Awards

Every year the Festival acknowledges musicians that have made a significant contribution to Saskatchewan’s music culture through the Special Recognition Award. This award has been received by many great artists who have and continue to shape the jazz community in Saskatchewan and beyond.

The Saskatchewan Jazz Festival is honoured to present Suzie Vinnick with the 2019 Special Recognition Award at 7PM on Friday, June 28^th as part of the Nutrien Free Series at the Bessborough Gardens mainstage.

Suzie Vinnick is a professional musician originally from Saskatoon, SK, now based in the Niagara Region in Wainfleet, ON.

Suzie took her first guitar lesson at the age of nine at the Saskatoon Guitar College, and learned to play saxophone and bass guitar in elementary and high school concert and stage bands. As a teenager, Suzie worked with many music teachers and embraced as many musical experiences as she could to nurture her love of music.  Some of these experiences included performing with the Saskatoon Lions Band Concert Band and Stage Band, studying for four summers at the Kistner Jazz Camp in Fort San, SK; travelling throughout Saskatchewan singing and playing bass in a duo called “The Sultans”, playing electric bass for two years in the University of Saskatchewan Jazz Ensemble backing up artists such as saxophonist PJ Perry and vocalist Big Miller.  She spent many Saturday afternoons in her late teens at the Buds On Broadway jam in Saskatoon, first performing then helping to host the jam. She also performed with Saskatoon jazz musicians in a project called “Barfly” and made her Saskatchewan Jazz Festival debut with her group “The Blues Unit” as winner of a contest put on by Buds On Broadway in co-operation with the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival.

Suzie has released six solo albums and another eight in various collaborations with other artists. Two of Suzie’s solo albums, “Happy Here”, produced by Juno-Award winning artist Stephen Fearing, and “Me “n’ Mabel”, produced by Danny Greenspoon, have received Juno nominations and her trio, The Marigolds, also received a Juno nomination.  Suzie has also guested on albums by Stephen Fearing, Dean McTaggart, Colm Wilkinson and Treasa Levasseur, to name a few.

The recipient of 10 Canadian MapleBlues Awards, Suzie also won a Canadian Folk Music Award for Contemporary Vocalist of the Year.  She was honoured with the CBC’s Saturday Night Blues Great Canadian Blues Award and the Sirius XM Canada Blues Awards in 2012.

Suzie has won numerous awards for her songwriting, including twice winning the International Songwriting Competition’s Blues Category for her songs “The Honey I Want” co-written with Liz Tansey and David Leask and “Sometimes I Think I Can Fly”, co-written with Dan Kershaw. Her songs have also been placed in various Film and Television shows.

Suzie has sung a number of national jingles; she was the voice of Tim Horton’s from 2006-2011, singing their jingle “Always fresh, always Tim Hortons.” She also has sung jingles for Shoppers Drug Mart, Interac, Knorr Soup and Kellogg’s Special K.

Suzie has performed across Canada, the United States, Europe and many other parts of the world and in 1998 was blessed with the opportunity to perform for Canadian Peacekeepers in both Bosnia and the Persian Gulf; the Bosnia trip was her first overseas trip and an experience that was life-changing.  She was thrilled to do her first show in New York City, opening for John Hammond Jr at the Madison Square Park Conservancy and also make it to the finals of the Solo/Duo Category at the 2013 International Blues Competition in Memphis, TN, and perform on the stage of the Orpheum Theatre.

Suzie was also fortunate to work with the CBC Vinyl Café’s Stuart McLean a number of times. She performed on tours with him in 2005 and 2006 and was also featured on a number of his live radio shows.

Suzie would like to thank all the people who had the vision to see the importance of music education and the doors it can open for students.  She’d also like to thank all of her incredible music teachers and musical friends over the years – she is grateful for the nuggets of wisdom learned from every one of them. Suzie sends many thanks and much gratitude to the SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival for being there for her early years and throughout her music career, and for this Special Recognition Award – she is very honoured to receive it.

2019 JIM HILL FESTIVAL BUILDER AWARD: SASKTEL

Named after the festival founder Jim Hill, The Jim Hill Festival Builder Award recognizes individuals who have made major contributions to the success of the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival. This award has been received by many great supporters who have and continue to shape the Jazz Festival throughout the community.

The SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival is honoured to present SaskTel with the 2019 Jim Hill Festival Builder Award on Friday, June 21^st at 6:45PM at the mainstage in the Bessborough Gardens.

2019 marks the 25^th year that SaskTel has been the title sponsor of the SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival. Proud to call Saskatchewan home, it’s this pride that drives SaskTel to give back to the province in many different ways. With a focus on giving back to the community, the festival provides SaskTel with a great opportunity to interact and engage with Saskatchewan’s diverse music scene while helping to showcase incredible homegrown talent each and every year.

Over the last 25 years, SaskTel has been on the forefront to support and see the festival grow from its jazz roots to now including a variety of music genres and activities for every demographic. From the sounds of jazz, funk and pop, there is truly something for everyone to enjoy. It’s this evolution that has helped the festival’s attendance spike to over 80,000, making it the biggest event of its kind in Saskatchewan and one of the largest in all of Western Canada.

SaskTel is honoured to be recognized as the 2019 Jim Hill Festival Builder and look forward to being part of the SaskTel Saskatchewan Jazz Festival as it continues to grow and evolve in the future.