TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival Announces Five Alarm Funk and Too Many Zooz

Coastal Jazz & Blues Society is pleased to announce another highly energetic performance for the 34th annual TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival, which takes place this summer from June 21 to July 1 at multiple venues across the city.

Announced today, Vancouver’s Five Alarm Funk and New York’s Too Many Zooz will take over the Commodore Ballroom on Friday, June 21 at 9:00pm. Presale tickets for Festival donors will be available March 12-14 at 10:00am, and tickets for the general public go on sale Friday, March 15 at 10:00am at  coastaljazz.ca Ticket prices from $37.

With “boundless creativity and jaw-dropping musical virtuosity” (Discorder), this Vancouver-based funk behemoth is eight men strong and over a decade deep into a career that has seen the release of six acclaimed albums and barnstorming tours that have burned up stages across the nation. Their latest album, Sweat, gets right to the root of what Five Alarm Funk is all about: epic, intense arrangements, ridiculous chops, and heavy grooves that mix afro-funk, rock, Latin, ska, and punk. Of course, they’re also all about inflatable sharks, costume changes, synchronized dance moves, tutus, sparkles, sequins and spandex, and all kinds of sweat-drenched hijinks!

The curious thing about being a fan of brasshouse? You’re pretty much talking about being into one solitary but extremely unforgettable band: the amusingly-monikered Too Many Zooz. And those that like the unclassifiable born-in-the-New York-subways trio of drummer King of Sludge, saxophonist Leo P and trumpeter Matt Doe like them a lot! Too Many Zooz is an outrageous, high-energy musical conversation full of inescapable grooves that blur dub, soul, funk and ska, horn blasts that shoot right up your spine, and loads of fun and swagger. “These cats were lightning in a bottle—mad vibes.” Exclaim! Further details regarding the TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival will be released by series. Full details, including free programming, will be available by May 1, 2019.  About Coastal Jazz & Blues Society: 

Founded in 1985 and incorporated in 1986, the Coastal Jazz & Blues Society is a community-based, not-for-profit, charitable arts organization that has worked diligently to establish Vancouver as a centre for the creation and exchange of sounds and ideas between local, national, and international music communities. The Society’s mission is to not only increase the appreciation of the music, but to strengthen the arts community by developing special projects, artistic exchanges, partnerships, educational initiatives, community programs, and collaborations that further the art form. Ranked as British Columbia’s largest not-for-profit music presenter, The Coastal Jazz & Blues Society produces the annual TD Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Bright Moments series and year-round concerts, and has a long-standing commitment to music education with the TD Creative Beat Camp exclusively for youth, the Sounds of Youth performance stage, workshops, children’s music programs, and more. The Society is proud to be a significant part of Vancouver’s and B.C.’s economic engine and tourism industry, attracting over half a million people to its annual festival and generating over $43 million in economic activity. www.coastaljazz.ca