Hope you can make it tomorrow......

OK, last night was beyond all expectations!

Wednesday May 11 I am at the Sylvia Hotel, (1154 Gilford St@ Beach- English Bay). They asked me back right away after last Thursday's packed house. 8-10 pm. Come early, seats go fast!  Linda Szentes will be guest artist!!! (Maybe more)

Last Sunday was Jazz Vespers, and it rocked! Chris Haas on drums, Timothy Stacey on bass, Jason De Couto on piano. 

There are a couple of Vespers coming up with me guesting or hosting:

Wow! Many thanks to all my friends and fans, especially the fine singers Lisa Fennell and LJ Mounteney, who came out to the Sylvia Hotel for my inaugural gig Thursday! It was packed and what a great room to play!

Your attendance helped make it a very memorable night, and they liked it so much they called today for another booking May 11, so put it in your calendars and let's do it again!

Saturday (today by the time you read this), I will be performing at my regular Saturday haunt at www.TenTenTapas.com right on the water at the foot of 1000 Beach Ave. Did you know there is free parking there? Come right down the lane alongside the highrise, right to the venue and parking. Ten Ten has an awesome patio and inside is chic and the food is superlative! I start at 7, and we really have the vibe dialed in, so come see what the buzz is all about.

Sunday is also quite special! I'll be at St Andrews Wesley (Burrard @ Nelson) at 4 pm for the iconic Jazz Vespers. Duke Ellington started the tradition in New York in 1946, and we will carry the torch! I will have Jason DeCouto on piano, Chris Haas on drums, and Timothy Stacey on bass, and we have some new originals lined up, as well as two classics - from the great Miles Davis, currently being lauded in theatres - and Clifford Brown, arguably the Patron Saint of Trumpeters!

If you haven't experienced the effervescent acoustics and the warm and uplifting environment of St Andrews, you owe it to yourself to come on down...

Two late music icons, currently in the news, and together on the same stage.

Sorry for brevity or typos, sent from my iPhone

Hi Everyone,

After a smash outdoor festival show in Arizona, I'm back at Ten Ten Tapas this Saturday. 

The luxe patio is open all day and the music starts flowing at 7pm. 

The fantastic Linda Szentes joins me and Lisa Fennell may drop by! 

Be there or be square....

1010 Beach Ave, on the seawall. 604-689-7800

TORONTO -- Ask a Canadian musician what a few pennies sound like and they'll play you their latest album.

Many artists are pushing for boosted payments from increasingly popular streaming music services -- like Apple Music and Spotify -- but even well known Canadian performers say they're feeling helpless in the campaign for change.

"Bands like us are standing on the sidelines," says Pierre Bouvier, frontman of Montreal pop-rockers Simple Plan. "We don't really have the power to change anything."

Despite having seven Billboard Hot 100 chart hits to their name -- including "Welcome to My Life" and "Summer Paradise" -- Bouvier says Simple Plan isn't raking in significant royalties from their millions of digital plays.

And if they pulled their new music from streaming services -- as marquee artists Taylor Swift and Adele have done -- it would only take Simple Plan off the radar of younger music fans.

"There is not a whole lot of money to be made unless you're the top one per cent ... streaming a billion ... then you're just swimming in it," Bouvier says.

"But if you're streaming a million ... or 10 million that's not really going to pay you anything."

Bouvier says that's one reason he's feeling less optimistic about the next generation of musicians hoping to make a living off recorded music.

"I feel like if my kids told me right now (they wanted to get into music) I'd be like, 'Forget about it,"' he says.

Streaming music royalties are top of mind for many musicians heading into this year's Juno Awards ceremony. While high-profile acts like the Weeknd, Drake and Justin Bieber get the biggest share of the attention, smaller acts will see greater interest in their Juno-nominated albums as well.

But more listeners playing their albums on streaming services doesn't necessarily mean a spike in income.

Jazz singer Alex Pangman, who has a Juno nomination for her album "New," says the money rolling in from streaming isn't exactly overwhelming.

"I get cheques for like three cents or five cents," the Toronto-based performer says.

Pangman's payments come through a company that aggregates her music sales revenues across several platforms.

"It's tricky, especially for me because I'm playing standards from the 1930s, so I have all those songwriters to pay (royalties)," she adds.

Pangman has also seen a dramatic downturn in physical album sales. She estimates she sold about 500 CDs at her merchandise table at the 2011 Montreal International Jazz Festival, while last summer she sold about 120 discs at the same event.

"People say, 'No, no. I'll get it online,"' Pangman says.

"I'm going to have to get some nice T-shirts cause I don't know if people are buying music anymore. It is a concern."

Juno-nominated reggae artist Exco Levi is taking a pragmatic approach to streaming music. The Toronto-based musician says he considers using streaming platforms to be akin to releasing a free mixtape.

"Once people can get something free they're not going to buy it," he says.

The rastafarian says that without streaming music his debut full-length album "Country Man" probably wouldn't have been discovered by some fans.

"When these songs are bootlegged (or streamed) you get more popular and that's how we get shows," he says. "We really survive from the shows ... (so) it works in a negative way and a positive way."

Music Canada, the primary lobby group for the Canadian recording industry, hopes to push for higher streaming pay rates in Canada.

The organization is in the midst of appealing a recent Copyright Board of Canada decision which they say will pay Canadian musicians 90 per cent less when their music is streamed at home compared to the rates in the U.S.

Steven Page, former lead singer of the Barenaked Ladies, says he'd like to see the federal government lay down clearer and more favourable laws for musicians.

Even after having megahits like "One Week" and other popular Canadian tunes in their songbook, Page says his former band's evergreen income is "much smaller than it once was" as album sales decline.

"If it was up to me there would be ... a levy or tax as part of your Internet bill," he says. "You'd pay a media fee."

For some younger musicians, they're still trying to wrap their heads around how they're paid in the digital world.

"When you're signed to a label it just kind of gets filtered through there," said Jacob Palahnuk of Young Empires, a Toronto rock band.

"That's just a whole trickle game. We have no idea how that water falls down, but I assume there's some money there."