May
1,
2008
What
are you doing this summer?? Come on out and see Jake as
he tours all over Ontario and even to Winnipeg. You
can see Jake's schedule here.
April 25, 2008
Jake's
newest album ZIGGY ZAGGY ROAD has just won a 2008
Parents' Choice Recommended Award!
"Wrapped in big, rich layers of guitars, horns
and strings, Jake Differ's heartfelt songs go sailing, reflect
on the deeper meaning of gardens, and celebrate todays,"
the Parents' Choice review says, commenting that Jake and
his "polished fellow musicians and singers are equally
adept at upbeat and witty musical detours for some cow-counting,
partying on the bayou, and swinging to a hot jump-and-jive
big band."
Read
the full review here.
This is Jake's third Parents' Choice Award - one for each
CD! "Happy
All of the Time" was given the Approved Award and "Take
A Little Ride With Me" was awarded Gold.
January
15, 2008
See
you at SNOFEST! Tug on your snowsuit, and come on down to
the Peterborough Centennial Museum for this year's SNOFEST
event - Saturday, January 19th. Lots to do and see - and
Jake would love to see you there when he performs at 11
am and 1 pm.
January 11, 2008
Hey,
Toronto's City Parent loves Jake's new CD ZIGGY ZAGGY ROAD!
Reviewer Diane Parent comments on the "superb
musicianship", and the "thoughtful poetic lyrics",
and says that even though Jake has "matured a lot",
"he still has fun in him"!
( No kidding! Have you heard "Cow
Counting Association of North America" or "Space"
yet?)
Our good friend and beautiful children's musician Jack
Grunsky has some nice things to say about Jake's Ziggy
Zaggy Road too: "Wow. What a great production
and what a rockin' band. I love the energy and fun feel
of it. The quiet songs are also quite engaging. Congratulations
on a great job."
December
2007
Jake
is featured, along with prominent Canadian children's musicians
Jack Grunsky and
Charlotte Diamond,
in the current issue of Songwriters
Magazine! Jake talks about his love for writing children's
music, saying, ""You're helping people to define
what music will be in their life when they're very, very
young and play a positive role in it. It's the most rewarding
thing I've ever done musically."
Read the whole article
here.
November 13, 2007
ZIGGY
ZAGGY ROAD IS HERE! Click
here to order your copy online today!
November 7, 2007
Jake's
beautiful song "If
I Were a Little Flea" has been chosen from hundreds
of submissions for the 2008 California Summer Reading Program
podcast BUGS. We'll put more details here as soon as we
have them! Many thanks
to our friend Jeff Brown of KTOO
in Alaska, who has been working with the Collaborative Summer
Library Program to develop the music for the podcasts, and
included Jake's "I-Thought-I-
Saw Zoo" for the 2006 program. Jeff's show "We
Like Kids" features Jake's music regularly.
November 2 , 2007
Sing,
dance and get “ziggy” with Jake - LIVE with
choir and full band! Jake's got some great guests joining
him - Toronto guitarist Mitch Lewis, bass/accordionist
Sameday Ray Walsh (he plays on Jake CDs
too!), Jake's big brother Jim Differ on
drums, Susanna DiGiuseppe on piano, and
members of the Peterborough Children's Chorus.
JAKE’S ZIGGY ZAGGY ROAD SHOW is a presentation of
the Vic Alumni Association at the Isabel Bader Theater,
93 Charles St. West, Toronto, Saturday December
15, 2007, 2:00 pm. Tickets: $10, 416-585-4500,
vic.alumni@utoronto.ca.
October 15, 2007
JAKE'S
brand new album ZIGGY ZAGGY ROAD will be available November
13th! A Jake CD is always a great family experience, at
once exhilarating, hilarious and uplifting. Ziggy Zaggy
Road features special guests Cadence,
Silken Laumann,
Pierre Schryer, Chris
Krienke, the Peterborough
Children's Chorus and many more wonderful musicians.
MORE
July
12, 2007
Jake
is in London Ontario tomorrow and Saturday - and he'd love
to see you!
July 13, 2007, 2 pm: London
Children's Museum
July 14, 2007, 11 am: Toy
Shoppe of London tent event!
See you there!
July 10, 2007
Bebop-a-doobop!!
The amazing a capella jazz quartet Cadence
just recorded some great harmonies for Jake's "Three
Eggs Busy Legs Social Band". It's a crazy swinging
tune on the upcoming Ziggy Zaggy Road CD, and Cadence sounds
great. We'll put a sample here as soon as we can! (PS -
a capella means they sing without instruments)
(PPS - Cadence was nominated for a 2006 Juno for Best Vocal
Jazz Album!)
June 20, 2007
Over 200 kids at St. Basil's in Owen Sound gave
Jake an enthusiastic hey-o this past Friday, and then the
next day some of the guys were back to join in the fun at
the fantastic Rocking Horse store's birthday party downtown.
Owen Sound is a beautiful place, and Jake hopes to get back
there soon!
Also - visit Jake's tour page to
see some public summer dates - Jake would love to see you
there!
January
26, 2007
GETTING READY FOR THE ZIGGY ZAGGY ROAD! Jake
is heading to Thunder Bay in early February to record Album
#3 "Ziggy Zaggy Road"!! Lots of fun and surprises
await when the album is released this year!! We'll give
you hints and samples right here...
December 5, 2006
Jake's
song "Island
Dreams" is included on the
Casablanca Kids compilation "Lullabies", which
just won a 2006
National Parenting Publications Association (NAPPA) Gold
Award. The reviewers comment "This perfect
potpourri of sleepy-time tunes is performed by a who's who
of award-winning children's artists."
Jake's are included on several Casablanca Kids compilations
(along with Canadian musical legends Fred
Penner, Jack
Grunsky and Sharon Lois & Bram) selling in thousands
of stores across North America.
November 6, 2006
Jake's
"Antarctic
Soiree" (from HAPPY ALL OF THE TIME) has been chosen
as the theme song for Australian artist Judy Parrott's "Antarctica
- A Place in the Wilderness" photo
exhibit in Brisbane Australia! The multi-talented Judy is
also a singer, and she and some of her friends will be performing
an a capella version of the song on the exhibit's
opening night - November 8th. Read
more about the exhibit.
September
6 , 2006
What
a summer! Jake played for many wonderful children throughout
Ontario this summer, and in fact has now moved back to Ontario!
That's right - Jake and his family are now living in Peterborough,
Ontario - a beautiful town not far from Toronto. Jake
will miss the very special people who live on Pender
Island in BC, and you'll hear music inspired by the
island's lovely scenery on his NEXT album (releasing Spring
2007).
If you run children's programs in Southern Ontario,
Jake is now available to perform for you! Check out the
Tour page for more information about
Jake's show.
June 7 , 2006
Jake's
music has joined a
great new program called
Paws, Claws, Scales and Tales which provides
resources to libraries in 32
states across America. Jake's song "The
I-Thought-I-Saw-Zoo" from TAKE
A LITTLE RIDE WITH ME joins the fun as part of a downloadable
podcast featuring animal songs!
Many thanks to our friend Jeff Brown of KTOO
in Alaska, who has been working with the Collaborative Summer
Library Program to develop the music for the podcasts. Jeff's
show "We Like Kids" features Jake's music regularly.
May 25, 2006
Live in the Vancouver area? Come see Jake live
at the Ladner
May Days on Saturday May 27th at 11 am!!
May 15, 2006
Jake's "Child's Play"
will be featured on CBC Radio morning show interviews with
Silken Laumann starting Wednesday, May 17th!
May 10, 2006
HAPPY
ALL OF THE TIME has just been honoured with a Parents'
Choice Award! Both of Jake's CDs have been recognized
by Parents' Choice, a group of parents, librarians, educators
and children dedicated to seeking out quality entertainment
for children.
April 19, 2006
Silken
Laumann's wonderful book has just been released, and Jake
celebrated with her at a special release party last night
at LuluLemon in Victoria. Photos
April 3, 2006
Well, that was a wonderful party! Jake was in
Halifax over the weekend, meeting many wonderful musicians,
and soaking up the great Maritime atmosphere in Halifax.
The Juno Awards were a lot of fun, and although Tafelmusik
Orchestra won the Juno Award for Children's Album of the
Year, Jake feels like a winner just for being nominated!
Read newspaper articles about Jake!
Victoria
Times-Colonist (Tuesday, April 3, 2006)
Victoria
News (Wednesday, March 29, 2006)
March 30, 2006
Jake has just finalized two more events in Ontario for this
summer! He will now be playing at the "Day Out With
Thomas" event in St. Thomas, ON, the Mill Race Festival
in Cambridge, ON, and the Red Rock Festival near Thunder
Bay, ON. Take a look at the Tour
page for more details!
March 23, 2006
Whew, what a great day!! JAKE was in Victoria
BC today, chatting to so many wonderful people. Here's where
he was...
Q100.3 - Jake talked to Shelby about how
much better it is to make music for children, compared to
making music for adults.
CH-TV - Jake tried out a new guitar at
Long & McQuade, and sang "Happy All of the Time"
with noon news weatherman Gordie Tupper.
A-Channel - Jake and Adam Sawatsky bet
a quarter on if "Otis" invented the A-Channel
elevator, and Jake serenaded Adam on the roof.
CBC "All Points West" - Jake
played Jo-Ann Roberts a few bars of his new song "Child's
Play", the theme song for Silken Laumann's book, coming
out April 18th.
Jake also talked to the Victoria News and the Victoria Times-Colonist
- look for stories coming soon!
Photos
March 17, 2006
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY to
JAKE's son Hiatt, who turns nine today!! The first children's
song Jake ever wrote was "Starry Skies" (the last
song on TAKE
A LITTLE RIDE WITH ME) as a lullaby for baby Hiatt :)
It's been a busy week! On Tuesday, Jake played "Underpants
in Hawaii" on Shaw Cable's "Urban Rush" program
while Hiatt and Kathleen danced along. Then yesterday Jake
had a great conversation with Molly Carron on "It Takes
A Village" on CFRO
Radio
Also we got the great news yesterday that Scholar's Choice
will be selling Jake's new CD!! Scholar's
Choice is a fantastic chain of stores from the Maritimes
to Alberta. Click
here to find the Scholar's Choice near you!
March 10, 2006
Even though Jake lives in BC, he likes to record his music
in Thunder Bay, Ontario - there are so many great musicians
there, and his brother Jim (who plays drums on the records)
lives there too! The Thunder Bay Chronicle wrote a story
about Jake, and you can read
it here.
March 1 , 2006
Jake heads off to Thunder Bay today to record
a brand new song! It's all about how great it is to just
PLAY!!! That's the theme of a new book called "Child's
Play" written by Olympic rower Silken Laumann, and
when Silken heads across the country next month to promote
the book, she'll be playing Jake's new song wherever she
goes. Stay tuned for dates and details!
February 23 , 2006
HELLO HALIFAX! The Juno Awards are in Halifax
this year, and Jake plans to head to the "other ocean"
for the event. While he's there, he's going to drop into
one of his favourite children's stores, Woozles,
and play a few tunes. Stay tuned for the exact time...
February 22 , 2006
From Juno to JUNEAU!! KTOO
Radio in Juneau, Alaska is taking a little ride with
Jake... Jeff Brown, who runs the wonderful children's radio
show "We Like Kids", played "Hey-O"
this week. Also, our friend Paul at LoopyMoose
Radio has just added another great Jake tune "Mr.
Wobbles" to the play-list of his internet radio show.
February 16 , 2006
JUNO NOMINATION FOR JAKE!! Wow, what exciting
news! HAPPY ALL OF THE TIME has just been nominated for
a 2006 Juno Award for Children's Album of the Year! You
can see all the nominees here
- it's amazing to see the greatly talented people who
are making quality music for children in this country. Canadian
children's music really is some of the best in the world!
Read the full press release here.
February 9, 2006
DOWNLOADABLE JAKE!! Now you can buy Jake music, one song
at a time! The entire TAKE A LITTLE RIDE WITH ME CD is available
one track at a time on emusic.com
and musicstrands.com.
January 31, 2006
Jake CDs are now available across Canada!! What
a great day... There's a great company called FIRE THE IMAGINATION,
that sells the best kids' entertainment into toy & book
stores across Canada. Kyle and Stephanie, who started the
company, are just fantastic people, and are absolutely dedicated
to helping parents find great stuff for their kids. Anyway,
they've added Jake CDs to their catalogue, so now you should
be able to find Jake CDs at your favourite local store.
If you don't see them there - ask the store owner... or
call FIRE THE IMAGINATION 1-888-780-0864 to find out where
they're available in your area! Check out the FIRE
THE IMAGINATION website.
November 14, 2005
Our friends at cdbaby.com have got HAPPY ALL OF THE TIME
all ready to purchase! Click
here to listen to samples, and buy online. Hurry - Christmas
is nearly here!
November 10, 2005
HAPPY ALL OF THE TIME IS HERE!!
Click here to
find out how you can advance order your copy now!
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