Results for "Alastair Kay"

Alastair Kay

John Macleod: The Toronto Sound

by Jack Bowers
May 4, 2018

Yes, this is Canada's John MacLeod and the Rex Hotel Orchestra. And yes, this is the ensemble's third CD, The Toronto Sound. But close your eyes and listen carefully and it modulates into no less than an earnest albeit clandestine homage to Rob McConnell and the peerless Boss Brass. Is that a good thing? Beyond any ...

KMJO: Common Ground

by Jack Bowers
April 16, 2017

KMJO is shorthand for the Kirk MacDonald Jazz Orchestra, and Common Ground is the third recording by the splendid Toronto-based group, following the well-received Deep Shadows (2011) and Family Suite for Large Ensemble (2012). This time around, the orchestra performs compositions by MacDonald arranged by one of Canada's premier co-pilots, Joe Sullivan. The ...

John MacLeod & His Rex Hotel Orchestra: Our Second Set

by Jack Bowers
September 23, 2016

Somewhere, Rob McConnell must be smiling broadly. McConnell, once the peerless leader of Canada's flagship jazz ensemble, the Boss Brass, is no longer with us, sad to say, but the Brass lives on in the guise of trumpeter John MacLeod's superlative Rex Hotel Orchestra, which mirrors McConnell's band from its skin-tight section work and well-drawn charts ...