In celebration of the Library’s 75th Anniversary, get ready to swing with the vibrant sounds of the Vancouver Jazz Orchestra! Featuring special guest Akiko Tsuruga on the Hammond B3 Organ, this lively performance will bring big band classics and contemporary jazz pieces to life in an unforgettable evening of music.
About the Performers
Raised in Osaka, Japan, Akiko Tsuruga began studying the organ at the famed Yamaha Music School when she was three. Since moving to New York in 2001, she has been a regular on the jazz scene as a Hammond B3 jazz organist. Almost immediately, she began working with artists like Jimmy Cobb, Frank Hess, and Lou Donaldson (whose quartet she joined in 2007).
As a bandleader, she has ten albums to her credit in both the U.S. and Japan. Her albums have constantly placed in the top ten on the National Radio Jazz Chart. Akiko also received the “Swing Journal Rising Star Award” (Japan) in 2010, Hot House Magazine (NYC) Best Organist’ in 2017, and the DOWNBEAT Magazine Critics Poll 2020 Rising Star Organ. Her newest project is an all-star trio featuring iconic drummer Jeff Hamilton and Colorado-based guitarist Steve Kovalcheck. This thrilling trio has been touring around the U.S. and Europe to great reviews.
Watch jazz organist Akiko Tsuruga play “Summertime” with the Clayton-Hamilton Jazz Orchestra HERE.
Watch the Akiko Tsuruga Trio perform HERE.
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- Doors open at 7 p.m.
- No registration is required.
- Seating is general admission with no ticketing.
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Presented as part of WVML’s 75th Anniversary celebrations throughout 2025, this concert is made possible thanks to a generous bequest in support of music at the Library from the estate of Robert Leslie Welsh, through the West Vancouver Memorial Library Foundation.