HOLLY COLE ANNOUNCES NEW SUMMER TOUR DATES IN SUPPORT OF ‘‘DARK MOON’’
CANADA'S MOST CAPTIVATING JAZZ VOICE BRINGS HER ACCLAIMED ALBUM TO ROCHESTER, SHERBROOKE, HUNTSVILLE, AND STRATFORD
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11 MAY 2026 (TORONTO, ON) Holly Cole announces a new run of summer tour dates in support of her thirteenth studio album Dark Moon, released January 24, 2025, via Rumpus Room/Universal Music Canada. The dates take her from the Rochester International Jazz Festival to stages in Sherbrooke, Huntsville, and Stratford, continuing a touring campaign that has seen the album connect with audiences across Japan, Germany, France, the United States, and right across Canada. For those who know Holly Cole, none of this is surprising. For those who do not yet, this summer is the moment to find out.
Dark Moon is the album of a singular artist at the full height of her powers. Holly Cole's smoky, utterly distinctive voice reshapes material from the New American Songbook, with repertoire drawn from writers including Marty Balin, Peggy Lee, Hal David, Burt Bacharach, and Johnny Mercer, into something at once deeply rooted and completely her own. Smart arrangements, an unmistakable sense of drama, and the kind of ensemble playing that only comes from years of deep collaboration define the record. The expanded edition added "Comin' Home Baby," featuring a brilliant harmonica solo from Howard Levy and percussion from Brazilian-born Cyro Baptista, recorded on the eve of Mel Torme's 100th anniversary, alongside the Good Lovelies lending their three-part 1950s Nashville-style harmonies.The Montreal Gazette's Bill Brownstein captured the Cole effect perfectly: "Serial jazz fest performer Holly Cole returns to make magic and melt hearts."
The career that has led to this moment is one of the most decorated in Canadian music. Cole began in 1989, signed to Blue Note's Manhattan imprint in 1992, and released Blame It on My Youth to platinum-plus sales in Canada and over 200,000 copies internationally, with "Calling You" hitting number one in Japan. Her album Temptation, made up entirely of Tom Waits material, became critically acclaimed in its own right. She has won two JUNO Awards from eight nominations, two Gemini Awards, two Japanese Grand Prix Gold Disc Awards, and the prestigious Ella Fitzgerald Award from the Montreal Jazz Festival, a distinction shared with Aretha Franklin, Diana Krall, and Etta James. In 2014, Queen's University awarded her an honorary doctorate. With Dark Moon, she has returned with, as her own team put it, unstoppable force.
Holly Cole live is a different experience from Holly Cole on record, and both are extraordinary. Performing alongside her longtime collaborators Aaron Davis (piano), George Koller (bass), Davide Direnzo (drums), John Johnson (saxophone), and Kevin Breit (guitar), she brings to the stage the same ensemble warmth and interpretive intelligence that makes ‘Dark Moon’ the record it is. These summer shows are not to be missed.
UPCOMING TOUR DATES:
June 27, 2026: Rochester International Jazz Festival, Kilbourn Hall, Rochester, NY
July 3, 2026: Granada Theatre, Sherbrooke, QC
July 10, 2026: Algonquin Theatre, Huntsville, ON
July 23, 2026: Avondale Theatre, Stratford, ON
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