Reid’s Distillery in Toronto (southeast of Queen and the DVP, easy streetcar from the Beaches) all the way from Vancouver Island to perform traditional pop, swing, and jazz is vocalist Angela Verbrugge (Western Canadian Music Awards Jazz Artist of the Year 2024 nominee), extraordinary Manhattan pianist Ray Gallon, and Juno-nominated Canadian jazz bassist, Duncan Hopkins.
Come join us for an award-winning cocktail (see the menu!) and an evening of joyful music in the sonically beautiful Reid’s Distillery high ceilinged space. They will be presenting the Great American (and Canadian) Songbook with Verbrugge’s own humourous and touching songs in the style of Cole Porter, Gershwin and songs popularized by Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Chet Baker, Diana Krall, and Nat King Cole.
Described as “both hip and a hoot” by JazzWeekly, Canadian vocalist, songwriter and lyricist Angela Verbrugge is coming to Kingston’s RCHA Club Monday June 9th, 2025 from 4:30pm to 6:30pm to sing her original Canadian lyrics in their weekly jazz series. Originally from Amherstview, Ontario, she went to KCVI and Ernestown before studying theatre in Toronto, and going on to a world-touring jazz singing career based from her home on Vancouver Island. Angela was nominated for Jazz Artist of the Year at the most recent Western Canadian Music Awards. She’ll be singing her witty, swinging songs with stellar NYC pianist Ray Gallon and Toronto-based UK bassist Duncan Hopkins for a truly international trio.
Vancouver Island vocalist Angela Verbrugge was nominated for Jazz Artist of the Year at the 2024 Western Canadian Music Awards. In 2025, All About Jazz announced that Verbrugge had topped their Reader Poll for Favourite Living Jazz Vocalist and in 2020 Angela won the JazzTimes’ Readers’ Poll for best female vocalist. She “possesses a winsome, brightly-burnished, pliable voice, ample emotional intelligence, and conspicuously good taste,” and according to JazzTimes, and “for Verbrugge, now is the time.” Angela’s three albums featured standout arrangements of standards and original songs in the style of the Great American Songbook. The projects received praise in All About Jazz, JazzTimes, Jazzwise, Couleurs France, Syncopated Times, Jersey Jazz, LA Jazz Scene and publications around the world leading to tours to Japan, Taiwan, TĂĽrkiye, the UK, Germany, France, Luxembourg and eight provinces, all since 2021. Her music has charted on JazzWeek, been featured by CBC and NPR, and she held the number one spot on the Earshot Jazz charts for multiple weeks. Angela’s tracks have been streamed 850,000 times across streaming platforms since her debut in 2019.
“No maybes; for Verbrugge, now is definitely the time,”
– JazzTimes Magazine (print edition), Andrew Gilbert
“Listen and be delighted. Her art is her own, and she offers rare pleasures.”
– Michael Steinman, JazzLives
“As a lyricist Miss Verbrugge seems to have “learned” from the best: one senses the wit of Dave Frishberg, the glorious storytelling of Dorothy Fields and Johnny Mercer, and – all of that and a tinge of pathos that was the hallmark of songs by Cole Porter. However, make no mistake, these lyrics are singularly Miss Verbrugge’s.”
– That Canadian Magazine, Raul da Gama
With NYC pianist Ray Gallon and Juno-nominated bassist Duncan Hopkins
RAY GALLON
To listen to pianist Ray Gallon is to take a journey through the great lineage of jazz piano from its inception all the way up to the cutting-edge present. His playing is imbued with the vocabulary, sensibilities and soul of the very architects of the jazz artform. Born, raised and living his whole life in Manhattan, NYC pianist Ray Gallon has been a mainstay on the jazz scene for over thirty-five years. Rooted in bebop and blues, his expressive, swingin’ playing melds old and new into a fresh, original style. As a young player, Ray was taken under the wing of piano giants John Lewis, Hank Jones, and ‪Jaki Byard. He has performed at major jazz festivals and venues around the world with such luminaries as Ron Carter, ‪Lionel Hampton, ‪Art Farmer, ‪Benny Golson, George Adams, ‪Les Paul, and ‪Wycliffe Gordon. Ray has appeared at the White House and the Kennedy Center, sharing the stage with jazz legends including ‪Dizzy Gillespie, ‪Milt Jackson, Sweets Edison, and Joe Williams. An in-demand accompanist, he has worked with many vocal greats, including Jon Hendricks, ‪Sheila Jordan, ‪Dakota Staton, ‪Gloria Lynne, ‪Jane Monheit and ‪Chaka Khan. Ray’s latest album, Grand Company, is a trio recording with the illustrious rhythm section of Maestro Ron Carter and Lewis Nash. His previous trio album, Make Your Move, features the stellar rhythm section of David Wong and Kenny Washington. Both albums include a mix of Ray’s inventive compositions along with arrangements of some classic standards. His originals have also been recorded by acclaimed artists including T.S. Monk, and George Adams.
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YouTube: https://go.evvnt.com/3036587-4?pid=4410
Category: Live Music
Artists: Angela Verbrugge, Ray Gallon, Duncan Hopkins
