Jazz Articles about Mike Downes

About Mike Downes

Album Review

With a three-saxophone front line and no piano, Canada's Shuffle Demons could be mistaken for the legendary Gerry Mulligan Quartet on steroids—could be, that is, until one hears the music, which bears scant resemblance to the West Coast cool espoused by Mulligan, Chet Baker and their colleagues. In other words, they're not called Shuffle Demons for nothing. When not shuffling, the Demons are otherwise brash and busy on their tenth album, All In, whose ten numbers were ...

Album Review

The Shuffle Demons: All In

by Kyle Simpler
January 24, 2022

Bands such as Tower of Power and the Average White Band are known for their hard-driving blend of funky soul mixed with rock and jazz elements. The Canadian-based group, Shuffle Demons, takes these influences and keeps the funk alive while emphasizing their own jazz roots as well. Their tenth album, All In, features a non-stop combination of in-the-pocket grooves combined with big band elements. The Shuffle Demons formed in 1984, and they started off playing as buskers in ...

Album Review

Mike Downes: Root Structure

Read "Root Structure" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky

by Dan Bilawsky
October 31, 2017

Bassist Mike Downes likes to explore what rests at the heart of an idea and what makes things tick. That's essentially the notion that waters the roots of Root Structure. It's a thought process that gives Downes grounding while also freeing him from the constraints of a more rigid conceptual frame. The three numbers that open up this program couldn't be more different. First there's the gamboling “Momentum," a buoyant thriller in three with sharp-witted interplay and ...

Album Review

Mike Downes: In the Current

Read "In the Current" reviewed by Jack Bowers

by Jack Bowers
November 29, 2014

In the Current, the fifth recording as leader by Canadian bassist Mike Downes--who doubles as composer / arranger--is the second (in a row) with an aqueous theme and the first performed by his “little big band," the Parallel Streams Ensemble. Downes' album Ripple Effect, recorded with his trio and special guest guitarist Ted Quinlan, earned a 2014 Juno Award as Canada's Best Traditional Jazz Album of the Year. The centerpiece of Downes' latest enterprise is the In ...