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The church office will be closed on Sunday, Oct. 13,  and Monday, Oct. 14, for the Thanksgiving long weekend.

Normal office hours, 11 am to 4 pm, resume Tuesday, Oct. 15.

The church office will be closed on Sunday,  and Monday,  for the  long weekend.

Normal office hours, 11 am to 4 pm, resume Tuesday

Born and raised in Edmonton, Maria Manna is the eldest of four  daughters of Italian immigrant parents. Her first language is Italian, which she speaks, writes and reads fluently.

As Klondike Kate, Maria served as Ambassador for the City of Edmonton in 1999 and 2000. 

She was proud to have been chosen to entertain the Canadian Military in Aviano, Italy, and the Canadian Military in Bosnia on a 10-day tour. Upon her return from Bosnia, Maria created the Bosnian Children Relief Foundation and helped fill a military aircraft full of school supplies and had it sent off to Bosnia. The Canadian Military helped Maria record a CD with total profits going to the foundation.

Her movie credits include the principal vocalist role as well as script coach for “The Engagement Ring”. She currently has three CDs in Italian as well as in English.

Maria lives on Vancouver Island with her husband Christopher Grew.

In 2016 Maria became an Ordained Minister and provides both services visits to palliative care visits.

What’s going on? View our Calendar.

Enjoy jazz with a splash of spiritual inspiration by Rev. Shana Lynngood.

On Sunday, Sept. 29, from 7 to 8 pm, it’s the marriage of jazz and classical by the group Byrne, Roessignh, Smith and Graham — Mary Byryn, flute, Karel Roessingh, piano, Joey Smith, bass, and Damian Graham drums, as they reprise their previous performance of Claude Bowling’s Suite # 2 for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio.

This Suite is a “crossover” composition by the jazz pianist and composer Claude Bolling. The composition, originally written in 1973, is a suite of seven movements, written for a classical flute, and a jazz piano trio (piano, string bass, and drums). The Suite was recorded in 1975 by Bolling on piano with classical flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal.

Karel Roessingh began his professional musical career in 1970 and in 1973 he studied jazz arranging and composition at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, Mass. He  completed a degree in secondary music and mathematics education at the University of Victoria in 1981. Karel loves to play the piano and plays in clubs, concert halls and in the studio whenever possible. He writes jazz tunes for his own and other groups, and has played with numerous jazz greats. He’s regularly asked to play at jazz festivals as both leader and sideman.

Mary Byrne — sought-after for her skills on stage, in the lesson studio, on the lecture podium, in the classroom, in print, and on tour — leads a vibrant and busy musical life sharing her abiding love of music with others. Mary is in her fourth decade on the flute faculty of the Victoria Conservatory of Music and its associate programs with Camosun College (CC), and is owner-operator of her own Piccolino Studio. In 1993 Mary completed the requirements for a PhD in Musicology at the University of Victoria.

Joey Smith touried for two and a half years with the Glenn Miller Orchestra as bassist and arranger before moving to Rochester, N.Y., to pursue graduate studies at the Eastman School of Music. For the past 18 years he has been bassist for many Victoria groups and has collaborated with various artists during their stops in Victoria.  Joey has written numerous arrangements for such groups as the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Victoria Symphony, and has been a faculty member at the Victoria Conservatory of Music in the Jazz Studies Department since 2004.

Damian Graham has performed all across Canada, U.S.A. and Europe, has been busy changing the way people think about the drums. Born in New Zealand and raised on the west coast of Canada, Damian’s musical diversity has led to performances with some of the finest musicians in the country and abroad. Damian maintains a busy live and studio schedule with his own ensemble and as an in demand freelance musician. As well as playing drums, Damian regularly works in the chair of Producer, Engineer, Web and Graphic Designer, Composer and has run his own label Bagel Boy Records since 1989. Recording highlights include his latest release as a band leader entitled “Trios” a follow up to the well received album “Digs.”

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Enjoy jazz with a splash of spiritual inspiration in venues with exquisite sound and setting. These hour-long evening services are a unique blend of jazz and spirituality. Each service brings together live music from popular local jazz musicians, a brief meaningful message, and a little of the history of the music performed. 

Although he’s a five-time Maple Blues Awards winner who now lives in Canada, David Vest is an authentic, Southern-bred boogie-woogie piano player, blues shouter and world-class entertainer. 

Born in Huntsville, Alabama, in 1943, David grew up in Birmingham near Tuxedo Junction. 

It’s easy to understand why blues history courses through Vest’s veins: he opened for Roy Orbison on New Year’s Day 1962, went on to jam with Ace Cannon, Bill Black’s Combo, and the Jimmy Dorsey Band, as well as share the stage with Big Joe Turner.

Vest’s current self-titled release (details here) was recorded on Vancouver Island. The project reunites Vest with his old friend Peter Dammann, Chicago-born guitarist from the Paul deLay Band and a member of the Oregon Music Hall Of Fame. Blues fans will recognize the name of drummer and co-producer Billy Hicks from his days with Powder Blues, but the inspired playing of Ryan Tandy on upright bass will be a revelation, dubbed by Vest as “my secret weapon.” Winnipeg native Tom Bowler, David’s regular guitarist, rounds out the band. 

The album was recorded live-off-the-floor, with live vocals and minimal overdubs or retakes, and helped earn Vest a Songwriter of the Year nomination at the Maple Blues Awards.

The Jon Miller Quartet is a top-rated jazz group from Victoria that has been making waves on the B.C. jazz scene for several years running, both for its engaging live performances and for the depth and variety of its original compositions. The group’s most recent iteration (AKA the Parallel Universe Band) features the amazing Tony Genge on Hammond B-3 Organ along with jazz guitar great Rob Cheramy, saxophonist extraordinaire Monik Nordine and leader Jon Miller on drums. The quartet’s repertoire alternates original material by group members with classic organ-jazz in the vein of giants of the genre – Jimmy Smith, Brother Jack McDuff, Joey DeFrancesco and Larry Goldings.

Hard hitting and soulful, with an emphasis on swing, groove and blues inflected jazz, the Jon Miller Quartet (AKA Parallel Universe Band) invites audiences everywhere to join in their unique musical vision.

The band’s leader and drummer Miller is a graduate of McGill University’s jazz programme and a participant in Banff Centre’s Jazz Programme under the direction of Dave Holland. Upon graduating he played drums with a wide variety of Montreal based groups before going on to spend the 90’s in Europe and the US, playing with successful bands and sometimes freelancing with other artists including Charlie Hunter and Terry Mann in France, the Netherlands, Monaco, Germany and the US. He has studied drums with Pete Magadini, Alan Dawson and Marvin “Smitty” Smith. In addition to writing for and leading his quartet, Miller is also a member of the Victoria Jazz Orchestra.

“Whoa! Where have you been hiding, Jon Miller Quartet? …on behalf of sun-deprived Canadians everywhere, thanks for this much needed dose of Vitamin D.” -Robert Rowat, CBC Music
“This has got to be one of the best jazz acts in the city” -Adrian Chamberlain, Times Colonist

Enjoy jazz with a splash of spiritual inspiration in venues with exquisite sound and setting. These hour-long evening services are a unique blend of jazz and spirituality. Each service brings together live music from popular local jazz musicians, a brief meaningful message, and a little of the history of the music performed. 

Raised in Nanaimo, John Lee is one of the most respected and acclaimed young jazz musicians nationwide. 

After showing great interest in music at a young age, Lee developed into a virtuoso by his late teens and by the time Lee completed his high school studies he had received a remarkable amount of recognition by prominent jazz musicians in Canada and earned an impressive array of awards, scholarships and honours from Envision Jazz Festival, MusicFest Canada and Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. 

Through the recommendation of Ingrid Jensen (Terri Lyne Carrington), Maria Schneider (Orchestra) and Christian Fabian (Lionel Hampton Big Band, Jason Marsalis), Lee applied to the prestigious Berklee College of Music and received a full tuition and housing scholarship. Lee completed his undergraduate studies in May 2016 and received a Bachelor of Music in Performance. 

In addition to his academic training in Boston, Lee was mentored by world-renowned jazz educators Dave Santoro, Terri Lyne Carrington, Ralph Peterson Jr., and John Clayton. 

After relocating back to Canada and Victoria, Lee has become an in-demand musician for accompanying visiting artists and has had opportunities to perform with artists such as Buster Williams, Rudy Royston, George Colligan and Misha Piatigorsky. 

As an artist, John Lee is widely known for his immense proficiency as a multi-instrumentalist as well as his ability to connect audience to his music with a charming and positive charisma. Lee has done an extensive amount of performing in cities in North America including New York City (Dizzy’s Club Coca Cola, SOMETHIN’ Jazz Club), Boston (Wally’s Jazz Café, The Beehive), Washington (Kennedy Centre Millennium Stage, Hamilton Live), Toronto (The Rex), Edmonton (Yardbird Suite), Vancouver (Cellar Jazz Club, Frankie’s Jazz Club), and Victoria (Hermann’s Jazz Club). Lee has performed numerous times as a sideman and leader at international jazz festivals including TD Prince Edward County Jazz Festival, DC Jazz Festival and TD Victoria and Vancouver International Jazz Festival. 

John Lee has shared the stage with international jazz artists such as Cyrus Chestnut, Larry Fuller, Seamus Blake, Terell Stafford, Ingrid Jensen, as well as prominent Canadian jazz artists and educators Phil Dwyer, Christine Jensen, Ryan Oliver, Brad Turner, Neil Swainson and David Restivo. 

John Lee currently leads his own project called Next Generation Jazz Collective and his own trio while working with Cory Weeds (Cellar Live/Reel to Real label) as a hired sideman on many different projects and performances in the Vancouver scene. Lee is also in early concept development stages for his debut album which he is planning on releasing under the Cellar Live label.