The Uptown Waterloo Jazz Festival kicks of Friday, and after two years of pandemic cancellations, it's back to its traditional format.
Also returning is a showcase for young musical talent in our community.
Wolfegang Baird, tenor saxophonist, is one of handful of students performing with the Youth Jazz Ensemble.
"I really love the improv and the collaboration," he says. "It's really about joining with other people and just having ideas, and bouncing them off of each other."
The event, a festival tradition, puts young talent in the spotlight.
"My goal for this group is to take people who have played some jazz and want to upgrade their skills, and put them along with people who have possibly never played jazz, " says Jason White, the lead instructor for the Youth Jazz Ensemble.
Their rehearsals, he adds, usually focus on rhythm, improvisation and band skills like handing solos to the next performer.
"So things that can be done more on intuition and less on studying quite a bit of theory and that sort of thing," explains White.
That fluidity of jazz was also appealed to Keira MacDonald, who is a classically-trained musician.
"I'd always known it had to be certain notes in a certain placement, so when I listened to jazz and figured out things that weren't right sounded good, I wanted to know more," she says.
MacDonald, who plays several instruments, says she's already learned a lot.
"It genuinely made me a better musician, even just being here for the past two weeks."
The Youth Jazz Ensemble will perform on the main stage both Friday and Saturday, starting at 2 p.m.
"I'm nervous because I haven't performed for the past two years," says MacDonald.
"To have that crowd and that atmosphere, it really changes the way you play and it's really amazing to have that energy," says Baird.
There's no telling where these talented performers will turn up next.
"Our goal is to raise young musical leaders, many of whom in this workshop go on to study jazz or classical music in universities."
