This concert is made possible through a gift from the Robert & Anne Strom Memorial Fund.
This concert is FREE to attend. Bring a friend!
Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds
The Program
Cantor Charles Osborne:
Welcome and Introductions
Danny Marks:
Opening Remarks
Noah Zacharin:
“Lester Brown” (Noah Zacharin)
“What Have I Got to Show For It” (Noah Zacharin)
David Wall:
“Lonely Avenue” (Ray Charles)
“Wade in the Water” (Spiritual)
— Danny Marks welcomes Colin Linden —
Colin Linden:
“Sad and Beautiful World” (Colin Linden)
“4 Cars” (Colin Linden)
Sue Piltch:
“Swinging Shepherd Blues” (Moe Koffman)
Randy Starr:
“Southbound” (Richard Betts)
Joel Schwartz:
A discussion about “Jews notes/Blues notes”.
Danny Marks:
“Man On The Radio” (Danny Marks)
Charles Osborne:
“You’ve Lost That Loving Feeling”
(Phil Spector, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil)
Diana Braithwaite and Chris Whiteley:
“Prettiest Train” (Alan Lomax and
Benny Will Richardson)
“Hounddog” (Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller)
Danny Marks:
Closing Remarks and Q&A
Jam out on tunes!
(i.e. Tom Thumb’s Blues Shake Rattle and Roll)
The Performers
DANNY MARKS
Maple Blues Award winner and radio host of JAZZ.FM91’s Saturday night blues show, bluz.fm., Danny Marks is a Toronto musical icon. First known on the international stage as the guitarist and lead singer for the hit Capital Records group Edward Bear, Danny toured with the Average White Band, Ronnie Hawkins and Rita Coolidge, Bo Diddley, Stephen Stills, Graig Russel, and even Tiny Tim. Known across Canada for his show “Stormy Mondays”, and “Hum Line” on CBC radio, Danny has just released a new single, “Man On The Radio”, from his upcoming album, “Lifeline.”
COLIN LINDEN
Inspired by meeting his musical idol, blues legend Howlin’ Wolf at age 11, Colin Linden took to heart Howlin’ Wolf’s challenge to him regarding the blues: “It’s up to you to carry it on.” During his 45+ year career, Colin has accompanied the likes of Bruce Cockburn (as his producer and touring musician), Bob Dylan, Greg Allman, Rihannon Giddens, Pistol Annies, John Prine and more. Colin has played on over 500 albums and produced 140, including his first-ever actual Grammy in 2020 for producing Keb Mo’s “Oklahoma,” winner for Best Americana Album. He has also nabbed a staggering 25 Juno Award nominations and nine wins. His work appears on the soundtrack of the hit movie “O Brother, Where Art Thou.” In addition fronting his band Black and The Rodeo Kings, Colin has just completed his 14th solo album, “bLOW”.
DIANA BRAITHWAITE & CHRIS WHITELY
(vocals, guitar, trumpet)
Couple Diana Braithwaite (dubbed “a national treasure” by BLUZ-FM’s Radio host Danny Marks) and Chris Whiteley (special guest appearance on Saturday Night Live with Leon Redbone; nine-time winner of the Maple Blues Award for the top blues horn player in Canada) have recorded eight previous albums together and have toured all over North America, UK and Europe winning numerous awards for their songwriting and albums together. They have won multiple Canadian MAPLE BLUES NOMINATIONS & AWARDS, including Album of the Year, Acoustic Act of the Year, and SONGWRITERS OF THE YEAR. Their third Electro-Fi release, “DeltaPhonic”, led to more Maple Blues Awards, and reached number 1 on B.B. King’s Bluesville XM Sirius satellite radio network.
BUCKY BERGER
(drums)
Bucky has been a professional musician for over 51 years and is still going strong. He has recorded many albums over the years and has had a wide and varied career touching on many genres of music including: blues, soul, soca, calypso, salsa, klezmer, rock, folk, New Orleans, cajun, country and jazz.
Some of the artists and acts he’s worked with include Rough Trade, David Wilcox, Chilliwack, Murray Maglauchlan, Dr. John, Raffi, Eddie Cleanhead Vinson, and Fathead to name just a few.
MAURY LAFOY
(bass guitar)
The world of Maury LaFoy is full of music. A bassist first and foremost, he has played with the who’s who of the Canadian music scene for over 25 years (Ron Sexsmith, Sarah Harmer, Jann Arden, K-OS, Colin James, John McDermott, The Barenaked Ladies and Terra Lightfoot). He has toured extensively through the U.K., Australia, Japan and North America and has produced over a dozen recordings for other artists. Maury is delighted to be a part of “Jews and Blues” with such a cast of talented people.
CHARLES OSBORNE
(piano, vocals)
Senior Cantor at Temple Sinai since 2012, Charles is an award-winning composer who, in February, received a Doctorate of Music, honoris causa, from Jewish Theological Seminary. Known for his classical and liturgical musical chops, Charles worked with several country bands in the New York area in the 1970’s — First Tuesday, the Linda Mack Show, and the Sue Charney Band. He has collaborated with the New York-based avant garde group The Hush, and his rock band, The Rainbow Press, recently released their third album, “Only Love Is The Truth”, on the Mighty Quinn label.
SUSAN PILTCH
(flute)
Susan has been involved in Temple Sinai services since 2004. In the 70s and 80s, Sue played flute in orchestras backing artists such as Tony Bennett, Sammy Davis Jr., as well as the Amadeus Choir and the Oriana Singers. She played on commercial jingles and albums for many artists, including Dan Hill. From 1983-87, Sue played music for High Tea at the King Edward Hotel. In 1991, the Susan Piltch Trio provided dinner music for the Prince & Princess of Wales at a Royal York Hotel charity gala.
Her recordings include “Out of the Shadows”, a self-accompanied solo CD of music for flute & piano, “Anticipation”, a collaboration of original music with harpist Sharlene Wallace, “The Moon & Flowers” and “Nature’s Play” with guitarist Daniel LaBrash.
JOEL SCHWARTZ
(guitar, vocals)
Joel Schwartz is a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist from Toronto, and a unique voice in the Canadian music scene. As an in-demand freelance musician, Joel has toured and recorded with a diverse range of artists. Recent credits include Amelia Curran, Birds of Chicago, Great Lake Swimmers, Royal Wood, The Lovelocks, Kate Rogers, Andrea Koziol, Aviva Chernick and many others. Joel’s playing can also be heard on television and film scores by Ari Posner and Rob Carli.
Current original projects include “Love Scene”, a multimedia project that performs to projections of old black and white films, and “Tarbelle”, a soulful, gritty, and powerful duo with Andrea Koziol. Joel’s first original project, The Outlanders, released an album of instrumental music entitled, “…and this is how his story goes” (Ontario Arts Council).
RANDY STARR
(guitar, vocals)
Randy has been a member of Temple Sinai from the day he was born; from bris to bedeken. He has been performing and teaching music as well as managing professional audio (live & multi-track recording) at Temple for the better part of two decades. In June of 2021 he officially became coordinator of tech, adding the oversight of all of Temple’s livestream events to his purview.
Randy spent the 90s and 2000s writing, performing, and recording with various artists and producers. Of note, Jeff Healey, Brian Moncarz & Marlowe Stone where, in 2013, their group was nominated for a Juno for best children’s album, “One Dancefloor”. Styles of projects have ranged from Jewish wedding band to children’s pop music and everything in between. Randy is completely self-taught, learning through live performance everything he does on guitar, bass, drums, piano and vocals.
DAVID WALL
(guitar, vocals)
As lead vocalist of the much revered rhythm and blues band the Bourbon Tabernacle Choir, David toured Canada extensively, appearing regularly on television and radio. He has performed and recorded with an impressive cross-section of artists including Big Sugar, The Barenaked Ladies, Lorraine Segato and Ken Whiteley. His most recent musical journey as a singer has been into the world of Jewish tradition where he has achieved success recording and touring internationally as lead voice of Toronto’s Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band and Winnipeg’s From Both Ends Of The Earth.
David has written many scores for film and television, and worked with directors such as Simcha Jacovici, Avi Lewis, Michael Maclear and John Greyson. David has received Toronto Arts Council Protege Award, the Golden Sheaf Award, and multiple Gemini Award nominations.
NOAH ZACHARIN
(guitar, vocals)
Called a “stunning guitarist (with) no stylistic boundaries” (Holger Peterson, CBC, Stony Plain records), Noah Zacharin is a master guitarist and an award winning poet. This Montreal native has performed internationally in 100s of venues and appears on over 60 recordings, eight of which are of his own music. He has opened shows for Odessa, David Lindley, Dave Van Rock, Jesse Winchester, Alex de Grassi and Fairport convention.