Dave Blinzinger has toured Canada, the United States and Europe but, by choice, primarily plays his saxophone at local venues.

“I’m from St. Louis, Missouri. My father had moved up to Cortes Island in the 70s. I lived there from 88 to 1990. At that time, well, there wasn’t very much happening on Cortes. You could go up to the Cortes Cafe on Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, hang out with the fishermen and that was about it. So I moved to Quadra in 1990, basically to get a job,” he explained.

He has lived on Quadra ever since. 

“I love both islands, but Cortes is special for me because it’s the place I went to as an eight year old boy. I lived across from what’s now Linnaea Farm in 1976. It was my first visit and it was magic. I just fell in love with the place! I think this place has its grip on me.” 

“The summer of ’76 was my first summer on Cortes, when I was a kid, so I did a composition called ’76.’”

Cortes Currents: How and why did you become a musician?

Dave Blinzinger: “I started when I was a teenager, because my father was a saxophone player and so was my uncle. I really admired them. That’s what got me into playing the saxophone and into music, really.” 

“My father was a Choir Director and I spent many years in choir. I did vocal jazz. I play a few other instruments. I play hand drums. I play the flute. I play a bit of piano and then I have several different saxophones to choose from, depending  on the situation.”

Cortes Currents: When did you turn professional? 

“I really started in about 1991, with a band called ‘the Valiants.’ They were a large 11 piece rhythm and blues band based out of the Comox Valley.  I stuck with them for about 9 years and played probably two to three times a month, sometimes once a week.” 

“My unspoken goal is to be a working musician. I didn’t want to be a pro to try to ‘one up’ anybody. I really just wanted to  play music professionally, eight days a week.”

“My father came from that breed of people. He played in dance bands in the 60s in the United States. In those times, the 40s, 50s, and 60s, you could work as a musician, get picked up by big bands and you could gig for a living, almost like a job. That’s what I wanted, to be involved in my music full time.” 

Cortes Currents: What will your second song be? 

Dave Blinzinger: “One that had airplay on Cortes Radio and is on the Quadra Compilation CD. ‘Smoke From A Distant Fire’ is one of my original compositions.” 

“The idea of this song is that you’re laying out at night on Cortes Island under the stars, looking up at the stars, looking up at the universe, contemplating the cosmos, which we’ve all done a lot of. The distant fire is not the forest fires that we have. It’s the fire in the sky, meaning the fire from distant galaxies, the light that we see.”

Cortes Currents: How did you become the most famous saxophone player between Mansons Landing and Quathiaski Cove? 

Dave Blinzinger: “Being local, never leaving the area. (Laughs) No, not totally true. But, I didn’t really have a goal in mind when I started other than I wanted to be known as a good musician.  I didn’t specify where, or for how long. People seem to like my music and that’s what has really kept me going – because it sure isn’t the money!”

“I made the choice to stay here on the islands and, of course, that is  a very challenging thing to try to do music full time here and expect to make a living from it. That’s always been a bit of a contradiction: the art versus saleability, or being a musician for a living. It’s not always been easy, so I’ve come in and out of it throughout the years.”

“I did it  for almost a living and then the money petered out.  I’ve bounced back and forth, dabbling in other areas of music as well – like teaching, for instance.” 

“I was always one of those guys in the old days that if you had a hundred dollars,  which is kind of the going rate for the past 50 years, I’d show up to your gig, play whatever you wanted and take the hundred dollars.”

“I was playing a little restaurant in Campbell River, a fancy restaurant that I still play at. I played the first set and nobody clapped. Nobody said anything. I started to think, ‘Oh, gee, I wonder if I sound good.’ By the second set, somebody came up, put their hand on my shoulder and said, ‘I really like your music.’ That’s what makes it worth it for me, the way that people respond to my music in a positive way.” 

Blinzinger mentioned another one of his venues when Cortes Currents asked if he had any concert photographs.

“I was at a club in Courtenay and played with my quintet. I really love that group. I have two  jazz bands based in Courtenay.  I want to mention the Georgia Strait Jazz Society. They’re an organization in Courtenay that supplies the venue, the lights, sound, stage,  pay and the audience. You just can’t ask for more than that.  They had a photographer come in and take these professional photos of a gig I did on January 25th.”  

Cortes Currents: What song are you going to close this interview with? 

Dave Blinzinger: “‘Round Midnight’ – I really like my tenor sax tone in that, Round Midnight is a total standard. There was a movie about ‘Round Midnight.’ It’s a song in a minor key. There’s a darkish vibe to it and it is just an inspiration to me because of all the jazz musicians that played that song.” 

All photos courtesy Dave Blinzinger and the Georgia Strait Jazz Society

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