Hello everyone!! It’s been a long time since I’ve sent out anything regarding my performances or career updates. I do hope this finds everybody well. The last time anything was updated on my website was just as we got slammed with the Covid 19 Pandemic, and the world of performing music in front of live audiences got shut down just about everywhere. It affected almost everyone in the industry to a great degree, and it has taken a long time for things to recover. Many performance venues no longer exist, and finding new performance opportunities has been a challenge. However, as things are opening up, now the “scene” is truly looking up! It is finally time to tell people about upcoming performances and other exciting news!
A quick note regarding this email – some time ago I had to make changes and updates to my website and computer’s operating systems etc., and hence some contact lists got scrambled or lost. Therefore some people may be surprised to be getting this notification if you’d chosen to unsubscribe in the past, or if they only came to one of your email addresses and are now coming to all of them. If that’s the case, my apologies, and I ask your forgiveness. Where to start? There are a few nice gigs to tell you about, so I’ll start there first!
PERFORMANCES
Friday January 31st, 2025 7:00 pm
JAZZ & COCKTAILS AT THE DOG-EARED CAFE
PRESENT
"HIDDEN GEMS AND BURIED TREASURES"
EXPLORING THE SECRETS OF THE GREAT NORTH AMERICAN SONGBOOK
Back by popular demand after 3 sold-out performances, Ross brings his acclaimed “Hidden Gems and Buried Treasures” show to the lovely and intimate setting of The Dog-Eared Café in Paris, ON., presenting you an evening’s voyage of discovery as he uncovers long forgotten jewels hidden away in our popular standards - THE VERSE.
Often lost to the mists of time, the Great North American Songbook offers hundreds of examples of buried treasure in Verses - those forgotten bits of music that precede the well-loved and well-remembered refrain.
Experience the joy of renewing your love for these great songs as Ross dusts off these delicious morsels of music and tells you the history behind each song! Marvel at the beautiful interpretations of vocalist Carolyn Credico with Ross at the piano. Fans that have seen this show already will be pleased to hear lots of new tunes!
Friday January 31st, 2025 7:00 pm The Dog-Eared Cafe 121 Grand River St. N., Paris, ON N3L 2R2
IMPORTANT!
TICKETS MUST BE PURCHASED IN ADVANCE FROM THE LINK BELOW, AND THERE ARE ONLY 35 SEATS AVAILABLE, SO ACT FAST!
"The Lovers’ Valentine’s Ball" Featuring the Ross Wooldridge Orchestra
A NIGHT OF GLAMOUR, DANCE AND ROMANCE
Poster by Bill King
Dance the night away at the finest fancy-dress ball in Toronto Delight at the best music of the Swing Era, played by Canada’s finest clarinetist Ross Wooldridge and his Orchestra
Tickets are selling now. Fancy dress is recommended (but not mandatory!)
A rousing afternoon of the best Dixieland Jazz will be had at the KW Dixie Club, as Canada's finest traditional jazz band The Dixie Demons assemble once again to blow the roof off!! The Dixie Demons are known for their incredible musicianship, daring and dextrous arrangements and generally wacky and devilish sense of musical humour.
Saturday February 15th, 2025 1:00 – 4:00 pm Ouroboros Sports Lounge 101 Hazelglen Dr #1 Kitchener, ON N2M 5A2
Lots of free parking. Great food, fantastic music!
As you know or may remember, I’ve been working through the pandemic to prepare a bunch of albums for release from archived performance recordings. These are now available in limited quantity by special request.
If you read the excerpt below from my previous update, you’ll see more information about those releases and can listen to excerpts from the recordings. If you’re interested in purchasing any of these, please reach out to me on the contact page.
I look forward to hearing from you.
Special announcement: New Recordings
Covid has affected us all. Like anyone else, Ross was served his fair share of
"pandemic lemons". But on the bright side he has been busy making lots of
zesty lemonade (ie. new recordings).
To find out more about these performance recordings, read on:
Hi everyone,
It’s been a long time since this website has been updated, and one of those
reasons is that there have been nearly no performances that anyone could
attend because our careers were shut down publicly due to Covid.
While things are finally picking up with the lifting of public health
mandates, the pandemic continues to throw a large monkey wrench in the works
for musicians and public performances. However, when one is served lemons, one
tries to make lemonade (there’s an adage in there somewhere I think). Read on
to hear what versions of lemonade I have been involved in during this crazy
last 5 years.
First on the menu: Life Among Giants, a full length album featuring Brenda
Brown
It was released at the start of the pandemic (May 2020) … but good things
stand the test of time. This offering is from Brenda Brown, one of
my favourite vocalists and people! I was thrilled to be asked to arrange
and produce a full album of material for her – a concert album in the
style of the greats of our past like Doris Day, Ella Fitzgerald, Rosemary
Clooney and others. I was honoured and humbled to be given free reign to
arrange each song the way I felt best served the artist and the lyric, and
to mix the recording to my satisfaction. I assembled a great team, and
dove in. It was the chance of a lifetime. Now available in CD format, on
vinyl, and as a digital download.
Since the pandemic rendered many of us stuck at home and somewhat idle, the
silver lining was that I suddenly had the time to attend to a number of my own
concert recordings that I had waiting for editing and mixing. So, I got to
work!
New Items on the Menu: Five New Albums of Live Recordings!
All are now available on the STORE page.
Ross Wooldridge and his Tribute to
The Benny Goodman Sextet - Volume 2
Live at the Oakville Centre
Featuring Alex Pangman on vocals
Both an audio recording and video of the performances will be available.
Samples
I Got Rhythm
Just One Of Those Things
More Than You Know
Slow Boat to China
SCUTTLEBUTT Ross Wooldridge and his Tribute to ARTIE SHAW AND HIS GRAMERCY 5
Recorded live at the Old Mill Toronto and The Jazz Room in Kitchener Waterloo.
Samples
Blue Heaven
Scuttlebutt
Summit Ridge Drive
Grabtown Grapple
Ross Wooldridge and his Orchestra present
BENNY MEETS ARTIE
A tribute to the Big Bands of
Artie Shaw and Benny
Goodman
The best hits of both Artie Shaw’s and Benny Goodman’s orchestras, recorded live at the All Canadian Jazz Festival in Port Hope.
Ross Wooldridge and the Galaxy Orchestra present
IN THE MOOD
Set 1
Our tribute to the music of Glenn Miller, featuring vocalists Robyn Lea, Ian Jutson and the Four Debonaires along with the world class Galaxy Orchestra. Recorded live at Dr. J.M. Ennis Auditorium, Welland Centennial Secondary School, sponsored by the Welland-Port Colborne Concert Association.
Poster: Allan Newhouse
Ross Wooldridge and the Galaxy Orchestra present
IN THE MOOD
Set 2
The second set from the same stellar concert. All of the music above is now available for purchase as a download or physical CD directly from this website. Please watch go to the STORE page to purchase.
Featuring vocalist CAROLYN CREDICO with ROSS WOOLDRIDGE at the piano and CLARK JOHNSTON on the bass
Sit back as we embark on a voyage of discovery to uncover the forgotten jewels of the lyric - THE VERSE. Often lost to the mists of time, the Great North American Songbook offers hundreds of examples of buried treasure in Verses – those forgotten bits of music that precede the well-loved and well-remembered refrain. Typically from the original musical or movie, these verses add import and further relevance to the lyric of the popular refrain.
