Jazz festival returns to Uptown Waterloo

Jazz music filled the air as a longstanding festival returned to Waterloo.

The Sun Life Uptown Waterloo Jazz Festival is now in its 31st year. The annual free celebration draws artists from around the world for a multi-day exploration of music and art.

“Because of the reputation we have, it seems that people want to play this festival,” Uptown Waterloo Jazz Festival Artistic Director Derek Hines told CTV News Sunday afternoon. “The audiences are really responsive. Friday night for Laila Biali, they were super appreciative of her, and last night was crazy with Hilario Duran. Every seat was full right up until the last note.”

Aspiring musicians also got their chance to wow the crowd on Sunday.

“We have the Youth Jazz Ensemble, part two. It’s a great program run through the festival made up of middle school, high school and university students. The only thing they share is a common love of jazz,” Hines said following the performance.

“One thing that I noticed with this younger generation is just a real dedication to something. They find it and they dig into it and they latch on to it and do everything they can to become better. And that really is an idiom of music where you get better if you work hard.”

The festival began on Friday with the Jakob Durst Quartet and wrapped up Sunday afternoon following a 3 p.m. performance by the Juno-nominated Canadian Jazz Collective.