"This nomination it just feels surreal."

Those are the words of Mike Janzen, who grew up in Steinbach and is now a nominee for a JUNO award. His album, "Nudging Forever" has been nominated for the Jazz Album Of The Year: Solo category.

Janzen says his early years in southern Manitoba helped lead him down the music path. The musician says when he moved away from Steinbach, he realized this part of the province is a hotbed of music. Janzen says by comparison when you get to the big cities, you find music programs are being cut and there isn't much opportunity for kids.

"As a young kid growing up (in Steinbach), I had a ton of opportunity; whether it was in Church singing four-part harmony or whether it was at the high school there with the musical," recalls Janzen. "I'm extremely thankful for growing up there."

Janzen admits this nomination came as a surprise. He says because it is part classical, part jazz, a year ago he submitted the album in other categories that were not jazz. But nothing happened. Then this year, he got the phone call that he was a finalist for Jazz Album Of the Year: Solo.

According to Janzen, "Nudging Forever" combines classical and jazz, which makes it unique. He says it uses a 19 piece string orchestra and a jazz trio, capitalizing on the strengths of both. He suggests it might be the uniqueness of bringing these two together that gave it the nod this year.

The album's title was influenced by a book he read several years ago. Janzen says after a busy season of Christmas tours, he felt he needed some rest. So, he stopped playing music for a month and started reading. One of the books he read was The Rest Of God by Mark Buchanan. He says there is a line in that book that reads, "when we play, we nudge the border of forever." He says "Nudging Forever" talks about rest and play and the interplay between classical and jazz music.

This will be Janzen's first trip to the JUNO Awards. He says it will be a fun time of meeting friends and other musicians.

"I'm just excited to take it all in," he says. "At this point, you don't really care who wins you are just happy to be there."

The JUNO Awards are April 2nd in Ottawa.