It was no surprise that Blast Toronto was going to Koerner Hall to witness Genevieve Marentette celebrates songs from her brand-new release, “Songs of 69”. I even knew they were going to open the show with a tribute to Spy Songs.

What completely took me by surprise was the man who put this all together, Jaymz Bee, was leaving his position at Jazz FM91. This was his sendoff party. He said goodbye to 23 years of joyous work, but now looks forward to creating new musical avenues. What will they be?

Jaymz Bee:

I could tell by the number of friends in the nearly sold-out show that people were really here to celebrate the man who has made a huge mark in the Toronto music scene. He chose some of his favourite artists to perform on the stage and celebrate his accomplishments with him.

With a heartfelt speech, Jaymz Bee let the festivities begin. It was quite an opening with what I consider the quintessential Spy song in history. Irene Torres walked out like a bond girl baddie and belted out “Goldeneye”, to start the evening.

The evening continued with a star-studded pack of amazing crooners like Adam James who came in from California to warm the hall with his voice. The legendary, John Finley entered stage right and slowly built up his moment until you felt chills by the end of the song.

The soulful jazz continued with Gavin Hope and Simone Denny who was extra smooth with her controlled power. She knows how to dial in just the right amount of power to get the emotional response from her audience.

To finish off the opening set was Queen Mary who recently changed her name from Queen Pepper. With her super loud attire, she chose well with the song, “Live and let die”. She is the right person to pull off this emotional rollercoaster of a song.

Here are a few shots fired from the first set:

After a 20-minute stretch, Robert Priest walked on stage and presented a poem of profoundness. It was a nice gift to give Jaymz Bee. He welcomed it and felt grateful receiving such a wonderful gift from a friend.

It was time to settle in and listen to Genevieve Marentette’s new CD, “Songs of 69”. All I knew was this CD contained great songs from the year 1969. Her opening really threw a curve ball at me when I recognized her version of King Crimson’s song, “I talk to the Wind”. This was such a rare treat, so it was time to strap in and take in all the nuances from such a rich time period in musical history. What made this truly special was the sound of the flute, by Bill McBirnie, who gave it that special 60’s sound that is so well loved.

She slipped quickly into a Three Dog Night song called, “Easy to be Hard”. It is a song about social injustice. Well, that theme would show up later in her performance. She dedicated a song to her Mother who was a young woman and who was a protester. In this case it was about the right of women having the rights to their own body. This is a statement that fully hasn’t resolved itself all these years later.

Well since I spoke about her mother, I need to speak about her Stepdad, who was celebrating a Birthday this evening, so in true Canadian fashion we all sang Happy Birthday to a very appreciative man. Happy Birthday, Danny.

There was speculation that David Clayton Thomas was going to attend this evening, but that was soon dismissed. Genevieve let us know he is happy to be retired and will be staying at home. The person next to me was disappointed because he had brought some records for him to sign. She made up for our disappointment by having fun with his song “Spinning Wheel”.

Like any great jazz ensemble, everyone will have a turn to shine on stage. Well there were two moments for me that really stood out. The first was when George Koller opened a song on his Bass. This guy opened up with a sound that just came from the cosmos. I mean it truly felt as if it was a message from outer space. That opening turned into David Bowie’s “Space Oddity”. I was sitting behind the band and watched Genevieve singing to the blackness of the room. It was such a surreal moment. Go to my Instagram page to see this moment. It is quite cool. Blast_Toronto.

The other moment was listening to the classic Guess Who song, “Undun”. This is definitely one of my favourite songs from Randy Bachman. What gave this song its true essence was Alison Young on Sax. When she got up to do her solo, she actually became Undun! It was such a powerful moment that made this evening memorable.

What makes this release worth getting was that Genevieve rearranged these songs so well, that when you listen to her version, the meaning could change for you. You can get a brand-new perspective. Her version of Bob Dylan’s “Lay lady lay”, gave the listener the perspective of a woman in this song.

The evening was coming in for a close with the lonely and heartbreaking version of, “Leaving on a Jet Plane”. The keyboard solo from Michael Sand felt as if was handing you a tissue to cry in.

The evening finally came to a close with another Blood Sweat and Tears song, “You’ve made me so very Happy”. That is how Gigi would like it: a night full of great music and happy people leaving on a cloud.

Here is Gigi in Action: