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Okotoks-born jazz artist combines coffee, ice cream and tunes for charity

Sixth annual Holiday Giveback campaign partners with artisan coffee and ice cream to benefit pair of non-profit health centres.
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Okotoks-born jazz musician Ellen Doty is collaborating with Edmonton drummer Biboye Onanuga for her sixth annual Holiday Giveback campaign. The initiative partners with Monagram Coffee and Made by Marcus Ice Cream to raise funds for local charities. (Photo by Spencer Gatt)

An Okotoks-born musician is continuing to warm winter blues with her charity campaign. 

Jazz singer/songwriter Ellen Doty is kicking off her sixth annual Holiday Giveback campaign, partnering with musicians and artisans in both Calgary and Edmonton to raise money for those in need. 

“It’s been amazing. They’re such good community partners and really care about giving back,” Doty said. “It’s just such a nice way to bring together the arts, food and culture in support of a good cause.” 

Each year Doty co-writes a song with another Alberta-based artist, Monogram Coffee does a custom roast, donating $5 from each bag sold, and for the fourth year artisanal ice cream shop Made by Marcus makes a special flavour with that coffee, donating $2 from each pint.

This year's ice cream? Espresso martini.

For the third year running, ATB Financial is also matching the funds raised from those sales. 

“Now we’ve expanded to Edmonton, so the coffee and ice cream is available both in Edmonton and Calgary, or you can order the coffee online and it ships anywhere in the world,” Doty said. 

Joining her this year is Biboye Onanuga, an Edmonton-based drummer. 

“It was awesome – such a treat to work with him on this song,” Doty said. “We had a bit of help also from Devin Hart, who plays piano in my band, and my husband Murray is playing bass, and then Biboye is on drums.

“It’s really neat to learn how others create and what their artistic process is. That helps me be better and think about things in a different way.”

As a jazz drummer, Onanuga keeps his radar up for talented musicians moving to Edmonton, as Doty did in recent years, but the two shared another pastime.

“I’m an avid basketball player,” Onanuga said. “We just kept running into each other, especially during the pandemic, it wouldn’t be uncommon that I would roll up or she would roll up and we would just shoot hoops beside each other.”

This year’s song, Red & Green, starts off with Onanuga’s drumming, crisp as winter air, introducing Doty’s warming vocals like coming in the front door on a cold day.

"Sonically, what you hear at the beginning of the tune is just what my limbs automatically played once I sat down,” Onanuga said.

"Ellen was super open-handed during the session and once she heard that she said ‘Okay, let’s work with that’ and the song just sort of wrote itself from top to bottom.

“I’m super glad we were in alignment just with some of the themes, even without really talking to each other, because something I’m big on is pace of life, just slowing down and living at a comfortable pace that’s conducive to being a good human.”

The song’s message comes from that appreciation and taking stock of the little things, Onanuga continued.

“The lyrics came from trying to marry that message that we need to take home year-round of slowing down, with the season,” he said. “Just thinking about what the temptations are and what’s the allure in this season that get us to move fast or think about consumption, and how to spin that on its head and think about what would make us think about staying home and appreciate the people we have around us.”

In five years, the campaign has raised tens of thousands for charities, and last year’s campaign raised nearly $30,000, going to the Mustard Seed.  

As such, the campaign also aligns quite literally with the drummer’s ideals and backstory.

"It feels like happenstance, but most of the work I’ve done since I was a teen was in Edmonton’s inner city working with inner city agencies in a variety of roles,” Onanuga said. “The Mustard Seed at first then Youth with a Mission, and now I do work with the Youth Orchestra of Northern Alberta.”

This year the Holiday Giveback Campaign is supporting the Alex Community Health Centre in Calgary and the Boyle McCauley Health Centre in Edmonton, both of which are non-profit health centres that focus on helping those experiencing poverty, addiction, and other social and health challenges.

Coming up on Dec. 3, Doty is also playing a holiday show at the King Eddy in Calgary, as well as guest performances with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra on Dec. 2 and 3 at the Jack Singer Concert Hall and Dec. 6 and 7 at the YMCAs in Rocky Ridge and Seton, respectively. 

In the new year the singer will be recording a new album ahead of tours planned in Japan for September and France in November. 

For more Information about the Holiday Giveback campaign and Doty’s other work, visit EllenDoty.com.




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