Results for "Toronto"

Kathleen Gorman

Born: February 18, 1968

Kathleen is a talented pianist /vocalist and composer who grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in a musical family where creative expression was encouraged. Piano lessons started at age six, and years of classical studies gave her a solid musical foundation. She began performing and writing in her teens. After composing a theme for CTV for the Winter Olympics, she moved to Montreal to pursue Jazz piano, arranging and composition studies, completing a BFA ( Concordia University, Montreal) followed by McGill for advanced study in composition and orchestration. She continuously worked as a pianist/vocalist for several years in clubs in Montreal, before settling in Toronto, where she began performing weekly, and also set up a home studio, for recording projects and teaching. She is a Toronto based pianist/vocalist, as well as a composer/arranger and Jazz educator, teaching jazz piano, theory and composition. She has trained with numerous Jazz artists: Jazz piano studies with: Jan Jarczyk, Jon Ballantyne, and Hilario Duran. Vocal Jazz workshops with: Sheila Jordan, Barry Harris, Kurt Elling, Jeri Brown. Kathleen is a member of the IAJE, SAC, and SOCAN. Her 2009 release, "Brand New Day" is a collection of jazz/blues originals with some of Toronto’s top jazz musicians, including Henry Heillig (bass), Rob Piltch (guitar), Ben Riley ( drums) Dennis Kelde ( Hammond B organ), Colleen Allen ( sax), Eric St-Laurent (guitar), Marc Pizer (drums) and long time collaborator Kirk Starkey (cello)

Jayme Stone

Banjo-playing composer Jayme Stone follows whimsy rigorously. He picked up a passion for music from an eccentric uncle who listened to records endlessly, placing his ashtray on the speaker so Stone could join him in watching how the cigarette smoke swirled to the music. Stone muses that he started playing banjo because the instruments' quirky physics align with his quick thinking. Soon after his calling to the banjo, he followed the sound of an Indian sarod (like a whisp of smoke) in a small California town to a chance meeting with revered Indian musician Ali Akbar Khan. "I spent the better part of the week soaking up these ancient songs," remembers Stone

Christopher Butcher

Born: January 18, 1986

Chris Butcher is a trombone player quickly establishing himself as a unique force in the Canadian jazz scene. Chris lives in Toronto, having moved from his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba to study at Humber College’s prestigious jazz degree program. Having recently graduated with numerous awards, Chris is already a presence in many aspects of the music scene, including recording sessions, Toronto’s many diverse live music clubs, festivals across Canada, The United States and Europe, as a music journalist, and teaching music in schools or out of his own studio. Jazz is what drew Chris into music, and in his playing, one can hear the influence of many of the icons of the music

Elena Kapeleris

Elena Kapeleris is a jazz tenor saxophonist and vocalist. Elena'a debut CD "INTRODUCTION" was recorded at CBC on November 30th, 2008 and will be released in April of 2009. "INTRODUCTION" features Elena Kapeleris on saxophone and vocals, the great Pat LaBarbera on saxophones, Tom Juhas on Guitar and Brandi Disterheft on bass. Elena Kapeleris is a graduate of the jazz program at Humber College in Toronto, Canada. At Humber she studied saxophone with world renowned saxophonist, Pat Labarbera. During this time, Labarbera placed emphasis on learning the lyrics of the songs that she was playing on the horn

Luke Vajsar

Born: May 17, 1979

Luke Vajsar was born in Prague, Czech Republic on May 17, 1979. In 1989 he immigrated to Hamilton, Canada with his brother and parents. When given the opportunity to play music at the age of 10 in elementary school, he immediately became interested. Even though he selected bass as his instrument he was given the trombone by his teacher and developed his skills on the instrument to a level where he was an important part in the best of big bands in his city and neighboring regions; winning national and provincial awards through to 1999. Also, he began playing guitar at this time and kept playing till finally he got his hands on a bass at the age of 13

Anthony Michelli

Born: November 22

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, and currently based in Toronto, Anthony has been involved in music since a very young age.  Starting off on the accordion, on to the alto and tenor saxophones but being driven by the ever-present urge to want to play drums from the very beginning, Anthony built his own drum set and played from ear for years throughout his youth. He attributes a strong influence to having heard classical, cultural and popular music performed by his older sister on the piano and brother on the guitar as a part of his early musical development.

For over three decades Anthony has been active in international performance, recording, production and teaching career paths. He has collaborated with a vast number of distinguished composers and performers from all styles of music primarily focused on original music.  For a number of years he led the Anthony Michelli Bass-less Trio (SSR002), which features some of his original compositions.  Anthony was also an active contributing member of The Secret Quartet (Basho and Edition records UK) and the Piero Tucci, Quartet CANUK (U.K./CAN).

Anthony’s discography includes recordings in collaboration with several distinguished artists where he can be heard on over one-hundred internationally released recordings in the contemporary jazz, original composition, popular, creative and world music genres spanning from the year 1995 to the present.

His performance accolades include the 2010 Toronto Independent Music Award (TIMA) in the Best Jazz Category and for the Best Live Category. Michelli has been nominated for numerous JUNO Awards over the years as a member of several jazz, world and popular music categories.  In 2003 he received the Grand Prix de Jazz General Motors-Festival International de Jazz de Montreal Award (Nancy Walker Quartet) and the 1995 Jazz Report Award for National Post Secondary School Musician of the Year.

Jef Kearns

www.jefkearns.com A new voice has entered the urban music scene:the flute. Jef Kearns, soul flautist, is transforming the reputation of the instrument from band geek to urban chic through his signature flute sounds and urban sense of style. Tom Coyne (mastering engineer for Michael Jackson, Ne-Yo, Sade, Beyonce, and countless others) says, “His compositions and beats are both really strong. Beautiful flute performance on really good quality pop music. Not only the smooth Jazz listeners, but also R&B music fans would enjoy his songs.” Consisting of all original tracks, Jef’s debut album On the Level unleashes a quiet storm of flute-focused R’n’B grooves that cross genres from modern soul to hip-hop to classic Motown

Lee Wallace

Born: May 21, 1981

Lee Wallace was born in Toronto and began playing guitar at the age of six, learning from his father, Steve Wallace, a Toronto based jazz bassist. As a teenager he studied improvisation and harmony with Mark Eisenman and guitar with David Occhipinti. He later continued his jazz studies at Humber college and Barry Harris workshops. Professionally he has performed in major cities throughout North America and abroad, and has appeared with many top Canadian and international musicians, including Mike Murley, George Evans, Mark Eisenman, Pat Labarbera and Scott Hamilton. He can be heard regularly in Toronto, both in an accompanying role, and as the leader of his trio.

Noam Lemish

Born: May 3, 1982

Noam Lemish has never felt inclined to pick a lane. Maybe his hyphenated identity as an Israeli-American- Canadian has helped inspire his multiplicity and general disinclination to follow stylistic guidelines. Whatever the reason, over the course of two decades of intensive musical study and creation he’s always sought to expand the scope of his exploration, often blurring or ignoring deeply etched boundaries between genres, peoples, and traditions. He’s a jazz artist and a classical composer of chamber works, an improviser and an accompanist, an intrepid cross-cultural investigator and an interpreter of contemporary composition. He contains multitudes.

Jon Maharaj

Born: January 13, 1981

Jon Maharaj is one of Toronto's busiest bassists. He has performed and or recorded with Reg Schwager, Mike Murley, Christian Scott, Matt Stevens, Dione Taylor, and many others. He's appeared on dozens of recordings crossing a number of genres. He graduated from the University of Toronto's Jazz studies program. He lived in New York on a Canada Council grant, where he had the opportunity to study with Drew Gress, Ben Street, Scott Colley and Matt Brewer. He writes music. He plays music. He recently got really into reading "watchmen".