Zombie Blizzard:
Aaron Davis & Measha Brueggergosman-Lee

Zombie Blizzard is an “art song” concert concept, a recording and a poem, drawn from the book Dearly.  Zombie Blizzard was written by Margaret Atwood around the time of her mother’s passing.  The poem is found in the body of work published in Dearly, a salute to memory and loss.  The Aurora Cultural Centre operatic presentation will appear in the second set of the concert, but will be preceded in Aaron Davis’ instrumental opening “jazz” set by Measha performing upbeat offering “I Could Have Danced All Night” and the ominous “Strange Fruit”.

Zombie Blizzard requires explanation, it is such a peculiar title.  The seven-poem production was commissioned by the remarkable Hannaford Street Silver Band, where soprano Measha Brueggergosman-Lee became the catalyst for a project that has been performed coast to coast and recently in New York City.  It is a Canadian jazz opera inspiration.

Composer and pianist Aaron Davis is a formidable jazz artist (Holly Cole, Molly Johnson, Manteca, etc) and a long-time collaborator with Measha, who is a friend of Margaret Atwood.  Ironically as the material was being developed with the recent passing of Margaret’s mother and her partner Grahame Gibson, Aaron’s parents, Chandler (poet, mathematician) and historian Natalie Zemon Davis were parting this mortal coil.  Aaron’s parents were contemporaries of Margaret and Grahame in the sixties.

Join the musically adventurous to witness the melancholy waltz of Zombie Blizzard, as both the poet (Margaret Atwood) and the composer (Aaron Davis) navigate the grief of losing a mother.

The ensemble is a hand-picked virtuoso set of musicians rarely seen in Aurora or anywhere; Aaron Davis: piano, George Koller: bass, Gary Craig: drums, Kevin Turcotte and Brian O’Kane: trumpets, John Johnson: woodwinds, Cathy Stone: trombone, Luke Roussy: bass trombone.