Results for "Toronto"

Vocalist And Songwriter Nicky Schrire Leads Canadian Quartet On 'Nowhere Girl,' First Album In Ten Years

April 30, 2023

Blurring the lines between jazz, singer-songwriter and folk traditions, ‘Nowhere Girl’ is the shimmering new quartet album from British/South African/Canadian vocalist and songwriter Nicky Schrire. RELEASED 9 JUNE 2023 ON ANZIC RECORDS Vocalist and composer Nicky Schrire was born in London and grew up in Cape Town, South Africa. She moved to New York City to ...

Duncan Hopkins

British born Duncan Hopkins is a double bassist, composer, arranger and educator based in Toronto, Canada. He has been likened to the world’s best : “St.Catharines has given the jazz world one important composer…Kenny Wheeler. It may have another one … in the person of Duncan Hopkins”. Globe and Mail and “(Duncan’s) strength’s lie in his writing and sense of textural organisation, which show him willing to stretch, push or otherwise challenge style and format.” Globe and Mail Aside from his own projects, he is a popular sideman for a wide variety of artists such as Dianna Krall, Mark Murphy, Norma Winstone, Lester Bowie, Kenny Wheeler, John Hicks, Peter Appleyard, Ken Peplowski, Ed Bickert, D.D. Jackson, Scott Hamilton, Houston Person, Warren Vache, Sam Rivers, George Masso, Tony Malaby, Bobo Stenson and arrangers Robert Farnon and Ralph Carmichael to name but a few. He was the last bassist in the famed Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass for several tours including Brazil and concerts including Carnegie Hall. He has also been the bassist with the popular Canadian Jazz Quartet since 2000. Duncan has toured extensively throughout Canada, Great Britain, Europe, Brazil and the United States. He can be heard on over forty albums, numerous CBC, BBC and NPR recordings with such groups as The Pat LaBarbera Trio/Quartet, Dianna Krall, Peter Appleyard, Robert Farnon,The John Tank Quartet, The Warren Vache Quartet, The Nikki Iles Trio, The Martin Speake/Bobo Stenson Quartet. Duncan’s solo albums which feature all original material from the leader, have received international acclaim : Le Rouge (1994) “This CD is Excellent!” {Cadence Magazine NY, USA} and Kindred Spirits (1996) “..a high grade release where the writing…is as impressive as the playing.” {The Toronto Star}. Snapshots (2000) “Snapshots …. is an impressive and accessible CD of contemporary jazz….(it) lends the disc (to) an early 60’s Miles Davis Quintet feel {Downtowner 2000}. His European band Secret has also been garnering a lot of attention for Secret (2002) “Make the effort to get this exceptional CD. {Phil Erenshaft Whole Magazine} and “very intelligent, sharp and very musical.” {John Fordham The London Guardian U.K. and also Bloor st.”The quality of the compositions, the incisiveness of the soloing and the collective spirit of the enterprise make this a better album than its predecessor. Hopkins’s seamless countermelodic flow beneath Speake and Iles is reminiscent of the late Bill Evans sideman Scott La Faro…”{John Fordham The Guardian UK} Duncan’s stunning Red & Brassy first combined the jazz tradition with the British Brass band tradition(2005). “Duncan Hopkins adds an inspired voice to Canadian jazz composition with his masterful Red & Brassy, offering a fascinating glimpse into the past, present and future in one invigorating breath.{ e-jazznews} and “This cd is a remarkable musical accomplishment – highly recommended!” (Wholenote Magazine Mar 01, 2006) Now he brings the natural evolution of Red and Brassy in Bleak Midwinter. A collection of twelve songs: four typically contemporary yet accessible originals and then some new arrangements of winter classics such as In The Bleak Midwinter.

TRE, The New Album By Brazilian Guitarist Rodrigo Simoes

March 24, 2023

TRE is Rodrigo Simoes' new concept album through Canadian jazz label Three Pines Records. Rodrigo Simoes is a Brazilian jazz guitarist and composer. He performs regularly in Montreal and the region. With TRE, we find the DNA of Rodrigo Simoes' sound: Latin guitar, Afro-Brazilian grooves and jazz fusion. Added to this is the inspiration of the ...

Christian Overton

Originally from Sudbury Ontario, Christian Overton is now one of the most in demand trombonists and composers in Toronto in every scene from jazz and rock to salsa, R&B, theatre work and everything in between. He has a degree from Humber College where he studied with some of the nation’s top jazz musicians including Pat LaBarbera, John MacLeod, and Alistair Kay. Christian has also completed a Masters degree at the University of Toronto studying with Kelsley Grant, Gary Kulesha and Tim Ries. 

Jazz collaborations include:  Hermeto Pascoal, John Clayton, The Panamanian Big Band featuring Danilo Perez, John Patitucci, Brian Blade, Miguel Zenon. Also Kurt Elling, Bobby Shew, Guido Basso, Peter Appleyard, Jane Bunnett, Bill Dobbins, The Art of Jazz Orchestra, Jens Lindemann & the Order of Canada Band, Christine and Ingrid Jensen, The LaBarbera Brothers, The Don Thompson Big Band, John MacLeod's Rex Hotel Orchestra, Turboprop, The Carn Davidson 9, The Heavyweights Brass Band, NOJO and Gary Morgan’s Panamerican All Stars as well as many other acts. Christian was also featured on the Cuphead video game soundtrack which reached #1 on the billboard jazz charts in 2019.

2022: The Year in Jazz

by Ken Franckling
December 29, 2022

Current events impacted the jazz world in significant ways throughout 2022. In its third year, the coronavirus pandemic continued to lurk in some settings, while others recovered in robust fashion. Russia's war on Ukraine was felt by musicians and triggered an outpouring of support for its victims. Initiatives to ensure greater equity in jazz advanced. The ...

Neil Brathwaite

Neil Brathwaite was raised in Montreal, Quebec, with West Indian roots from Barbados. Introduced at the age 7 to classical music, he studied piano with Daisy Sweeney (the sister of Oscar Peterson) and was initiated into jazz by listening to the music his father played in the house. Brathwaite began playing alto sax in high school while getting experience playing with local R&B bands in Montreal. He later went on to complete his music education in Toronto attending the Humber College music program and studying under Pat LaBarbera.

Throughout his career he has worn many hats including leading a successful commercial R&B act B-Fun with their versiion of Bruce Cockburn's “Wondering Where the Lions Are”). He's also been the co-host and musical director for a Canadian television show (The Toronto Show) and co-founder and musical director of the former Toronto annual urban showcase Bump N' Hustle.

Fernanda Cunha

Born: November 5

Fernanda Cunha is a Brazilian jazz singer from Rio de Janeiro. She grew up with an affinity for both the music of her home country as well as jazz. She has toured Brazil, Europe, and North America, performing at prestigious international jazz festivals.  While in Brazil she performs with a quartet from Rio de Janeiro lead by guitarist Ze Carlos, or when is in Europe she performs with pianist Fagner Wesley from Austria, and the Portuguese guitar player Afonso Pais. 

She has released 9  solo albums in Brazil with worldwide distribution.

Fernanda has been a regular performer in Canada from coast-to-coast-to-coast for many years.  

Nick Storring

Born: October 4, 1981

Nick Storring is a Toronto-based composer, musician, writer, and curator. His varied and idiosyncratic body of musical work spans chamber compositions to meticulously constructed recordings consisting solely of Storring’s own overdubbed instrumental performances. This output reflects his eclecticism as a listener — juxtaposing the familiar and the abstract to conjure moments of hallucinatory reminiscence.

He has worked with a number of leading artists and organizations in contemporary music including Montréal’s AKOUSMA Festival, Oxford UK’s Audiograft Festival, Késia Decoté, the Esprit Orchestra, Arraymusic, Soundstreams, Eve Egoyan, Sophia Subbayya Vastek, Thin Edge New Music Collective, Quatuor Bozzini, and Vancouver New Music. Winner of the Canadian Music Centre’s 2011 Toronto Emerging Composer Award, he also placed first in the 2008 Jeux De Temps competition for electroacoustic composition. His recorded output has also been released on celebrated experimental music imprints such as Orange Milk Records, mappa editions, Scissor Tail, Notice Recordings and Entr’acte.

Harry Bartlett

Born: January 19, 1998

Harry Bartlett is a Canadian guitarist, composer, and educator. Growing up in British Columbia, Harry’s early musical experiences were in the folk tradition which informed his honest and melodic voice in the context of jazz and improvised music. 

As a bandleader Harry has appeared in festivals and venues across Canada including Jazz YYC (Calgary, Alberta), Music Niagara (Niagara, Ontario), The Rex Hotel (Toronto, Ontario), The Brookstreet Hotel (Ottawa, Ontario), Resonance Café (Montreal, Quebec), Tangent Cafe (Vancouver, British Columbia), Herman’s Jazz Club (Victoria, British Columbia), and the Lighthouse Bistro (Nanaimo, British Columbia).

So Long Seven

Active since: June 8, 2012

So Long Seven is a delicious mix of jazz, classical, blues, folk, and music from around the world is both a funky, relentless force and an atmospheric cornucopia of sound.

Nestled in the rhythmic drive of tabla player Ravi Naimpally, Neil Hendry (guitar), William Lamoureux (violin), and Tim Posgate (banjo) create an aural space beyond boundaries. This highly skilled quartet references several global traditions including traditional musical forms of India, Europe, Africa and the many musical traditions of the Americas, in a unique and cohesive cultural bridge.

So Long Seven has performed with Canada’s top global music venue, Small World Music, and plays concerts and clubs across the country. From a tour of Vancouver Island, appearances at Victoria Jazz Festival, Ontario’s Hillside Music Festival, and Sunfest, the band is a national force. The band has also performed internationally with multiple concerts across Europe.