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Danny Marks bringing crowd favourites and easy listening to Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival on Friday

June 2, 2022   ·   0 Comments

By Sam Odrowski

Lifelong musician and singer-songwriter Danny Marks is among more than 75 acts who will be taking over the downtown core for Orangeville Blues and Jazz Festival June 3 to 5.

Marks is scheduled to play at the TD Broadway Stage for 8 p.m. on Friday and having played the festival several times over the years, he said he’s really looking forward to his return.

“It feels great to be back to playing again… Orangeville is one of the legendary Blues Festivals in Ontario and Canada,” Marks enthused. “People want to play there because of the great feeling that goes on in that city.”

For his set, Marks said he’s going to mostly play crowd pleasers and songs that will get people moving.

“I’m playing mostly just fun songs that everybody can sing along with,” he noted. “’Summertime Blues’ and Dusty Springfield’s, ‘I Only Want to Be With You’ is probably going to be in the playlist, and an Elvis Presley song or two. Just really golden oldies – stuff that a lot of the other bands don’t really do. I know a lot of them are blues and they’re serious about it, and that’s great, but we’re going to be playing complete crowd pleasers. And if I can still do it, I’ll play the guitar behind my back like I used to in the old days.”

When it comes to performing, Marks is a master on the guitar, with an original sound that stays away from a lot of panels or effects.

“I love the pure sound with the guitar and the amp, and I’m going to be doing my very best to just reengage everybody in a good feeling for the festival,” he noted. “I’m sure that a lot of the people in the crowd are going to know a lot of the songs we play, and they’re going to be able to sing along – it’s going to be super.”

Marks has been hosting a radio show on 91.1 Jazz FM since 2000, providing a strong voice for blues on the jazz dominated radio station. It currently runs Saturday nights from 8 p.m. 11 p.m.

But he said nothing compares to performing live.

“There’s nothing like being able to look into the eyes of the audience,” Marks remarked. “For me especially, when we play an old song that people haven’t heard in years, the look on somebody’s face when they go, ‘I never thought I’d ever hear a band play that song again and what a memory that brings back’, even if it’s not a specific one, it’s just an awesome feeling of being connected.”

Having played at hundreds of venues over the years, Marks said he always enjoys doing a show in Orangeville. Among many reasons, he said he loves being close to the crowd during his set.

Marks said he’d encourage everyone to visit the festival, which kicks off tomorrow (June 3) and runs until Sunday (June 5).

“I would say that we live music is a great tonic and it’s a great inspiration for anybody – all ages,” Marks enthused. “If you’ve got kids, it’s totally safe to bring them out to see the band and to see music being made. It’s almost like a miracle that people can just pick up these wooden things with wire on them and so much sound comes out.”

Marks will be closing out the TD Broadway Stage at 8 p.m. on Friday (June 3), performing after Erin Mccallum Band, which plays at 6:30 p.m., and Sandra Bouza who’s on at 5 p.m.

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