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Mark DeJong & the Outer Bridge Ensemble
Beat Niq Jazz & Social Club
Saturday, November 7 - Saturday, November 7

More in: Blues / Jazz

Most of us commute to work every day with a short ride on public transit, car, or bicycle. Jazz saxophonist Mark DeJong though, has a very different definition of commuting. DeJong, who brings his Outer Bridge Ensemble to the Beat Niq this weekend, regularly commutes between Saskatoon and New York. This may seem a bit extravagant, but it's natural for this musician, who started his career in Calgary, shifted to Vancouver, then New Jersey and has finally come to rest in Saskatoon.

Understandably, all that travelling and relocating led to new experiences, new connections and unknowns for DeJong. It's fitting, then, on a spiritual as well as musical level, that Dejong's debut CD, released earlier this year, is titled The Unknown.

“This record is a snapshot, a musical and personal snapshot of a pretty significant period in my life,” DeJong observes. “The CD represents a period of time where I went through a lot of changes: I relocated from Vancouver to New Jersey to do my graduate work out in New Jersey, so I was going into a whole new realm. That was a big step, musically. It was a lot of unknowns socially and personally, and everything else.”

DeJong's travels and experiences have heavily influenced his music — none more so than this New Jersey connection with his fellow Outer Bridge members. "It's done wonders for my overall perspective and my understanding for music," he says of his time studying and gigging in New Jersey. "I also feel it's just helped my confidence and my awareness of things. I mean, it totally changed my life."

That kind of connection doesn't come along every day, and as DeJong says, “I've been a professional long enough to know that these kinds of associations are rare, so that when they do come along, it’s worth a lot of work to maintain the connection as much as possible.” As a result, DeJong makes frequent trips to New York, and ensemble members Steve Hudson, David Freeman, Jerome Jennings and Mike Noordzy regularly gig with DeJong at clubs across Canada.

With eight years of experience together, the group’s members know each other well enough that their performances will not only be a mix of freeform jazz and standards, but a musical journey that draws on the band’s experience with pop, soul, R&B and avant garde. Expect an exciting gig with some serious musical risk-taking.

“I'm the kind of person who I think thrives when I'm in an environment that's built on musical trust,” he says. “I really feel strongly about that so for me I find as a group because we get along and we all trust each other musically, everyone's that's much more ready to take a leap of faith.”