Live review from Vancouver International Jazz Festival

Dawson's ensemble evokes the band's best

If there's any Canadian antecedent for Steve Dawson's Gold Coast Ensemble, it has to be the Band. The music of both outfits is rooted in North American genres from country blues to jazz, vintage rock to gospel. There are precise comparisons, too. Chris Gestrin's keyboard wizardry on Hammond B3, Würlitzer, and pump organ brings to mind Garth Hudson at his finest. While differences are obvious, they're getting fewer. On "There's Gonna Be a Fire"–one of a clutch of pieces debuted in Gastown on Sunday (June 24)–Dawson rocked out on electric guitar. It may not have been Robbie Robertson, but the Vancouverite can trump the Band's leader with his mastery of a menagerie of strings, switching effortlessly between acoustic, electric, Hawaiian, and pedal-steel guitars. Dawson's picking is cleaner and his slide more supple than ever, as he demonstrated in the shimmering "Keith Lowe", dedicated to his barefoot American bassist, who sways with his instrument like a dancer with his partner.