Angela Verbrugge

All the way from Vancouver Island, vocalist Angela Verbrugge and pianist Ashley Wey are in Atlantic Canada to perform for you for the first-time! Angela has been touring the world singing about love gone right (or very wrong!). Her lyrics range from humorous tales of romance while trying to eat buttery corn at a summer picnic, to the mad dash panicked adventure of being late, to sweet reflections newfound infatuation, to sour reflections on feeling wholly unloveable. 

The whimsical style takes inspiration from vintage movie musicals (such as those with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers), traditional swing era pop and American songbook (such as those sung by Tony Bennett, Nat King Cole and Julie London), and jazz standards (such as songs performed by Ella Fitzgerald, Mel Tormé and Newfoundland vocalist Heather Bambrick). Born in Kingston, Ontario, Angela has a penchant for drama having studied theatre in Toronto (and just generally being a dramatic person!) before moving to western Canada in 1997. Verbrugge has released three critically-acclaimed albums, in 2019, 2022 and the latest in May 2024 on Origin Records out of Seattle. Rave reviews of her recordings have resulted in performance opportunities in far-flung places including Japan, Türkiye, Luxembourg, Germany, UK and many Canadian provinces, all in the last four years. Her music has been played on radio around the world including CBC, NPR, and she took the number one spot of the Earshot charts multiple weeks. 

Angela is joined by Ashley Wey, a red-head, born-and-bred, infrared west coast pianist (yes, we love rhymes!). The vibrant, passionate and swingin’ pianist started at the tender age of 5, and turned pro at age fifteen, never looking back. She attended Humber under mentors such as Don Thompson before setting sail to play jazz on cruise lines and in Australia. Returning to settle in Victoria, she became one of the busiest most in-demand musicians as both a leader and an accompanist on Vancouver Island. An in-demand educators for all ages, Ashley spent several years as one of the captains of the ship at Hermann’s Jazz Club, helping it weather the pandemic storm… curating programming, doing sound and operations. In one moment she will deliver a ridiculously swinging Oscar Peterson tribute. In the next, she is a tasteful interpreter of soul/pop sounds. Ashley's on-stage charism and joy have built her a huge following in British Columbia. 

The duo will perform with a first-call locally-based rhythm section, depending on availability, beloved local jazz musicians such as Jim Vivian and Mark Micklethwaite. They offer the attendees a lively evening of fun and flirty classics with a modern twist to keep audiences on their toes, which incidentally will be a-tappin. 

Take a listen to her original lyrics on "This is Manhattan", a love story set in a crowd in New York City as the world falls away when the couple reveals their feelings for each other, below, or listen to her performance from the Embassy of Canada in Tokyo.