The Pilot

Just over a year ago the Pilot opened up an upstairs room called the Stealth (I love that name) to bring in a different kind of music besides jazz. They have been helping out promoting some of the rock and pop musicians by opening up this very cool room that can hold 120 people.

Now they are using that room for all of their events and the downstairs where we use to enjoy jazz, will remain a dining room. But not to fear, you can still order food and drinks upstairs.

The Songbird series

Toronto’s jazz organizer and gifted singer, Ori Dagan has taken the reins and is promoting a new ongoing series of Jazz at the Pilot every Sunday starting at 2pm. It is called the Songbird series. We were to see Denielle Bassels that day, but she had to back out for reasons unknown. Ori, being the man with solid connections in the jazz world, he was able to get Ale Nunez to drop everything and put together a show for hungry jazz enthusiasts.

Ale Nunez

Ale is not a lager, but an Ali just spelt differently. She stepped up to the stage and began to settle in with her style of soft easy listening jazz. Her voice sat comfortably with singing tunes from the great jazz songbook.

With the song, “You stepped out of a dream”, it seemed to be the moniker of the day. She woke up to find herself on a new stage one day later when she should have been home to look after a brand-new puppy.

Ale’s seemed both serene and relaxed as she got to perform in front of a brand-new audience. I guess these are pretty good breaks when someone has to back out of a show. You are playing to that artist’s audience and now you have a chance to find new audience member for your future shows.

I think what stood out for me was that here we have a 25 year old who would prefer to sing old jazz standards than today’s pop hits, simply because she finds this music more rewarding. I have a son who thinks the same way.

Isn’t it kind of funny that this young artist has a kind of a cool perspective about the original artists that made this music so cool. She actually called Shirley Horn a Bad Ass. Who out there thinks about Shirley Horn this way?

I was partial to her song- “You go to my head”. Not only did she do it Bossa Nova style, but it had a light headiness to it. It was perfect for a chilled Sunday afternoon.

Ale let us know that she is finishing off her new record and it should be out later this year. You can bet Blast Toronto will be reviewing this once it becomes available.

This is Ale Nunez live:

In the meantime, if you fancy some jazz on a Sunday afternoon, The Pilot is the perfect place to relax and forget about life for a couple of hours.

If you would like to buy tickets for these events here is the ticket link so you can guarantee your spot when you want to take off and go STEALTH for an afternoon.

JazzInToronto Presents – JazzInToronto

Just scroll down until you see the title- At the Pilot.