Western Red Cedar at the Vancouver International Jazz Festival

On Friday, June 26, 2026 between 12pm and 2pm downtown, my band called Western Red Cedar played the Vancouver International Jazz Festival's Bentall Centre Dunsmuir Patio stage in a free outdoor show.

William Chernoff’s Western Red Cedar brings Celtic-based music, including Irish, Scottish, Franco-Canadian, and more traditions, into a creative instrumental ensemble. Playing both electric bass and acoustic guitar, Will is joined by multi-reedist John Nicholson, guitarist Madeleine Elkins, keyboardist Suin Park, and drummer Jamison Ko. Weaving traditional tunes together through improvisation, combined with never-before-played original Chernoff compositions, Western Red Cedar represents the genre-bending west coast in a new wave of “avant-folk” that has emerged from Glasgow to Québec.

This show was my third time playing music for Coastal Jazz at the festival. My first was in 2023 after I released Maybe Eventually, while my second came in 2025 as a member of the Madeleine Elkins Trio.