On Monday night, April 24, 2006, Vanier held the eighth annual Big Band Benefit Concert. The concert served as a tribute to Kevin Roch who has worked in the Printshop since 1971 and is retiring this year. Again, we were lucky to have legendary Montreal jazz pianist Oliver Jones, who not only served as host for the evening's festivities but also graced us with a guest set wherein he shared his wonderful playing abilities with the assembled throng.

The Vanier Stage Band got things off to a flying start with a spirited set of toe-tapping arrangements. They were followed by a series of speeches by Ian Macarthur of the VCTA, Paul Fournier who spoke for Printing Services and finally Gail Martin from Payroll who recited a hilarious poem she wrote testifying as to why she won't be able to continue at Vanier without Kevin. All speeches served as a demonstration of Vanier's collective love for Kevin Roch. Gail's poem was so well received that we've made a video clip of the entire poem available (along with other video clips of performers from the concert) in a video clip page which is linked a little further down on this page.

The evening's performances were capped with an incredibly tight set played by the ever-amazing J.L. Big Band under the direction of our very own Christopher Smith, a music teacher here at Vanier. Their set also included three songs sung by jazz vocalist and notable Vanier alumnus Coral Egan (left) who was the guest artist for the evening.