Joel Schwartz

Looking forward to playing with Sandra Bernhard headlining the Canadian International Comedy Fest. I grew up watching Sandra play Nancy on Roseanne and am pumped for this gig.

March 22, 2013 at Toronto’s Winter Garden Theatre.

Over the coming weeks and months Aviva Chernick and I will be releasing a series of songs on video.  Our idea for future films is to explore interesting and evocative spaces in and around Toronto.  Here is our take on Boi Kalah.

This weekend I'll be performing in two ensembles for the Classical IV: Strings festival in Toronto.  Leave your monocle and powdered wig behind though; the programming isn't classical in that strict sense to which we are accustomed.
The festival asks the question "what is classical" and looks to stringed instruments both old and new for answers. Curator Carolin Hollway is brining together an incredible range of ensembles to explore, and challenge, our notion of classical music.

Across the world, for centuries, people have stretched string-like fibers across a sound box and plucked sounds with their fingers or produced it with bows. From cellos to ouds, koras to harps, burus to hurdy gurdys to pipa, quanun to double bass.
Most of these derive from ancient instruments, require years of dedicated training to bring out the full range of their sounds, and produce sophisticated music played by highly skilled musicians. http://www.harbourfrontcentre.com/summer/classicaliv/

Summer can be a busy time for us musicians. For me, these past seven days were filled with great music with five different artists. In this post, I want to show a glimpse into my life as a freelance musician.

Sunday
Recording session with singer/songwriter Robyn Dell'Unto. I mostly played electric guitar, but I also had the chance to record my new tenor banjo. It was my first time meeting and playing with Robyn, but we had a fantastic session. Here's a video Robyn filmed during the banjo overdub.

To cap off our April tour, Joël Fafard and I recorded our version of the American traditional "John Hardy".

Day ten of the Great Lake Swimmers's tour finds us in Nelson, BC. If you've ever visited, you'll know how gorgeous it is. Nestled snuggly in the valley between two large mountains, it feels like a land removed, somehow separate for the rest of the world.

I lived here in 1999. I was 17 and moved out of my hometown of Vernon, BC to chase a dream of becoming a professional musician. I attended the music college here, learning some fundamentals before hitting Toronto's music scene and studying further. It's nice to come back here to play.

The shows with the Swimmers have been great so far. We received a nice write up after our Chicago date:

..."Dekker started the intro to “On the Water” and the band slowly started to trickle on stage. The song featured multi-instrumentalist Joel Schwartz playing some incredible resonator guitar. I really felt the bands chemistry during this song and it was my highlight of the evening. “Cornflower Blue” followed up and saw Schwartz steal the spotlight with beautiful mandolin work." -Jimmy Coulas, Scents and Subtle Sounds, May 2nd, 2012

I'm gearing up for a tour with the Great Lake Swimmers.  We're leaving tomorrow, so I'm spending today going over the set list, making sure my instruments and gear are in good working order, and preparing myself for two weeks on the road.

Although this is a short jaunt as far as tours go, I'm going to try and stay healthy and keep up some of the good habits I've cultivated at home.  Pre-tour resolutions: healthy food, daily walk, keeping up that Bach piece on mandolin, and staying inspired listening to the new Stretch Orchestra record.  I will update from the road.

Great Lake Swimmers Tour Dates:

May 1, 2012 Chicago, IL Lincoln Hall United States
May 2, 2012 Madison, WI High Noon Saloon United States
May 3, 2012 Minneapolis, MN Cedar Cultural Center United States
May 4, 2012 Winnipeg, MB  West End Cultural Centre Canada
May 6, 2012 Edmonton, AB McDougall United Church Canada
May 7, 2012 Calgary, AB Central United Church Canada
May 8, 2012 Lethbridge, AB Southminster United Church Canada
May 9, 2012 Nelson, BC The Royal on Baker Canada
May 11, 2012 Vancouver, BC Commodore Ballroom Canada
May 12, 2012 Victoria, BC Alix Goolden Hall Canada
May 30, 2012 New York, NY The Bowery Ballroom United States
May 31, 2012 Boston, MA The Middle East United States
June 2, 2012 Toronto, ON The Music Hall Canada

I met Joël in the summer of 2011 at a small festival in Bella Coola BC. The trio I was playing with (Andrea Koziol and Ian De Souza) was there doing a series of performances and workshops. During one of the festival workshops, our trio was paired with Joël and he and I hit it off.

Joël asked me to join him for his main stage set (no rehearsal and I didn't know the set list). Happily, the result was a bit of festival magic that neither of us would soon forget.

A few months later Joël contacted me about doing a series of dates around Ontario. Naturally, I was happy for the opportunity to play again, but at that time, I think both of us wondered if the spontaneity and magic of that first performance would still be there.

Although our styles and approaches are very different, the musical chemistry, understanding, and openness leave the creative doors wide open. Our modus operandi has been to keep the improvisation and jam feel alive. We feed off each other, the audience, and occasionally, cute dogs at house concerts (that's another story) and each time the music reveals itself to us in a new and exciting way.

Here's a video of us rehearsing "Trouble in Mind" in my living room.