Wild Blue Herons are getting a bit funky and adding horns in the style of the Crusaders (Jazz Crusaders). We are excited to premiere a few new songs as well as new versions of older tunes with Bill’s horn arrangements.
Tom Keenlyside (tenor sax) and Jim Hopson (trombone) will be joining the band:
Bill Sample (keys/vocals); Miles Foxx Hill (bass), Randall Stoll (drums) and Darlene Cooper (lead vocals)
Wild Blue Herons (WBH) are the magnetic husband-and-wife duo of Bill Sample (piano/keys) and Darlene Cooper (vocals). They embrace a broad sound from groove oriented jazz with a pop/gospel twist (reminiscent of Joe Sample and Lalah Hathaway) to intimate ballads by the great ladies of jazz. Formed in 2017, Wild Blue Herons perform as a duo or as a full band complete with horns at times and have played in numerous festivals (the Filberg Festival, Ft. Langley Jazz and Arts Festival, Vancouver Folk Festival) as well as various Jazz Clubs (Frankies Jazz Club – Vancouver; Hermann’s Jazz Club – Victoria, Jazz Bistro – Toronto, Vernon Jazz club, to name a few).
The group has been featured with such artists as Eric Bibb, Marcus Mosely and the Marcus Mosely Chorale, Shari Ulrich, Jane Mortifee and debuted their show, “The Great Ladies of Jazz”, at the historic Columbia Theatre in New Westminster, BC, in 2019. Facilitating live music to their area is important to them as “it brings joy and vibrancy to the soul of the community. Music brings us together and helps us to focus on what unites us a humans … we need more of this in these times of division throughout the world.”