1920′s

1930′s

1940′s

1950′s

Both 1960′s

Think any of these would look good on me?
xo
jessica

• Wed, July 18 – STEVESTON, BC – Music In The Park @ Garden City Park
• Thu, July 19 – VANCOUVER, BC – Cafe Montmartre
• Fri, July 20 – VICTORIA, BC – w/special guests TBA @ Solstice Cafe
• Sat – Sun, July 21-22 – ISLANDS FOLK FESTIVAL, Providence Farm near Duncan, BC.
• Wed, July 25 – VICTORIA, BC – Centennial Square “Music In The Square” series
• Thu, July 26 – NANAIMO, BC – The Corner Lounge
• Fri, July 27 – GALIANO ISLAND, BC – Hummingbird Pub
• Sat, July 28 - PENDER ISLAND, BC – Poet’s Cove Resort
• Sun, July 29 – VANCOUVER, BC – Libra Room
• Tues, July 31 – KELOWNA, BC – The Yellow House
• Wed, Aug 1 – ENDERBY, BC – Lorenzo’s Cafe
• Thu, Aug 2 – BANFF, AB – Elk & Oarsman
• Fri, Aug 3 – EDMONTON, AB – TBA
• Sat, Aug 4 – RED DEER, AB – One Eleven Grill
• Sun, Aug 5 – CALGARY, AB – Mikey’s Juke Joint

And just for fun, some videos from this weekend’s Joni Vespers Show have started making their way to YouTube, so here’s “Both Sides Now” arr. by Jennifer Wakefield, sung by Vespera Women’s Choir with myself & Mark Cashion (double bass) as special guests.

xo
jessica

Here’s it is, the Japanese koto with 13-strings, moveable bridges (string pitch is changed by adjusting these), made from Paulownia wood, played with 3 finger picks on the right hand, set on the ground while being played. (AND national instrument of Japan!) 
So the koto is derived from the Chinese guzheng which has 18-23 strings, moveable bridges, played with 4 finger picks, set on ground while being played. 
Now I ended up receiving a Korean gayageum as a gift last year (haven’t used it much yet, but have dreams of a double keyboard stand with both koto & gayageum on a gig..) it is a 12-stringer, traditionally, also with moveable bridges, made from Paulownia wood, played with fingers, no picks (to my knowledge), and sits on the lap while being played.  
There you have it!  I’ll finish with the koto in action:

OR how ’bout an unconventional experimental usage here:
Have a fantastic day, and soak up the sun wherever you are!
xo
jessica

SO, that being said, I’m SOOO excited to be the guest soloist in Vespera Women’s Choir‘s “Joni Vespers” performance this evening at 7pm.  It is free, and will take place at Church of the Redeemer on Bloor at Avenue.  I get to sing/play several of my favorite Joni Mitchell pieces backed by a fabulous women’s choir.  Basically, this is like crazy a dream for me (short of doing a musical collaboration with Joni..), and if you’re not otherwise engaged, it will be a good one!

Here’s a couple Joni art pieces:

And a live performance in the early 80′s of “Black Crow” from Hejira:

xo
jessica

A huge massive thank you and hug to Victoria Basova for shooting and editing the video & for taking great behind the scenes pictures!  (Also The JSFew YouTube channel can be found here for subscribey types: http://www.youtube.com/user/TheJessicaStuartFew)

xo
jessica

In February another group I play with, The Offbeat, had weekly gigs at The Rex. Here’s a little something from one of those shows featuring Don Scott on guitar, Mark Cashion on double bass, Max Roach on kit and I do the singsong- we’re playing “You’re Everything” by Chick Corea.

xo
jessica

THEN, we woke up bright and early to shoot another episode of Playbacks (one of our live music video series’) at Vintage Mix One on Ossington – here’s a couple behind the scenes pics:

Then I had a mannequin moment..
And we ended by browsing their record collection 
We will be posting our first episode of Bands In Pajamas featuring Delta Will in the next day or two (agg technical difficulties!), so please check out our YouTube Channel to see what it sounds like when people get together and play music in the bathtub…

xo
jessica

Next up is Humblemania 42 -  it’s a mix of all things good – video screening, live musical performance and a vinyl dance party!  The JSFew are the musical guests at this week’s edition: Wed, May 9th at midnight, at The Ossington.

Our show at The Cameron House with Jay Pollock and Down By Riverside last week was awesome!  Photographer Robert Saxe was there to capture some moments:

Hope to see you soon!
xo
jessica

Thisiscolossal.com had a great post about photographer Nikolaj Lund‘s work the other day – he has a photo series of classical musicians in non-classical poses.  Check these out:

Love this stuff! Wish The JSFew could do a shoot with this guy. Check more of his work here

xo
jessica

Here’s a little something live of Ella’s from around that time (I found a ridiculous/amazing tune with a huge incredible solo but it was unembeddable, so this will do!):

TODAY in music history – we lost Adam Yauch aka MCA of The Beastie Boys.  It’s a sad day for Beasties lovers all over, BUT may I suggest we celebrate life & music with a fantastic show at The Cameron House (408 Queen St W)? The Jessica Stuart Few will open for Jay Pollock & Down By Riverside and it’s a 3 bands for $5 type dealie, with The JSFew starting at 9:30pm.

xo
jessica