2026 Ottawa Jazz Festival — Wednesday, June 24

Wednesday, June 24, 2026 Lineup

Daily lineup at Confederation Park. Headliner: GALACTIC featuring Jelly Joseph on OLG Main Stage.

OLG Main Stage (Confederation Park)

6:30 pm — The Plastic Waste Band

The Plastic Waste Band is an experimental rock band born from the jazz community of Montreal, Canada. This is a band in the truest sense: longtime collaborators who fly into psychedelic group improvisations on the wings of finely tuned compositions. Electric guitars, soaring saxophone, thumping acoustic bass, and big drums evoke Led Zeppelin crashing a gig with the John Coltrane Quartet.

Due for release in spring 2026, Trash Island is their third and most ambitious album to date. Envisioning a future where all of humanity lives on a floating island of trash, the album showcases the band’s signature irreverence, supported by high-level musicianship. Listen and feel release from the doomsday prophecies of our generation.

8:30 pm — GALACTIC featuring Jelly Joseph 🎤 headliner

For over 30 years, Galactic has been a powerhouse of New Orleans music, fusing funk, jazz, rock, and soul into a sound that’s unmistakably their own. Originally coming together in the '90s as a late-night funk band, the group has grown into a genre-defying collective that continues to evolve while staying true to their roots. Their high-energy live shows and adventurous collaborations have earned them a loyal following around the world.

In recent years, Galactic has been touring and recording with dynamic vocalist Jelly Joseph, whose soulful, commanding voice adds a powerful new dimension to their sound. The band also serves as the owner and steward of the legendary Tipitina’s music venue, where they host iconic performances and foster the next generation of New Orleans artists. In 2021, they launched Tipitina’s Record Club, an all-vinyl label celebrating the city's rich musical legacy.

Their newest release, Audience With the Queen (out April 11, 2025), marks a major milestone: a full-length collaboration with Irma Thomas, the beloved "Soul Queen of New Orleans." Featuring Thomas on every track, the album blends her timeless voice with Galactic’s modern edge, delivering a powerful and deeply rooted collection of songs that honor both tradition and innovation.

Audience With the Queen is a testament to Galactic’s unique place in American music—deeply New Orleans, endlessly collaborative, and always pushing forward.

Azrieli Studio (National Arts Centre)

7:00 pm — Orrin Evans Trio

• Orrin Evans – Piano
• Matthew Parrish – Acoustic Bass
• Byron Landham - Drums

During his kaleidoscopic quarter-century as a professional jazz musician, pianist Orrin Evans has become the model of a fiercely independent artist who pushes the envelope in all directions. Never supported by a major label, Evans has ascended to top-of-the-pyramid stature on his instrument, as affirmed by his #1 ranking as “Rising Star Pianist” in the 2018 DownBeat Critics Poll. Three Grammy nominations for his raucous, risk-friendly Captain Black Big Band stamp his bona fides as a bandleader and composer. In addition, Evans’ multifarious leader and collaborative projects include the Eubanks Evans Experience (a duo with eminent guitarist Kevin Eubanks); the Brazilian unit Terreno Comum; Evans’ working trio with bassist Luques Curtis and drummer Mark Whitfield, Jr.; and Tarbaby (a collective trio with bassist Eric Revis and drummer Nasheet Waits). Evans is also a dedicated educator and sits on the boards of several jazz and education focused festivals and non-profit organizations.

Elgin St. Stage (Confederation Park)

7:30 pm — MA:Q

• Mary Ancheta - keys
• Dominic Conway - sax
• Matt Reid - bass
• Paul Clark - drums

Mary Ancheta (Mary Ancheta Quartet) leads her newly branded group MA:Q. [pronounced M-A-Q] Returning to the Ottawa Jazz Festival the band pushes the boundaries of genre drawing inspiration from Weather Report, Betty Davis, McCoy Tyner, and David Byrne. In 2025 MA:Q toured in Australia / Japan (World Expo) and past opening slots include BADBADNOTGOOD, Seamus Blake, and Molly Lewis.

A Canadian Filipina, Ancheta is based in Vancouver, Canada. Her new upcoming album 'When the Light Comes to Play' deals with themes of resilience, moments of clarity, and the transitional state between waking and sleeping.. The LP incorporates more piano than her 'Level Up' EP as MA:Q moves towards modern jazz with elements of funk, hip hop, afrobeat, and world. Mary Ancheta: keys, Dominic Conway: sax, Matt Reid: bass, and Paul Clark: drums. On the track '20 Feet From the Street' guitarist Mike Stern is a featured guest on the recording. Ride the wave as MA:Q bring their groove driven music of future facing funk and jazz-fusion.

10:30 pm — KOKOROKO

Kokoroko first formed in 2014 when Sheila Maurice-Grey (trumpet/flugelhorn/vocals) and Onome Edgeworth (percussion) met on an arts trip in Kenya, bonding over their shared tastes in music. A desire to connect young people in the African diaspora with genres like Afrobeat and Highlife would also fuel the band’s genesis. Before long they were playing gigs, riding a wave of the then nascent “London jazz scene”. In 2018, their breakthrough was secured when the sparse ‘Abusey Junction’ was included on Gilles Peterson’s ‘We Out Here’ compilation. An understated 7 minute ballad recorded in an afternoon, it quickly became a viral hit racking up 75 million streams.

The next few years were spent touring extensively, work-shopping their music and perfecting their sound. In 2019 they self-released their debut EP in 2019, selling over 20,000 copies on vinyl, before having its momentum halted by the pandemic. In 2022, after much heightened anticipation, and with the help of producer Miles James (Little Simz, Yussef Dayes, Tom Misch), they released their debut album ‘Could We Be More’. A sinewy blend of afrobeat, highlife and jazz, the album scored platitudes from The Guardian, The Telegraph, Financial Times, CRACK Magazine and plethora of others. The album would also land a top 40 placement on the UK Albums Chart, peaking at No. 30.

Its resulting success parlayed into an extensive number of touring and festival dates across Europe, Australia, and Canada. Now a decade into their existence, the ensemble who also consists of Anoushka Nanguy (vocals/trombone), Ayo Salawu (drums), Duane Atherley (bass), Tobi Adenaike-Johnson (guitar) and Yohan Kebede (keys) are in a place where they’ve done their bit in contributing to a necessary course correction for the scenes they sought to revitalise. And as such, feel ready to sonically expand their horizons. The first major artistic leap from the confines of being called a “London Jazz Band” came with ‘Could We Be More Remixes’. Featuring contributions from KeiyaA, Ash Lauryn, Stefan Ringer, Vanyfox and Hagan, the original songs were re-imagined through a club lens. Allowing the band’s music for the first time to cross into the worlds of afro-house, amapiano, Detroit house, future bounce and techno.

Kokoroko’s artistry has matured to a place that’s now largely representative of the musical melting point and wide range of tastes that comes as Londoners in the black diaspora. It’s this precise notion and the sense of London as an overarching anchor that informs the crux of their forthcoming second studio album ‘Tuff Times Never Last’.

Set for release on July 11th via Brownswood Recordings, ‘Tuff Times Never Last’ is a body of work that holds space for the many dualities that occur in life. A testament to resilience, joy and the retainment of child-like innocence in the face of adverse circumstances. “Although we’re reflecting on joy and celebration, you realize a lot of that beauty comes out of challenges and difficulties. Even in memory, the times that were tough tend to sweeten up” Edgeworth says of the story behind the album’s title.

The imagery and colour laden in the album’s accompanying artwork evoke feelings of warmth, innocence and nostalgia - coming of age in London and those rare summer nights where everything felt full of hope. The painting was crafted by Luci Pina, the acclaimed illustrator whose work has been sought and commissioned by the likes of The Cut, Soho House, DICE, Apple Music and It’s Nice That. Speaking on its design, co-bandleader Maurice-Grey said: “The remit was summer in London, family and sense of everyone being in a congregation-like audience, and us being the musicians”.

The cityscape pays homage to Spike Lee’s 1994 film ‘Crooklyn’ and also films like Rick Famuyiwa’s 1999 opus ‘The Wood’, ‘Love and Basketball’ and ‘Poetic Justice’. The band saw these movies as heartwarming representations of black family, community and resilience - serving as a balm for them as Londoners. Speaking further on this, co-bandleader Onome Edgeworth said: “‘Crooklyn’ is very emotional, but also very uplifting. It felt like how I grew up. We didn’t always have those stories in the UK. Even to this day, if I want to feel good, that's what I go back to”

Embedded within the backstory behind the artwork is a gentle yet incisive commentary on the often-misconstrued narratives, pertaining to the lived experience of black communities in the UK. “I went to school in Brixton, to me it never felt dangerous”, Maurice-Grey reflects. Adding, Edgeworth notes. “To us, if you grew up in an estate in the summer, it was the sweetest thing in the world. An African home with 10 cousins barbecuing and music blazing from every car and house”.

Aiming to signal an air of triumph, victory and celebration in its musicality, the new record sees the London band with careless abandon expand their wide-ranging palette and influences. Across the album’s 11 songs, Kokoroko venture in and around 80s Brit-funk, neo-soul, West African disco, bossa nova, lovers rock and funk. Radiating in just over 40 minutes, a universal portrayal of black diasporic music sounds from decades gone by to the present day. Showcasing their implicit and explicit connections, especially in the realms of music made for the dancefloor. “It's all black electronic music to us. Whether it’s here in the UK, Chicago, Jamaica or West Africa”.

Much of the album sees the ensemble embracing a tone that’s more upbeat and party-orientated. “We tour so much so you want it to be fun. When all your songs are so serious and intense, you miss out on enjoying yourself sometimes. We asked ourselves the question, “What do we want our next years to feel like?” And we wrote music with the intention of it having colour and a sense of playfulness”, Edgeworth says of their decision to veer into more up-tempo territory.

Over the album’s 2-year recording and gestation process, the band developed a strong affinity for vintage studio gear, MPC drum machines and psychedelic synth sounds. For Maurice-Grey, it was their experimentation with such equipment which propelled this shift. The work of Nigerian disco and electro-funk musician William Onyeabour, as well as artists like Steve Monite and Ofori Amponsah would come to serve as a significant north star for the album’s sonic design, highly inspiring the new record’s lead single ‘Sweetie’. A tribute to the playful bond between lovers, the track is a horn-led and wonky-sounding tune saluting West African disco and boogie.

‘Sweetie’ forms part of a triad of tracks on the new record that bridges the gap between where the band has been and where they’re going. The album’s sixth track ‘Three Piece Suit’ featuring alternative R&B maven ‘Three Piece Suit’ was first released on the band’s 2024 EP ‘Get The Message’, while opening track ‘Never Lost’ was first debuted live at their 2023 Meltdown Festival show curated by Christine & The Queens. These songs provide their core audience with the “classic” hallmarks of Kokoroko’s sound but in a way that feels progressive and elevated.

The remainder of the project sees the septet pulling from a diverse palette of reference points. Sonically taking cues from the likes of Loose Ends, Don Blackman, Common, Sly & Robbie, Patrice Rushen and Cymande. On the band’s progression and evolution, Maurice-Grey said: “Innately, we’re jazz musicians but we've tried not to kind of box ourselves into one sound. It’s music you can definitely step to and bolder than anything we’ve done before”.

Their experimentation in parts veers towards avant-garde and psychedelic sound terrain on closing track ‘Over / Reprise, but most especially on ‘We Are’. A funk-infused bossa nova groove that in the first instance recalls the lavish and sophisti-pop sound of Sade and Incognito before evolving into a trippy, distorted, and nearly electronic landscape.

There is notably greater emphasis on constructing tracks with strong, catchy hooks and tracks that follow more of a standard and formalised song structure. “We’re more interested in songwriting in a way that we haven’t always been. Before, it was all about creating a sense of energy. It’s been nice writing songs that work for themselves, rather than us having to depend on our musicality”, Edgeworth asserts.

A noteworthy moment on the album is ‘My Father’ which has vocals delicately arranged in a way akin to the R&B vocal groups of the 90s. Stripped back and almost acapella, the song beholds a position as one of the project’s few moments of stillness and introspection. “Similar to ‘Never Lost’, that song is very much about the faith between a person and their father in heaven. But it could also be seen as a parental or a familial love”, Maurice-Grey Notes.

A palpable ambience of romance, yearning and sensuousness permeates much of the album’s tracks, signalling their allegiance to the lovers. “Especially as musicians, you can feel like you don't want to write about love because everyone’s writing about love”, Maurice-Grey remarks. The decision to lean more into a vulnerable space resulted in two of the project’s resolute highlights; the sensuous ‘Time and Time’ featuring Demae and the record’s second single ‘Closer To Me’. “Closer To Me’ in its essence recalls the fabled Soulquarians era. “That song is a Hip-Hop record at its core. It doesn’t have any rapping on it, but the drums, the sampling and the feeling of it is very Hip-Hop. It’s like the old Common records”, Edgeworth notes.

The collective’s growth as songwriters shines most emphatically and exuberantly on ‘Da Duh Dah’ and ‘Top Gun’. Gems on the album which are reminiscent of British soul bands like Loose Ends and 52nd Street. Stalwarts and architects of contemporary black British music as we know it who over time have become obscured and lost to history. For Maurice-Grey who’s stunning alto leads the vocal on both tracks, referencing these groups was just tantamount to what has always been Kokoroko’s mission. “Although we started off playing heavily afrobeat and highlife, the core of us was always to kind of pay homage to those who came before us”.

Fourth Stage (National Arts Centre)

6:30 pm — Charley Rose Trio

• Charley Rose - sax, effects
• Enzo Carniel - piano, MS20
• Ariel Tessier - drums

Basel-based French saxophonist and composer Charley Rose is a true product of jazz, classical, and modern music. His unique sound is rooted in a diverse heritage stretching from Bordeaux to Paris, and Switzerland.

Rose’s compass was set early by the music of his mother, the visual art and geology passion of his father, the button accordion of his grandfather, and the foundational jazz of John Coltrane and Lee Konitz. Today, Charley Rose channels this rich background into a signature style that operates without borders and the use of electronic effects on sax. With The Charley Rose Trio, featuring Enzo Carniel on piano/synths and Ariel Tessier on drums, he embarks on a continuous sonic odyssey in free form. The trio’s innovative approach has earned significant recognition, including the prestigious Jazz Migration #7 Award in France. Following the release of their debut album, "Charley Rose Trio" (Déluge, 2021), they cemented their reputation with the critically acclaimed "Dada Pulp" (Menace, 2023), touring successfully across France and Europe.

9:00 pm — Stéphane Wrembel Quartet

• Stephane Wrembel - guitar
• Josh Kaye - guitar
• Ari Folman Cohen - bass
• Nick Anderson - drums

“... a revelation”— Rolling Stone

Stéphane Wrembel is quite simply one of the finest guitarists of his generation. Renowned for his unparalleled breadth and depth as a musician, composer, and educator, Wrembel has spent over two decades shaping a sound that transcends genre and borders. Since his debut in 2002, he has released a steady stream of acclaimed recordings, establishing himself as one of the most distinctive and original guitar voices in contemporary music.

His live performances are celebrated worldwide for their virtuosity and emotional range. Wrembel has headlined stages at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, The Town Hall in New York City, and the Lyon Opera House in France. He has performed and collaborated with musical luminaries including Jean-Michel Pilc, Sam Bush, Stochelo Rosenberg, Esperanza Spalding, and Al Di Meola. His festival appearances span the globe, from the Montreal and Monterey Jazz Festivals to the Django Reinhardt Festival in France, the Ellnora Guitar Festival, and Caramoor Jazz Festival. Internationally, he has toured across Canada, France, Israel, the UK, India, and Nigeria.

Born in Paris and raised in Fontainebleau—the birthplace of Impressionism and home of legendary guitarist Django Reinhardt—Wrembel began his musical journey on classical piano at age four. As a teenager, he discovered the guitar and became immersed in rock, particularly inspired by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd. “I had a classical background, a passion for rock music, and then I found out about Django,” he recalls. “I fell in love with the very strong impressionist feel in his music.”

Captivated by Reinhardt’s artistry, Wrembel immersed himself in Sinti culture, spending years learning from the masters of this living musical tradition. “I spent six or seven years going to the camps,” he says. “That’s how you learn this music—it’s specific to a culture. Music is not only the notes. Without the culture, something is missing.” He studied with renowned Sinti guitarists including Angelo Debarre and Serge Krief before moving to the United States to attend Berklee College of Music, where he graduated summa cum laude in 2002.

That same year, he released his debut album, Introducing Stéphane Wrembel, hailed by Vintage Guitar Magazine as “pure dazzle and dash, a stunning storm of notes that blankets the melody in a rain of arpeggiated tones.” After relocating to New York City in 2003, his reputation quickly spread among musicians and audiences alike. His early albums Gypsy Rumble (2005)—featuring mandolin legend David Grisman—and Barbes-Brooklyn (2006) drew critical acclaim. Woody Allen later selected Wrembel’s “Big Brother,” from Gypsy Rumble, for the 2008 film Vicky Cristina Barcelona. His fourth release, Terre Des Hommes (2008), further cemented his growing influence.

In 2003, Wrembel founded Django à Gogo, an annual music festival and guitar camp celebrating the art, culture, and evolution of Sinti-inspired guitar. The event has grown into a weeklong international celebration, bringing together some of the world’s finest musicians to perform at venues such as Carnegie Hall, The Town Hall and Symphony Space. Based in Maplewood, New Jersey and New York City, the festival has recently expanded with editions in Los Angeles, Canada, and beyond. Wrembel serves as its artistic director and driving force, nurturing the next generation of musicians through performance and education.

Wrembel’s global breakthrough came with his composition “Bistro Fada,” the charming waltz that became the theme for Woody Allen’s 2011 Oscar®-winning film Midnight in Paris. The song appeared on his fifth album Origins and on the film’s Grammy®-winning soundtrack. In 2012, Wrembel performed “Bistro Fada” live at the Academy Awards® alongside Hans Zimmer and an all-star ensemble.

He has continued to expand his artistic reach with each project. Dreamers of Dreams (2014) showcased his dynamic quartet, while two live recordings—Live in India and Live in Rochester (2016)—captured his deep rapport with audiences around the world. From 2017 to 2021, Wrembel released six volumes of The Django Experiment, recorded live in-studio with longtime collaborators Thor Jensen (guitar), Ari Folman-Cohen (bass), Nick Anderson (drums), and Nick Driscoll (saxophone/clarinet). These albums reimagined the music of Django Reinhardt and other composers through a modern lens, earning acclaim from DownBeat, JazzTimes, Acoustic Guitar Magazine, Guitar World, The New York City Jazz Record, and more.

In 2019, Wrembel produced Les Yeux Noirs, the debut album by Django’s great-grandson Simba Baumgartner, and released Django L’Impressionniste, a groundbreaking recording of 17 rarely heard solo guitar preludes composed by Reinhardt between 1937 and 1950. Wrembel spent four years transcribing and mastering these works, publishing them in a beautifully bound book of sheet music in 2021—the first complete collection of its kind.

Wrembel also composed the original score for Woody Allen’s 2020 film Rifkin’s Festival, starring Gina Gershon, Christoph Waltz, and Wallace Shawn. In November 2021, he introduced Django New Orleans, a nine-piece ensemble that fuses New Orleans brass and rhythms with the intricate guitar style rooted in his French heritage. The group’s debut at Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Dizzy’s Club sold out eight consecutive nights, followed by Shades of Django in Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Rose Theater, which also sold-out multiple performances. In May 2023, Wrembel released Django New Orleans in conjunction with the Django à Gogo Festival.

In 2024, he unveiled Triptych—a three-part recording (Phases I, II, and III) with celebrated pianist Jean-Michel Pilc—earning glowing reviews in DownBeat, Guitar Player, and Acoustic Guitar Magazine. His forthcoming album, Django New Orleans II: Hors-Série, will be released on November 14, 2025, offering fresh interpretations of timeless classics alongside two new original compositions, including Wrembel’s debut as a vocalist.

Today, Stéphane Wrembel is recognized as one of the world’s preeminent guitarists and composers—an artist who transcends genre while honoring tradition. His music draws from jazz, classical, blues, flamenco, and rock, yet it coalesces into a singular sound: unmistakably, and only, Stéphane Wrembel.

“I just play my own music,” he says. “I like to believe that it is beyond any one genre and that there is something in it for everyone. It’s not only for Django lovers or jazz lovers—it’s for the music lover.”