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VIDEO: Jazz vocalist Susannah Adams continues her Island tour Sunday at Crofton pub

Fresh off a triumphant show at Hermann’s Jazz Club, Adams set to light up Osborne Bay Pub

Two totally different acts were due to liven the soundscape of Crofton’s Osborne Bay Pub this weekend.

Saturday night saw the country talents of Sunfest favourites ​Me and Mae​, a hot young country band that has made quite the name for themselves as exceptional live entertainers, winning the Country Music Ray McAuley Horizon Award in 2014.

And on Sunday afternoon (2 p.m., June 10) there’s sultry jazz on the menu with Victoria’s Susannah Adams.

Fresh from a triumphant, sold-out CD release party at the iconic Hermann’s Jazz Club, the vocalist brings her Island tour to Pat’s House of Jazz.

Celebrating the release of her debut album, As the Morning Light, Adams has already developed a loyal fan base in the city as well as the Cowichan Valley. With her daring scats, vivacious stage presence and inspired improvisations, she is ready to soar.

“I have watched Susannah grow as a jazz vocalist at an astonishing pace,” says Pat’s House of Jazz publicist Gloria Collins, who remembers seeing Diana Krall and Holly Cole early in their careers. “Like they were then, I think she is on the verge of a great career.”

With this debut CD, Adams brings her signature spontaneous live sound into the studio.

As the Morning Light is a stunning portrayal of this fiery young performer.

Named after one of her own compositions, this remarkable CD establishes Adams as an original lyricist, composer and arranger as well as an interpreter of jazz standards.

This live session was recorded over just three days at Joby Baker’s state-of-the-art studio in Victoria. The result is a fully vibrant world-class album in which one can practically taste the inspiration.

The five musicians Adams chose to accompany her on the album are superb. But at this performance in Crofton, keyboardist Karel Roessingh (also a crowd favourite at the pub) will lead a quartet that also includes trumpeter Olivier Clements, bassist Rick Kilburn and drummer Kelbry MacNayr.

Adams will demonstrate her trademark versatility by slipping seamlessly from daring be-bop scat solos “Calypso Be” into smooth bossa beats “You’d Be So Nice” and lush ballads like “Save Your Love for Me.”

All this, topped with a gentle dose of humour. This is hip. This is cool. This is vocal jazz at its best.

The show is one of a Sunday afternoon jazz series presented by Chemainus Valley Cultural Arts Society, which runs every Sunday from 2 p.m. in the Osborne Bay Pub, 1534 Joan Ave. in Crofton, a stone’s throw from the Salt Spring Island ferry terminal. Admission is $15.

Reservations are recommended. Tables will be held until 1:30 p.m. Phone 250-324-2245 or visit osbornebaypub.com.