The Waring House was jumping and jiving last Friday when Dan Douglas brought his swinging sextet, The Crap Shooters, to launch the PEC Jazz Festival 2026 lineup.

The band offered two crackling sets of danceable tunes from the ’30s, ’40s and ’50s, leaning on Louis Jordan and Cab Calloway. It was a full house and within a couple of numbers the dance floor was filled with rug cutters, bopping and twirling with abandon.

Leader and trombonist Dan Douglas traded vocal duties with pianist Spencer Evans while trumpeter Matt Smith and saxophonist Ross Wooldridge provided the call and response of a chorus as well invigorating solos.

As Louis Jordan might have put it, “sure had a wonderful time last night—leastwise they tell me I did…”

At intermission, the Jazz Festival’s Artistic Director Sarah Kim Turnbull stepped up to the microphone to reveal the mainstage events coming to the County August 11-16. It’s another great week of music, featuring a mix of familiar, well-established acts and new voices, “rooted in community, yet musically adventurous,” as Ms. Turnbull put it.

Lively Program 

The traditional opening night at Huff Estates Winery this year is brought to us by the original Canadian busking jazz band, the Shuffle Demons, now in their 42nd year. Their high-energy, genre-bending music ranges from bebop through rap and further out. Huff Estate’s patio is the perfect place for their street energy. “Spadina Bus” anyone?

Last year’s sold-out presentation by the Doghouse Orchestra was so well received that the Festival is bringing them back for an encore. This octet offers an inclusive blend of improvised music from the Toronto scene, bringing in gospel, jazz, funk, and country. Ms. Turnbull was especially excited about their newest member, flautist Anh Phung, who also appears at The Regent Theatre later in the week.

A Thursday afternoon recital at Sandbanks Winery’s Barrel Room features young singer Ale Nuñez — hot off her 2026 JUNO Award nomination for Best Vocal Jazz Album. She has a way around the Great American Songbook: something like Sarah Vaughan, with a touch of Carmen McRae’s attitude.

The Festival moves to two shows co-presented with The Regent on the Friday and Saturday nights. Pianist Jeremy Ledbetter’s trio presents passionate jazz with a lot of Latin rhythms, featuring drummer Larnell Lewis, who impressed the County a couple of years ago. Anh Phung will open the show with a solo flute and sound-sampler set (and one hopes she’ll sit in with the trio too!).

Following the Friday show, there will be an After-Hours session at Waring House featuring the Steve Holt Trio.

​Saturday night at The Regent, singer and festival favourite Emilie-Claire Barlow will appear with her quintet, featuring material from her new album—her fifteenth. The child of festival founder Brian Barlow, she is bringing an international career home to celebrate.

The Festival wraps up at Waring House with the Latin and Peruvian jazz of Irene Torres. “She comes with a big band with percussion,” noted Ms. Turnbull, “it’s a lot of fun. She draws on her Peruvian heritage, so we’ll be dancing again!”

Brian Legere is organizing shows at satellite venues—wineries, cideries, galleries—throughout the week, and the Waring House will have live jazz every evening in the Barley Room Pub. And, of course, there will be a Saturday morning show at Glenwood Cemetery.

That the County has such draw is a tribute to the longstanding PEC Jazz Festival and its organizers, supporters and sponsors.

As Dan Douglas put it, while singing a Louis Jordan line, “Let the Good Times Roll!” 

Tickets will go quickly. Visit PECJazz to snap yours up.