Music lovers, and especially jazz lovers, take note: April 30 is International Jazz Day, a perfect excuse to make a martini, slip some vinyl on the turntable and groove to the greats.

Eric Platz teaches jazz studies at Brandon University. The 50-something drummer originally from Boston, Massachusetts, said jazz history isn’t just about the past — it’s being forged right now, right here in Canada.

“From a historical standpoint there are a number of people from jazz history that would be very influential Canadian musicians. But at the same time, there are a lot of people now, a younger generation, that are having a tremendous influence on the music,” said Platz, a percussionist and improviser who plays jazz, Americana, world music, rock and classical.

Looking back, Platz picks out two influential giants of jazz: Kenny Wheeler (1930 – 2014) and Oscar Peterson (1925 – 2007), both Canadians.

“Kenny Wheeler was a great trumpet and flugelhorn player and composer, a very big influence more on the compositional side in jazz. His music was often quite challenging with a lot of difficult harmonic changes. It was very modern, but coupled with a priority on beautiful melody within a modern jazz context,” he said.

He also points to Oscar Peterson, the virtuoso jazz pianist and composer renowned for his trio work.

“He’s probably the most well-known Canadian jazz musician. He set a hallmark standard and defined a certain style of piano trio playing, with and without drums. He made challenging music and improvisational music accessible, something I’ve always appreciated,” Platz said.

For his own jazz influence, Platz also cited Tony Williams, who played with jazz trumpeter Miles Davis in the 1960s.

“Tony Williams was a huge influence in terms of the way that he incorporated a lot of freedom and energy. When I was younger, I always thought the aesthetic was this very polite kind of understated cool approach — and that can be a part of it — but, the drummers who really got me going were people like John Bonham (Led Zeppelin) or Neil Peart (Rush). That energy of rock was really appealing to me,” he said.

“When I first became aware of Tony Williams, it was like, ‘Oh, this is a jazz drummer who’s playing with the energy and intensity of a rock musician,’ and that fire was something I could really relate to.”

Skip to today and Platz is enthusiastic about the music being created by faculty members at Brandon University.

“We have people from quite a diverse background. One of those is Luis Deniz, our saxophone teacher. He is an unbelievable alto saxophone player, truly world class, who can play anything,” he said.

“He grew up in Cuba, and all that music from the traditional styles up to more modern Cuban dance music is part of his background.

“When you listen to him improvise and solo, you feel his soul. It’s a very powerful experience.”

Brandon U’s guitar instructor Diogo Peixoto, came from Brazil to complete his master’s degree. Now a faculty member, he directs the big band and has made recordings.

“He’s bridging Brazilian music with more contemporary jazz with influences like samba, the bossa nova tradition. He was also very interested in prog rock and metal to a certain point. So that element comes into his music as well,” Platz said.

Bassist Marika Galea, originally from Toronto by way of Montreal and Boston, has leant her touch to a number of Juno-nominated projects.

“Besides being a wonderful bass player, she’s an outstanding singer-songwriter and composer voted by CBC Music one of the 35 best Canadian jazz artists under 35,” Platz said.

“She’s such a lyrical-feeling kind of player and has a really amazing deep groove on the instrument. I’m a drummer, so I love playing with Marika because she puts feeling and groove at the forefront of what she does and in her songwriting and her compositions.”

Closer to home is Carter Graham, from Winnipeg who also leads the band Vox Populi.

“With Vox Populi, he’s trying to reconnect jazz with dance music, primarily soul, funk, R&B, as a way of reaching a wider audience,” said Platz.

“He is a phenomenal jazz pianist and can play in a traditional style at an extremely high level.”

Platz said these musicians all share a particular quality.

“To me, it’s always been important that you can feel the person’s soul that you’re playing with and they’re not just a highly skilled instrumentalist. They’re a person who can really express their stories through their music. Luis and Marika and Carter and Diogo are people that do that,” he said.

Platz said that jazz is active and always evolving — it’s not something just of the past.

“We’ve been taught by people who have been a significant part of, or are contributors to jazz history. We love the music that was made from the early 20th century through now, but we’re not solely traditionalists — we’re also living in our present time with our influences.”

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