Results for "Toronto"

Diane Roblin

Born: March 31

Diane Roblin’s dynamic career has earned her a place among Canada’s most respected women in jazz. Known for her powerful compositions and expressive keyboard style, Diane’s performances blend technical agility with a deep commitment to the connective power of music. As a composer, pianist, electric keyboardist, improviser, and bandleader, Diane’s spirited, genre-crossing work has led to collaborations with artists ranging from avant-garde improviser Charles Gayle to the iconic rock band Rough Trade. Her new album, Breath of Fresh Air, released on Zsan Records in late 2024, continues this legacy. It showcases Roblin’s expansive musical voice, weaving jazz, funk, and impressionist harmony into compositions that are both adventurous and deeply moving. Leading her six-piece ensemble, Life Force, Diane explores high-energy soundscapes punctuated by intricate, emotionally resonant improvisations. Critics have praised her work:JAZZFM91 calls her compositions “fascinating,” while WholeNote writes, Roblin reminds us of her skill, not only as a pianist but as a new music composer." A classical pianist by training, Diane pursued a diverse music education at York University in Toronto, immersing herself in jazz improvisation, world music, and electronic composition with David Rosenboom. She has also studied with mridangam master Trichy Sankaran and participated in the Ornette Coleman/Karl Berger workshop in NYC, where she worked with luminaries like Lee Konitz, and in the Dutch Improv Academy with drummer Hans Bennink.

Peter Campbell

With a voice described as "soaring" and "supernal," Peter Campbell has been performing for over thirty years. From cabaret appearances with fellow young performers from the worlds of theater, film and television, Peter went on to work in commercial jingles and to cabaret performances from New York to New England and the Midwest. He has performed throughout Toronto and the GTA since relocating to Canada from his native New York City in 2012. His work has been broadcast on radio stations in Canada, the U.S. and internationally, including CBC, JAZZ91.FM and NPR.

Peter's 2017 release "Loving You: Celebrating Shirley Horn" has received critical acclaim both in Canada and internationally

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Marcus Ali

Born: June 20

Born in Canada (of Trinidadian decent), schooled at York University in Toronto (B.A. in jazz studies), Marcus Ali (younger sibling to trumpeter Brownman Ali) is one of the most called upon alto saxophonists residing in Toronto. A multi-instrumentalist, studio musician and educator, Marcus is a core member of Brownman's CRUZAO (Latin-jazz), DRUMHAND (African), RICKY FRANO & The P-CREW ORCHESTRA (Salsa) and too many more to list here.

Brad Cheeseman

Born: 1988

“A bassist who brings fun and sophistication together like few others can.” – S. Victor Aaron, Something Else Reviews Brad Cheeseman is a jazz bassist and composer from Hamilton, Ontario. A much sought-after musician both on stage and in the studio, Cheeseman’s lyrical bass playing and melody-driven compositions have been featured on Canadian, American, and European stages, and captured on four original recordings. Cheeseman’s newest recording, The Tide Turns, chronicles a period of change, self- discovery and reinvention, and reinforces the cornerstones of his music: engaging melodies, playful rhythms, and an honest, emotional core

Club Django Toronto

Active since: 2001

Club Django Toronto has been active on the Canadian Jazz scene for over 18 years and is Toronto's longest-running, gypsy swing band. Club Django Toronto was nominated for Best Acoustic Group of the Year 2003 by the National Jazz Award. The Club Django Sextet is available for concerts, private functions and corporate events.

Joe Sealy

Joe Sealy has enjoyed a highly successful career as a musician, composer, recording artist and radio broadcaster. His 1997 Juno Award winning Africville Suite inspired Ron Foley MacDonald of The Halifax Daily News to write; “This may be the most important jazz album released in Canada this year”. Joe has presented “The Africville Suite” in concert venues and at music festivals across Canada as well as Denmark, Norway and the USA. As a pianist, he has toured with “Blood Sweat and Tears” and performed with such artists as Joe Williams, Milt Jackson, Veronica Tennant, and Timothy Findlay

Meagan Delima

Born: October 10, 1993

Meagan Delima is a 20-year-old Jazz and R&B artist who showcases expressive vocals, original guitar styling’s and dynamic stage presence. Her captivating voice characterizes a velvet tone, startling clarity and a unique phrasing where you can always hear her impeccable feel for the music. With her outstanding vocal stylings on timeless standards made famous by Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington to more modern and contemporary pieces by Justin Timberlake, Meagan is able to engage any crowd and get them on their feet to dance to the music. To this point, the highlights of Meagan’s career include performing on the main stage for the Downtown Oakville Jazz Festival in 2012 after Holly Cole, gaining the largest crowd at this festival two years in a row, performing on Dundas Squares stage for a event called Unity Charity and winning a trip from the 2013 Toronto Honey Jams Showcase to sing in the 2013 Honey Jams Barbados Showcase

Harry Vetro

Born: August 28, 1995

Canadian drummer and composer Harry Vetro (b. 1995) is a graduate of the University of Toronto Jazz program. Vetro leads an active performing career playing at major jazz festivals and venues across Canada: Jazz YYC (Calgary, AB), Yardbird Jazz Fest (Edmonton, AB), Toronto Jazz Festival, Ottawa Jazz Festival, Rex Hotel & Jazz Bistro (Toronto, ON), Jazz Room (Waterloo, ON), Resonance Café (Montreal, QC). Vetro has been featured as a rising star drummer in the Ottawa and Sudbury jazz festivals in Ontario. He currently leads a monthly residency at The Tranzac (Toronto’s premiere creative music club,) featuring new compositions inspired by nature and landscape. In 2017, as Canada celebrated 150 years of confederation, Vetro traveled coast to coast, visiting communities in Canada's six Indigenous cultural areas (Arctic, Subarctic, Northwest Coast, Plateau, Plains, and Eastern Woodlands) in an effort to connect with musicians and artists from different cultural backgrounds, and to better understand the land's long cultural history. As a composer, Vetro utilizes traditional roots and new perspectives in the growing genre of contemporary jazz music

Jordana Talsky

A gifted young singer with distinctive and wide-ranging vocal skills, JORDANA TALSKY continues to celebrate the recent release of her critically-praised debut recording, “Standard Deviation”, a mix of pop and jazz standards, currently receiving airplay across Canada, the U.S.A., Europe, and Australia. The high-flying vocalist/songwriter was a finalist in the 2014 John Lennon Songwriting Competition for one of the album’s original tracks, “Panta Niwas”; a semi-finalist in the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition; and runner-up for the Julian Award of Excellence for Emerging Canadian Artists (CJSF Radio, Simon Fraser University). Jordana’s unique sound and varied style may be attributed to her wide ranging experience, having trained in opera, and later work with jazz-funk (Kokoro), acapella (Effusion) and a Gilbert & Sullivan theatre company (Savoy Society). In her native Toronto, she worked hard to develop her own sound and immersed herself in various projects, including the Young Centre for the Performing Arts’ inaugural Emerging Artists Program; Discoveries, a showcase of emerging Canadian talent at one of Canada’s premier live music venues; and as a member of the prestigious Toronto Mendelssohn Choir