Jazz Articles about Mike Downes

About Mike Downes

Album Review

Writing about guitarist Matt Greenwood's debut album, Atlas (Self-Produced, 2023), one All About Jazz reviewer wrote, “Expect a great deal more from Matt Greenwood." The Zimbabwe-born artist begins the fulfillment of those expectations with his sophomore outing, Daybreak, moving forward on the sweeping luminosity and atmospheric world-building of his debut. Ambient textures, sometimes subtle and sometimes overt, paint spacious backdrops for eight off Greenwood's engaging compositions, plus his take on Claude Debussy's “La Damoiselle Élue." As it was ...

Album Review

Al Muirhead: Still Cookin' at 90: The Canada Sessions, Volume II

Read "Still Cookin' at 90: The Canada Sessions, Volume II" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 21, 2025

"Twelve years ago," bassist Kodi Hutchinson writes in the liner notes to The Canada Sessions, Volume II, “I found myself on a bandstand with 78-year-old trumpeter Al Muirhead. I remember thinking, why has this amazing musician never recorded under his own name?" Fast forward a dozen years, to 2025, and Muirhead, still going strong at age 90, has not only released five albums under his own name, he earned a prestigious JUNO nomination for the first one while continuing to ...

Album Review

Shuffle Demons: Are You Really Real

Read "Are You Really Real" reviewed by La-Faithia White

by La-Faithia White
July 12, 2025

The Shuffle Demons are a Canadian jazz fusion band from Toronto. The band features a powerhouse ensemble of saxophonists Kelly Jefferson, Richard Underhill and Matt Lagan, anchored by the deep pocket of acoustic bassist Mike Downes and drummer Stich Wynston. The title track “X Marks The Spot" opens with an intriguing dialogue between bass and drums exploding into rapid-fire saxophone lines. Jefferson and Lagan exchange double-line runs, blending harmonies and layering multiphonics in a thrilling display of saxophone ...

Album Review

Shuffle Demons: Are You Really Real

Read "Are You Really Real" reviewed by Anastasia Bogomolets

by Anastasia Bogomolets
June 2, 2025

Celebrating four decades of genre-blending jazz, the Shuffle Demons return with Are You Really Real, a studio album that fuses funk, post-bop, theatrical satire and spiritual jazz. Influences ranging from Eric Dolphy and Alice Coltrane to the Red Hot Chili Peppers shape the band's eclectic high-energy aesthetic. The opening track, “X Marks the Spot," sets the tone with multivoiced saxophone lines and a rhythm section that oscillates between swing and funk. Tenor saxophonists Kelly Jefferson and Matt Lagan ...

Album Review

Shuffle Demons: Are You Really Real

Read "Are You Really Real" reviewed by Pierre Giroux

by Pierre Giroux
May 27, 2025

There is a unique brand of musical madness that only the Shuffle Demons can conjure--a whirlwind of saxophones, humour, groove and a palpable sense of daring. With Are You Really Real, this storied Canadian outfit delivers a recording that captures the very essence of what made them both a cult favourite and respected presence on the international jazz scene. Bristling with invention, personality and raw performance energy, the album feels like a live set caught in a studio net--exhilarating, unfiltered ...

Album Review

Matt Greenwood: Atlas

Read "Atlas" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan

by Dan McClenaghan
January 16, 2023

There are a lot of jazz guitarists out there, and competence in the art of the guitar is common. Mature excellence is less so. But we expect that when we spin a CD. Matt Greenwood, born in Zimbabwe and now home-based in Canada, displays that rare-for-a-debut mature excellence on his axe-- and more importantly in his artistic vision--on his debut recording, Atlas. He lays his vision out with assured eloquence on an impressive guitar/piano/bass/drums affair. There is boldness ...

Album Review

Shuffle Demons: All In

Read "All In" reviewed by Chris M. Slawecki

by Chris M. Slawecki
July 11, 2022

There aren't too many bands still standing from back when Shuffle Demons first performed in 1984. Their tenth recording, All In features three saxophonists-- tenors Kelly Jefferson and Matt Lagan plus Richard Underhill on alto and baritone--plus acoustic bassist Mike Downes and drummer Stich Wynston tearing through ten new originals. With no chord instruments (piano, guitar) between them and the horns, bassist Downes and drummer Wynston keep shuffling in the spaces like madmen to keep All In moving, and simultaneously ...