Triple Bill with Downtown Mischief and Blasé Blasé

For the JUNO-nominated Canadian-American soul-jazz collective Busty and The Bass, collaboration has always been at the forefront of their music. Formed at McGill University in Montreal over a decade ago, the group is now scattered across four North American cities from coast to coast. Yet, with a collaborative spirit at the heart of their third studio album, Forever Never Cares (2023), the members have never been more connected. They were recently nominated for a 2024 JUNO Award for “Breakthrough Group of the Year.”

Over the years, the group has collaborated with legendary artists George Clinton, Macy Gray, Earth Wind & Fire, Slum Village, and exciting new voices like Polaris Music Prize winners Cadence Weapon and Pierre Kwenders. Most recently, the group dropped a mini-album with Philadelphia poet and rapper STS. With such a strong history of partnerships, Forever Never Cares reshaped the band’s creative formula and redefined how they worked together a decade into their career. With soul and R&B as the album’s cornerstone, the record is sprinkled with cross-genre explorations, and they bring material from that record and more to Bullen Park for TD JazzFest’s free-to-attend 40^th Birthday Bash! Victoria’s Alistair Blu (AKA Evan Crofton) vocals/keyboards, Scott Bevins trumpet, Jordan Brown vocals, Frank O’Sullivan guitar, Chris Vincent trombone, Julian Trivers drums