Real Divas Tonight at the ROM

On May 9, 2003, eJazzNews posted the Royal Ontario Museum’s announcement of a free Friday-evening concert in Toronto, “Jazz Divas Celebrate Mothers & Daughters,” featuring five young local singers backed by the Bill King Trio. Several of those singers went on to national careers: Sophie Milman and Emilie-Claire Barlow later won Juno Awards, and the trio’s drummer, Archie Alleyne, died in 2015.

What the 2003 listing said

The text came from the museum’s sales office and pitched the evening as a start to Mother’s Day weekend: free gallery admission on Fridays from 4:30 to 9:30 pm, a new Friday night lounge called glass open from 6 to 11 pm, and a free Main Stage performance from 7 to 8:30 pm. The singers were Sara Latendresse, Sophie Milman, Heather Bambrick, Emilie-Claire Barlow and Alex Pangman. The listing described them as emerging young vocalists living in Toronto who had all taken part over the previous year in a weekly Tuesday-night showcase it called Real Divas. Bill King played piano, with Archie Alleyne on drums and Dave Young on bass, and the host was Jaymz Bee, an on-air personality at Jazz FM 91.

What became of the singers

Sophie Milman, born in Russia in 1983, grew up largely in Israel before her family moved to Toronto. Her debut album came out in Canada in 2004, and her second, Make Someone Happy, won the 2008 Juno for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year; she was also nominated in 2006 and 2012.

Emilie-Claire Barlow, born in Toronto in 1976 to two professional musicians, had released her first album, Sings, in 1998. She has received seven Juno nominations and won Vocal Jazz Album of the Year twice, for Seule ce soir in 2013 and Clear Day in 2016. She is also a voice actor in animated series, including Total Drama.

Heather Bambrick, born in St. John’s, Newfoundland, in 1971, began working at JAZZ.FM91 in 2001 and has hosted several of its programs; her album You’ll Never Know was nominated for the 2017 Juno for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year. Alex Pangman, born in 1976 and a specialist in the Great American Songbook, signed with Justin Time Records in 2011, was nominated for a Juno in 2016 for New, and has hosted the program Swing Set on JAZZ.FM91. Our guide to modern jazz singers covers the wider field.

The band and the host

Bill King, born in Indiana in 1946, had been music director for Linda Ronstadt and Janis Joplin before settling in Toronto. He co-founded The Jazz Report magazine in the late 1980s, served as artistic director of the Beaches International Jazz Festival from its start in 1988, and started the National Jazz Awards in 2001. Archie Alleyne, born in Toronto in 1933, was the house drummer at the Town Tavern from the mid-1950s, where he played behind Billie Holiday, Lester Young and Stan Getz; he died on June 8, 2015, at 82. Bassist Dave Young, born in 1940, worked with Oscar Peterson, Tommy Flanagan and Kenny Barron and shared the 1994 Juno for Best Mainstream Jazz Album for Fables and Dreams, by the Dave Young/Phil Dwyer Quartet. Jaymz Bee joined JAZZ.FM91 in 2002 and left the station in 2024 after about 22 years.

Sources

• The JUNO Awards, “Sophie Milman,” “Emilie-Claire Barlow,” “Heather Bambrick,” “Alex Pangman” and “Dave Young,” junoawards.ca.
• Wikipedia, “Sophie Milman,” “Emilie-Claire Barlow,” “Heather Bambrick” and “Alex Pangman,” accessed October 2026.
• The Jazz Room, “Bill King Trio,” artist biography.
• CBC News, “Archie Alleyne, renowned Toronto jazz drummer, dead at 82,” June 8, 2015.
• Toronto Times, “Toronto music legend Jaymz Bee is leaving Jazz.FM91,” July 23, 2024.
• Wikipedia, “Archie Alleyne,” “Dave Young (bassist)” and “Jaymz Bee,” accessed October 2026.

This page is based on an article from the original eJazzNews archive (2001 to 2018), with background and sources added in 2026. The original text is not republished here. You can read the original as it appeared on eJazzNews via the Internet Archive.
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