In The Pocket: Valley Giants 2012 Compilation CD officially released!

It is with great pleasure that we officially launch the TD Ottawa Jazz Festival's first compilation CD entitled Valley Giants 2012. This is a project that is extremely important to us as it highlights solely acts from the Ottawa Valley region and features some of the incredibly talented artists this City has to offer. It was very inspiring to see the amount of applications we received for this project, and I regret only that we simply could not include more of the great artists.

Our Jazz Scene is a very unique one here in Ottawa: we have musicians of high caliber who include many different styles of music and media as their source of inspiration. What we did, was to take a snapshot of the different facets of the Ottawa-Gatineau jazz and jazz-inspired scene, picked some of the great songs submitted and put them all on a CD for you to enjoy.

The title of the project is inspired by the story of the local folk hero Joe Mufferaw who prevailed during hard times. It is often sch hard times that result in great art - an expression of the people and their struggles - a picture of the era if you will. Especially in today's world... when our values are being questioned from every direction, it is more important now than ever to recognize that art and music is what inspires life, and to recognize those who produce such art in our own community.

The CD artwork was done by the talented local artist Morel McMaster whose work is being featured on more and more CD's and projects in the area and her depiction of the concept is spot on. The project is also made possible by Healey Music, who have been incredibly supportive along the way.

The CD will be available for free, and you can get your hands on it in several different ways:
- for a limited time, if you come visit our office you can simply ask for your copy
- various social media events
- select areas and opportunities during the festival

Congratulations Ottawa Musicians!
Petr

If you are interested, here is what is on the CD:

1. Baby, Baby - Mike Essoudry’s Mash Potato Mashers

www.mashers.ca

2. She's Returning (A.K.A. Marie Etait Triste) - Christine Fagan

www.christinefagan.ca

3. Scatterbrain Drain – Geggie Trio + Donny McCaslin

www.plungerecords.com

www.johngeggie.com

4. The Baron – Craig Pedersen Quartet

www.craigpedersen.com

5. Sahara Sand Dune – Lucas Haneman

www.lucashaneman.com

6. Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood – Kellylee Evans