By Emily R. Zarevich, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Jazz on the Plaza has become a staple of the Burlington Performing Arts Centre’s summer lineup. Every year, jazz enthusiasts gather on the corner of Elgin and Locust streets to enjoy the kind of old-fashioned tunes that had flappers swirling cocktails in the Roaring Twenties. It’s that snazzy and animated kind of music that welcomed in radio programming, and lively voices and sounds are the essential ingredients of the genre. This year, Burlingtonians can anticipate a distinguished program of hearty jazz singers that includes Amanda Martinez, Heather Bambrick, and Alex Pangman, among others.
Jazz on the Plaza runs from Friday, August 8, to Sunday, August 10. Staring the weekend off strong is Ontario-based musician Jay Davis. On Friday, August 8, at 6:00 p.m., Davis will be the lead of Feeling Bublé, a tribute act that honours the accomplishments of Canadian singer and songwriter Michael Bublé. Davis and his band are also slotted to perform again at the Burlington Performing Arts Centre on December 6, 2025, for their festive Jay Davis — Feeling Bublé Christmas show. Davis, who was born in Elmira, Ontario, comes from a musically gifted Mennonite family and has enjoyed a busy and varied music career that has stretched three decades. Davis has agreed to speak about his five-year tenure as a Michael Bublé tribute singer and what he brings to his performances all around Canada.
Answers have been condensed and lightly edited for clarity and flow.
What is it about Michael Bublé’s songs that really resonates with you?
What I really enjoy about Bublé is the way he phrases stuff. What I mean by phrasing is the musical sentences that he creates. He does his pop stuff and his jazz stuff, but he’s always surprising you. The first time you listen to one of his songs, it doesn’t sound like how you would expect it to sound, whether it’s a cover of “Come Fly With Me” or “Moondance.” The first time you listen to one of his songs, it’s surprising and it’s exciting. I thought to myself when I started, maybe I can absorb Bublé’s knowledge of the jazz phrasing and the timing.
Through doing this over the past five years, I’ve grown so much as a singer and as a musician. It’s been a great endeavour for me, and I’m really happy that it continues to provide me with all sorts of positive things.
How do you blend your own personal style with Bublé’s music?
I would say that I’ve now developed my own jazz style. I love singing. I practice all the time. If I’m in my truck driving from one place to another, I’m singing the whole time. I’ll sing until my voice is raw. It’s something that just brings me so much joy. You know, after all these years, it’s funny you’re asking me that question today because I sang the whole three hours up the cottage, as you can probably hear in my voice. I’ve been singing my heart out.
Depending on what time signature you’re playing in, and when you’re playing with three other guys, you just feel where that phrase is going to land. You have freedom, especially in jazz. You can pretty much do anything before that moment in time lands. The question is, what makes a really good musical sentence? You’ve got the setup and then the payoff. These are the things I’ve just been really nailing down these past five years. You can land right on the one or the four or whatever the end of the phrase is. Maybe you even keep it suspenseful, and you four-phrase a little before you get into the chorus.
Experimenting with and refining that stuff has been very exciting. It’s one thing to perfectly emulate Michael Bublé’s phrasing. The feel might just be a little different depending on what tempo we’ve landed at. I try to sound like him and do his little “-isms” while at the same time giving myself the freedom to really just blend with what’s happening at that moment in the music.
What would you consider the key to success when it comes to being a tribute singer?
I don’t know! Pick a good person to do a tribute of, I guess. I’m still really new compared to so many other people who are veterans in this business. I follow all these guys on Facebook, and when I was first getting into it, I would go and watch them. I would be like, “What is this all about? What are they doing with Bublé?”
I went down a different path. I’m not an exact match for Michael Bublé. I’m a different sort of body type. We are the same age and we’re both Canadian. My voice sits a little bit higher than his. I do raise his songs up a semitone, generally. I used to have several versions of the show where I would pretend to be him. And those all worked out fine. But as we’ve gone along, I’ve realized that I like to sing the songs a bit different. My style is sort of departing and separating from his as it naturally would.
What can the people of Burlington expect from the upcoming Christmas show in December?
A lot. I’ve been working on it. We did one version of the show last year in Owen Sound, and it sold pretty well. That is what people really relate to when they think about Michael Bublé. They think about Christmas. He’s sort of become the face of the start of the Christmas season, like in that meme where he comes out of the cave. What we’ve been working on as a band is adding backup vocals, which I think adds a whole new element to the music. We were also thinking about starting with a second keyboard player for extra sounds and then a saxophone player for horns.
To the people of Burlington, I want to say, come out and support us. We’re going to give you the same charming, funny show with world-class music. We plan on sticking around, so if we can all get on board and support this thing, who knows what it could turn into in the future?
