet, in "Out of Nowhere," Stetch was lyrical and pensive.  His quieter tunes transported the audience into a shared transcendental experience. Stetch’s dexterity makes the audience concentrate closely so that they can follow his flying fingers on the keyboard.

When Stetch plays, he uses the whole piano and even sometimes plucks strings inside the instrument.

In some numbers, Stetch showcased his classical training. In his rendition of Monk’s "Ask Me Now," there was definitely the influence of Bach.

Many of Stetch’s own compositions, and one of his albums, Ukrainianism, have Ukrainian themes and melodies.  He has written compositions commemorating the famine and the victims of Chornobyl and also a number dedicated to his grandmother, Savelia Stechishin, the venerable author of the best-known Ukrainian cookbook published in Canada.

The last number that Stech played in Barrie was a "Kolomeyka Fantasy," based on his memories of playing in a zabava band in Edmonton.  People at weddings used to ask the band to play slower and faster, and so the tempo of the composition changes dramatically throughout.  The piece, which he calls a “futuristic kolomeyka,” ends in an echo, haunting in its intensity. The genius of Stech is that he can take memories of tunes he grew up with and morph them into new and exciting tunes in the new medium of jazz.

When the enthusiastic audience clapped for an encore he modestly complied. Stetch ended the evening on a soft note after the exuberance of "Kolomeyka Fantasy." His encore was the famous old standard called "Like Someone in Love. "

The still boyish-looking Stetch, clad in black jeans and a turtle-neck, laughed when the concert’s sponsor said that his next CD should be called An Intimate Evening with John at City Hall. The audience, who had just enjoyed what seemed to be a private concert laughed appreciatively. Most rushed to buy one of Stetch’s newest CDs, Exponentionally Monk and the very latest recording, Bruxin’.

It seems that creative talent runs in Stetch’s family. His sister Danovia, of the Stefura Dance Studio, is currently leading the Ukrainian Arkan dance group on a trek across Turkey.

We await John Stetch’s next appearance in Toronto, where it is sure to be a sell-out as was his last Toronto concert at the Glenn Gould Studio.