Jazz Vespers Welcomes the Karel Roessingh Trio
by Bernadette Greene
Jazz pianist Karel Roessingh returns with his trio to Jazz Vespers at St. John’s United Church on January 4, 2026 at 7:00 p.m. A prolific composer and recording artist, Karel’s eloquent and accomplished, sophisticated yet accessible, often witty playing has made him over the years a Jazz Vespers favourite.
A native of Leiden, Holland, Karel was raised in Calgary and became a professional musician in 1970. He studied jazz arranging and composition at the prestigious Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts.
Karel has been keyboardist and/or musical director for a great number of musicals, stage presentations, and concerts, and his playing talents have led to engagements all over the world. He has released more than sixteen albums and CD’s, including solo piano, trio, orchestrations, and live concert CD’s. Perhaps one of his most interesting projects is birdsong in the parkade, an album recorded on a Steinway grand piano in the View Street parkade, with music based on recordings of bird songs he collected on his travels across Canada.
He writes jazz tunes for his own and other groups, and has played with jazz greats such as Bud Shank, Ian MacDougall, Pat LaBarbera, Don Clark, Floyd Standifer, Roy Reynolds and many well-known vocalists. He’s regularly asked to play at jazz festivals as both leader and sideman.
Karel has composed for film, television and video since 1985. He wrote the source music for the film In the Company of Men, which won the Filmmakers’ Trophy at the 1997 Sundance Festival, and was an official selection for the 1997 Cannes Film Festival. He has also co-composed for several internationally televised series, among them Good to Go, Police Academy – The Series, Undersea Explorer, Safari – Ocean Adventures, and the children’s series, Take Off. He has received national and international awards such as the Peabody Award, the ITVA worldwide award, and many others.
On February 1st, Jazz Vespers will welcome pianist Attila Fias and his trio to the stage for the first time at St. John’s. A regular performer at many prestigious jazz festivals and major concert arenas in Canada and internationally, he has several gold and platinum albums to his name, as well as over 100 internationally distributed albums.
The Jazz Vespers series will continue on March 1st with blues guitarist Brandon Isaak and his trio. A roots and blues showman, Brandon plays guitar and harmonica, as well as sings.
All jazz vespers services begin at 7:00 p.m. St. John’s United Church is located at 10990 West Saanich Rd., across from Deep Cove School. An offering will be taken to fairly compensate the musicians and cover the Vespers program (suggested donation is $20 per person). Everyone is welcome. For further information or to be included in an email list of upcoming concerts, please email Bernadette at bernadettegreene789@gmail.com.
Photo of KR is reproduced with permission from Brenda Alexander-Roessingh (copyright)
