Cory Weeds Plays Sonny Rollins + Saxophone Colossus screening at VIFF Centre
2025-09-07 19:00 - 21:30 (America/Vancouver) | VIFF Centre, 1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 3M7, Canada
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Cory Weeds is an expressive saxophonist with a warm and impactful sound rooted in jazz tradition. Jazz aficionados know that Cory, when playing tenor or alto sax, conveys an unerring sense of swing. Recording more than 20 albums as a leader that document his dynamic saxophone playing on both hard-swinging tunes and gentle ballads, he has shared stages and recording studios with the likes of Bill Charlap, Joey DeFrancesco, Champian Fulton, Jeff Hamilton, Harold Mabern, Roy McCurdy, Brad Turner, and many other high-level artists. He’s a fearless musician who embraces a broad range of playing situations and then delivers with performances that shine.
On this night he will be joined by pianist Sharon Minemoto, bassist David Caballero and drummer Jesse Cahill to play music from Sonny Rollins’ 1957 Riverside Records release The Sound Of Sonny. Sonny’s performances and recordings were at a peak during 1957 as Down Beat magazine proclaimed him the Critics’ Poll winner under the category of ’New Star’ of the tenor saxophone.
This performance will be part of Vancouver Celebrates Sonny, a multi-venue celebration in honour of the great Sonny Rollins’ birthday.
About Sonny Rollins: Saxophone Colossus (Robert Mugge, 1986, 101 min, Ira Gitler, Gary Giddins, Francis Davis)
“In addition to capturing Rollins in prime form, wielding his tenor in ways that have elicited hosannas from fans and critics alike for decades on end, [the film] examines the saxophonist’s methodical approach to performing and improvising. Practice alone may take some musicians to Carnegie Hall, but as Rollins tells Mugge at one point, meditation and visualization are a big part of his pre-concert regimen. Here we also see, during an outdoors concert filmed at the Opus 40 quarry garden in upstate New York, various aspects of Rollins’ persona onstage: the full-throated improviser who seems incapable of physically exhausting himself or depleting the wealth of his ideas; the gifted dramatist, skillfully balancing emotional tension and release; the unabashed entertainer, whimsically stringing together the familiar melodies that pop into his head. (This is also the storied concert in which Rollins jumps off a six-foot stage ledge, only to end up on his back with a broken heel. The misadventure, however, doesn’t prevent him from quickly resuming the performance, albeit in a supine position.) The quintet concert footage is effectively juxtaposed with an ambitious, large-scale production: the world premiere of Rollins’ Concerto For Tenor Saxophone and Orchestra, performed in Tokyo by Rollins and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra.” Mike Joyce, Jazz Times

George Garzone + Fire Music at VIFF Centre
2025-09-24 19:30 - 22:30 | VIFF Centre, 1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 3M7, Canada
Early bird tickets are available now! There are a limited number of early bird tickets available, so don’t wait!
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George Garzone is a giant of the contemporary saxophone, having performed with Jazz luminaries like Joe Lovano, Jack DeJohnette, Kenny Barron, & Ingrid Jensen, and having recorded over a dozen albums as a leader since the 1990s. In short, he’s considered one of the true living masters of this instrument. He’ll be performing a very special set music at the VIFF Centre, in tandem with a screening of Fire Music, documenting the birth and growing pain of Free Jazz in the 1960s & 1970s. This music is near and dear to George’s heart and to celebrate it, he’s enlisted one of the Pacific Northwest’s most explosive Jazz groups to perform with him, the Jerry Steinhilber Trio.
George Garzone – Tenor Saxophone
Josh Cook – Tenor Saxophone
King Dahl – Bass
Jerry Steinhilber – Drums
About Fire Music (Tom Surgal, 2021, USA, 84 min)
The most reviled and misunderstood evolution in the (repeatedly reviled and misunderstood) history of jazz, Free Jazz took bebop as a key to unlock deeper mysteries of musical harmonics, a transcendent art pioneered by John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman and Cecil Taylor. You may think you don’t like improvisational jazz… but this is the film to open your ears to a spiritual quest analogous to abstract expressionism in painting, or beat poetry in literature.

(Advance tickets SOLD OUT) Köln 75 + Chris Gestrin at VIFF: Vancouver Playhouse
2025-10-11 18:00 - 20:30 | Vancouver Playhouse, 600 Hamilton Street, Vancouver, BC, V5T 1B4, Canada
Experience the transcendent power of improvised music for a special VIFF Live concert and film screening.
Advance tickets SOLD OUT.
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Renowned Vancouver pianist Chris Gestrin performs a solo set of Keith Jarrett–inspired music to accompany this special event screening of Köln 75 — a film that captures the compelling, entertaining, and, until now, unknown back story of jazz pianist Keith Jarrett’s one-hour, entirely improvised concert, which became the best-selling solo album in jazz history.
Chris Gestrin is a stalwart of Vancouver’s jazz scene — a renowned pianist, multi-keyboardist, composer, engineer, and producer who has worked on over 500 albums covering a wide range of musical styles. From avant garde electronic improvisations to greasy soul organ music, introspective piano jazz to top-of-the-charts pop, rock, and hip-hop, Gestrin is in high demand for his eclectic talents and ability to bring a high level of musical inspiration to any situation.
Keith Jarrett’s legendary performance in January 1975 nearly didn’t happen. Based on a true story, Köln 75 explores how the concert was conceived and orchestrated by the efforts of an up-and-coming teenage concert promoter, Vera Brandes (played by Mala Emde). Vera’s enthusiasm led her to multitasking — from organizing the Cologne Opera House as the concert venue, to promoting the event, selling the tickets, and convincing Jarrett to perform when he almost dropped after the Bösendorfer Imperial Grand piano he was promised was nowhere to be found. John Magaro plays Jarrett with his own intensity, a sublime counterpoint to Emde’s joyful portrayal of the enthusiastic and unstoppable Vera. Köln 75 captures the compelling, entertaining, and, until now, unknown back story of Jarrett’s one-hour, entirely improvised concert, which became the best-selling solo album in jazz history.

(SOLD OUT) Dawn Pemberton Sings Aretha + Amazing Grace screening at VIFF Centre
2025-11-15 20:00 - 23:00, 2025-11-16 15:30 - 18:30 | VIFF Centre, 1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 3M7, Canada
Aretha Franklin is one of the biggest musical icons of the 20th century. She helped transform the musical landscape of America in the 1960’s & 1970’s, and was one of the premier faces of what we would eventually call Soul Music. In 1972 she performed at the New Bethel Baptist Church, for a concert film that was directed by Sidney Pollack, but wouldn’t be seen by audiences for over 45 years. On November 15 & 16, VIFF Centre will be hosting two screenings of Amazing Grace (99 mins) a landmark film that has quickly become known as one of the greatest concert films of all time.
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Before the movie, enjoy a live music set in Aretha’s honour. There’s nobody better suited to help celebrate this legend than the Canadian Queen of Soul, Dawn Pemberton. She’s a multiple time Juno Nominee known for her ability to blur the lines between Jazz, Soul, Blues & Funk, and she’ll be joined by an all-star band:
Mike Ardagh – Drums
Max Zipursky – Keys
André Lachance – Bass
Tristan Paxton – Guitar
Dawn Pemberton – Voice

Leading Ladies play Duke Ellington's Nutcracker Suite + The Nutcracker at Wethersfield, at VIFF Centre
2025-12-14 17:00 - 20:00 | VIFF Centre, 1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 3M7, Canada
If you’ve never experienced the jazz version of The Nutcracker Suite before, you’re in for a treat!
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Legendary composer/arrangers Billy Strayhorn and Duke Ellington brilliantly reimagined the classic Tchaikovsky ballet for a full-sized jazz orchestra. Taking cues from the vintage stylings of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s, the Leading Ladies blend beloved jazz and blues classics with fresh, original arrangements and a high-energy, swingin’ performance style. Directed by trombonist Casey Thomas-Burns, this dynamic and vibrant group of women first came together to perform a single show in 2019. They’ve stuck together ever since.
About the film: The Nutcracker at Wethersfield (Annie Sundberg, 2025, 83 min)
Back in the long, dark Covid winter of 2020, there was no way the New York City Ballet could mount its beloved traditional Christmas production of Tchaikovsky’s magical fairytale. But choreographer Troy Schumacher had a dream to save the show and get his fellow dancers back to work. Relocating two hours’ drive north of Time Square, Troy set about staging The Nutcracker in and around the magnificent Wethersfield country estate in the Hudson Valley. With only a couple of weeks to rehearse, 50 dancers and production crew come together to reimagine a classic without a stage, wings, or even seats for the socially-distanced audience.
Award-winning filmmaker Annie Sundberg (The Devil Comes on Horseback) was on hand to celebrate their trials and triumphs.

(SOLD OUT) Dean Thiessen Plays Vince Guaraldi + A Boy Named Charlie Brown at VIFF Centre
2025-12-20 19:00 - 22:00 | VIFF Centre, 1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 3M7, Canada
The great Vince Guaraldi is best known for his iconic compositions and performance from Charles M Schultz’s beloved Charlie Brown Christmas Special (1965). He continued to write exciting and clever music for 16 more ’Peanuts’ TV specials over the next 12 years of his career, as well as the score for Chuck’s first feature length movie: A Boy Named Charlie Brown. The Dean Thiessen 5-tet is paying homage to the Christmas-spirit origins of his career as well as the most catchy ear-worms in the years that followed. After the set, there will be a brief intermission, then enjoy the movie.
SOLD OUT
Dean Thiessen – piano
Bonnie Northgraves – trumpet
John Nicholson – flute
Bella Fedrigo – bass
Tyler Murray – drums
About the film: A Boy Named Charlie Brown (Bill Melendez, 1969, 85 min)
Charlie Brown enters — and wins! — the school spelling bee contest and is sent to compete in the nationals… The first Peanuts movie makes the most of the opportunities afforded by the big screen format: it’s a much more sophisticated piece of visual storytelling than the TV specials. Vince Guaraldi contributed the instrumental score (much of it drawn from the TV pieces), while John Scott Trotter and Rod McKuen also contributed songs. All three composers were nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song, though they lost to the Beatles’ Let It Be.

True North: Andy Milne in Concert + Film Premiere
2026-02-28 17:00 - 21:45 | VIFF Centre, 1181 Seymour Street, Vancouver, BC, V6B 3M7, Canada
Or: Everything You Wanted to Know About the Black Experience in Canada, But Were Too Afraid to Ask.
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Michèle Stephenson’s brilliant essay film is an electrifying history of Black Canada, a story of displacement and discrimination, prejudice and Black pride, from Freedom Road to Africville and the civil rights movement of the 1960s, fused from a mind-bogglingly rich cache of archival material, first person accounts, and a remarkable score by celebrated jazz pianist Andy Milne. Showtimes are 5pm and 8:15pm.
In this double-header of a West Coast premiere, Andy Milne will perform a 45-minute set followed by a 15-minute Q&A (5pm show); and then a longer set sans Q&A (8:15pm show), along with a screening of the film at both shows
The story of Blacks in Canada is complicated. It is a story of displacement and discrimination, of the Freedom Road, and of shanty towns like Africville, in Halifax. In the second half, Stephenson hones in on the overspill from the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and a critical protest at the George Williams Medical School in Montreal. Activists like Rosie Douglas led the charge for change.
Andy Milne is a 2x JUNO Award-winning pianist & composer known for his Dapp Theory & Unison projects, and for his work with artists such as Ravi Coltrane, Steve Coleman, William Shatner & Bruce Cockburn. His most recent recording, “Time Will Tell”, was nominated in 2025 for the JUNO “Best Jazz: Group”.
This VIFF Live event is co-presented with Infidels Jazz and part of our Celebrating Black Futures series with the Vancouver Art Gallery, curated by Kika Memeh. With thanks to Tom Lee Music and Yamaha.
