It was a busy weekend for music fans in Kamloops. Blue Rodeo and Barney Bentall played the Sandman Centre and the Kris Ruston Jazz Trio played at Pizza Pi on Saturday night. Sunday, the jazz theme continued, with the Alex Ward Quartet at Iron Road Brewing.

Another good crowd appeared to hear this talented jazz band. Ward played bass, Jared Wilman, drums, Stephan Thordarson was on violin and electric guitar was handled by Aaron MacInnis.

Nick Dyson, new to the Kamloops music scene, sat in for a couple of songs on trumpet. All five players showed off talent and passion for this genre. Everyone was given plenty of room to solo.

The Alex Ward Quartet played many great tracks such as “Have You Met Miss Jones,” “Blue Monk,”Mr. PC, and the Miles Davis classic “All Blues.” The crowd was very appreciative and the band rewarded them with an encore.

I’m told that the Kris Rustin Trio show on Saturday was, also, well attended. It is great that these talented local musicians got a chance to show-off their skills. It is very unusual to have two jazz shows back to back, here. Hopefully there will be more jazz shows in town. That ended a busy, musical weekend in Kamloops.