Arts and Entertainment

Orangeville Jazz Society Big Band to perform at Opera House

September 11, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Constance Scrafield

On Nov. 7, the Orangeville Jazz Society Big Band will be presenting a Frank Sinatra tribute show at the Orangeville Opera House, containing many well-known songs from Sinatra’s catalogue.

“It all started with the Orangeville District Secondary School (ODSS) jazz band, which I ran for 20 years,” said Ryan Grist in an interview with the Citizen this week. “There was an increasing interest of adults in the community; at one point there were as many adults as kids.”

He went on to tell the story, “One day, one of the adults gave Al Luiker $20 and told him, ‘I just want to donate to the cause.’ Al Luiker had been playing with the band for 10, 11 years.”

That gesture was the true beginning of the Orangeville Jazz Society Big Band.

Pianist Nichola Mustapha put them in contact with John Amato, vocalist and “crooner” who sings the music of Frank Sinatra with truth and clarity.

Building on the tremendous success of the Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival in June, when they played to a full house at the Opera House, they wanted to return to the venue for another performance with this tribute show.

“I couldn’t believe how well Amato sings,” Grist commented. “Sinatra, Nat King Cole, tunes they sang with the Count Basie Bands.”

Grist wanted to extoll the beauty and importance of real instruments making music, “not as a computer,” as he said. “So real.”

He is confident that jazz can never go away; it can’t because it’s so compelling, so human.

According to Grist, there are two things on his mind that we have to experience live: a gospel choir with so many voices and the power in their singing, and a big jazz band.

“We’re social beings – we have to experience together in spite of whatever differences we might have,” he said.

It was really Frank Sinatra’s music that got Grist into jazz. His father had recordings of Frank and great arrangements of some of the greatest soloists.

“My grandpa he played bass,” Grist recalled. “He kept had a bass in the basement, but I had never seen him play it. One day at a party, my uncle kind of caught him. He brought the bass upstairs and handed it to my grandpa and said ‘go on, play it.’”

The grandfather just started playing, and it was magic. “I couldn’t take my eyes off him –– I have a photo that sees me with my jaw hitting the ground.”

Grist’s uncle, who lived in Ottawa, was also a jazz musician. He had played on Parliament Hill and once played for the Queen. When Grist went out to visit, his uncle sat down at his grand piano to play. He had a radio program and was friends with Guido Basie.

We have to tell the stories, and we love the stories.

“That’s what we want to do at the show,” said Grist. “They told such great stories. Amato is the vocalist. He can sing all the music in all the keys. Nicholas Mustapha will be on piano.”

For one show only, the Orangeville Jazz Society Big Band and its “18-piece powerhouse Big Band” urges us to save the date, Nov. 7.

Tickets will be available soon for only $25 to make sure the show is accessible. Tickets will be available at the Orangeville Opera House Box Office; this is a big undertaking.

Said Grist about the very reasonable ticket price, “We’re building forward and we want people to hear the music and for those who have supported us.”

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