The Lent Fraser Wall Trio has been playing in The Okanagan Valley for ten years. It grew quite naturally out of two other groups---The Copeland Fraser Wall Trio (a popular jazz trio for four years) and John Lent and Neil Fraser (a noted folk duo for three years). Its distinctive, eclectic mix of jazz, roots, folk, rhythm & blues owes a lot to these earlier groups, and to Lent, Fraser and Wall’s individual histories that go back to bands in the 70s and 80s when the three of them performed in quite different genres as each was ‘paying his dues.’
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The trio’s upbeat fierceness in combining genres---the not-so-easy-to-label aspect that seems so evident in its first CD, Shadow Moon---and its ability to write a lot of original material are what audiences seem to like about this group: a hybrid intensity that comes out of years of playing a spectrum of musical material and disciplines. Though the Trio has played regularly in the Okanagan and Kootenay valleys, it has also opened for touring artists including The Campbell Ryga Jazz Quartet, Long John Baldry, UHF,
Chilliwack
, Leahey and, this summer, the PJ Perry, Tommy Banks and Mike Lent Jazz Trio from
Edmonton
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