5 B.C. Juno jazz nominees to watch out for this year

The Juno Awards, Canada's most prestigious music awards show is coming to Vancouver, March 24.

Margaret Gallagher, the host of CBC Radio One's Hot Air, took the opportunity to shine the spotlight on some of this year's Juno jazz nominees who have strong British Columbian roots.

Michael Kaeshammer

No Filter, the latest album by German-born, Victoria-based musician Michael Kaeshammer is up for Vocal Jazz album of the Year.

Kaeshammer is known for his lightening fast "boogie woogie" piano stylings and his work as a singer and songwriter. No Filter also features guest vocalist Denzal Sinclaire who's got two Juno awards under his belt for vocal jazz.

William Carn is also featured on the album. His band, the Carn Davidson 9 are nominated for Group Jazz album of the year.

Diana Krall

​Turn Up the Quiet is Diana Krall's 13th album and is nominated for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year. Krall grew up in Nanaimo, B.C. and began her career playing piano at music festivals as a teenager.

She made the move to Massachusetts to study at the Berklee School of Music. There, she met the legendary bassist Ray Brown, who advised her to move to Los Angeles to pursue her craft.

Krall credits American jazz pianist Jimmy Rowles as the person who encouraged her to start singing, and she released her first album, Stepping Out, in 1993. She's earned worldwide acclaim and won numerous music awards since then, including eight Junos.

Bria Skonberg

​Gifted instrumentalist and singer Bria Skonberg was born in Chilliwack, B.C. She is best known for her exceptional trumpet playing.

Her album With A Twist is also in the running for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year. In 2017, Skonberg won a Juno in the same category for her album Bria.

Ingrid and Christine Jensen

These sisters are no strangers to the Juno Awards. Bandleader Christine Jensen won back-to-back Junos in 2013 and 2014 with her jazz orchestra, which features sister Ingrid on trumpet.

They've both achieved international success individually but they still come together as musical collaborators on a regular basis. They now live in New York and Montreal respectively. Their album together, Infinitude, is up for Group Jazz Album of the Year.

The Jensens grew up near Nanaimo, where their musical contemporaries were a young Diana Krall and famed jazz saxophonist and Order of Canada member Phil Dwyer. 

Dwyer, the Jensen sisters and Krall all used to attend musical festivals and concerts together in their younger days.

The Jensens will be playing a concert on Friday, March 23, led by Dwyer. The concert will be at Frankie's Jazz Club in Vancouver and is put on by CBC Music in collaboration with Junofest.

With files from Margaret Gallagher and Hot Air