Results for "Toronto"

George Lake BIG Band

Active since: March 1, 1995

With lots of brass, a little sass, and plenty of pizzazz, the award-winning George Lake BIG Band would be happy to swing for you sometime soon. Their finely tuned repertoire draws on the timeless appeal of the greats; Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Artie Shaw and arrangements by modern swing artists like The Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and The Brian Setzer Orchestra. This distinctive blend has given the George Lake Big Band a unique style that continues to win fans from every generation. Simply put, they can really swing!

2019: The Year in Jazz

by Ken Franckling
January 2, 2020

The year 2019 was robust in many ways. International Jazz Day brought its biggest stage to Australia. An important but long-shuttered jazz mecca was revived in a coast-to-coast move. ECM Records celebrated a golden year. The music and its makers figured prominently on the big screen. The National Endowment for the Arts welcomed four new NEA ...

Eric West

Eric West is a Canadian Jazz musician based out of Toronto. He is active as a sideman as well as leader of his own band The Eric West Group, which released their debut recording The Eric West Group EP (Dec 2019)

Sarah Jerrom

Born: November 8, 1979

Sarah Jerrom is a JUNO-nominated Canadian vocalist, pianist, composer and arranger specializing in jazz and creative music, taking her inspiration from lyric-driven melodies, genre-defying instrumentation and experimental soundscapes. As a bandleader, Sarah has released four critically-acclaimed albums to date: Magpie, a double album featuring her original eighty-six-minute suite for extended jazz orchestra (2024, TPR Records),  Dream Logic (2021, TPR Records), which showcases a collection of original songs recorded by her contemporary jazz quartet of the same name, The Yeats Project (2017), featuring W.B. Yeats’s poetry set to original music and orchestrated for a nine-piece chamber jazz ensemble, and Illuminations (2007), which encompasses original compositions, jazz-inspired arrangements of contemporary songs and traditional jazz standards.

Suresh Singaratnam

Suresh Singaratnam is a trumpeter of uncommon breadth - unique not only for the small crowd he inhabits as a virtuoso of both classical and jazz styles but also for the continuity and clarity of his voice across both idioms. When he began to study the trumpet at age nine, it never occurred to him that he might have to choose between the two. Torontonian by way of Zambia (where he was born) and the U.K., Singaratnam boasts a background that defies classification as nimbly as his artistic taste. In eighth grade he asked a music teacher if she knew of anyone who played both jazz and classical trumpet at a high level and she steered him to Wynton Marsalis, two of whose records he promptly went out and bought

New Orleans’ Next Great Big Thing! Quiana Lynell To Play Toronto's George Weston Recital Hall

December 14, 2019

TO Live presents “New Orleans’ next big thing”—Quiana Lynell—at the George Weston Recital Hall on February 15, 2020. Part of TO Live’s “Jazz at the George” series, all tickets are $35 and are available online at meridianartscentre.com, by calling 416-366-7723 or 1-800-708-6754, or in person at select TO Live box offices. Winner of the prestigious Sarah ...

Chris Gale

Chris Gale is a Toronto-based saxophonist, composer, producer and educator whose driving style and rich tone can be heard on hundreds of recordings. As leader and a sideman, Gale has performed around the globe in theatres, clubs and at festivals, impressing crowds with his lyrical sensibility and soulful approach. Gale’s diverse musical career has led to performances with Randy Brecker, Jeff Healy, Arkells, Ron Sexsmith, Brandi Disterheft, Michael Kaeshammer, Colin James, Blue Rodeo, Johnny Reid, Oliver Jones, Powder Blues Band and Jarvis Church. Chris is also a long standing member of The Worst Pop Band Ever, Hector Quartet, and Gordon Mowat’s Skeleton Crew.

Alex Bird

Born: September 18, 1990

Over the last few years, ALEX BIRD has become one of the most exciting names on the Canadian Jazz scene. With praise from around the globe, and alongside songwriting & piano partner EWEN FARNCOMBE, Bird has created timeless and heartfelt originals for a modern audience. Over the last few years, this talented team has produced something that is completely unique; three original & independent albums in three years. Their sophomore album You Are the Light and the Way, backed by their Jazz Mavericks, was nominated for “Best Vocal Jazz” at the 2022 JUNO Awards.

Bird and Farncombe’s latest album, a duo record, dropped as a surprise of 11 originals entitled, Songwriter. Kira Grunenberg at DOWNBEAT MAGAZINE wrote, “Impassioned messages sung and played from one’s heart but worn on a well-dressed sleeve. Songwriter is an elegant, romantic, and well-executed gem of a record.”

Songs of Nick Drake

by Dave Kaufman
November 13, 2019

Nick Drake recorded three of the most sublime albums in the history of folk-rock (or any other genre) in his brief lifetime. He died in relative obscurity at the age of 26 in 1974. A devoted cult following has emerged, and his stature has grown immeasurably in the decades since his passing. Drake's work has been ...

Ernesto Cervini

Born: March 25, 1982

Drummer Ernesto Cervini is making a name for himself as a consummate bandleader and in-demand sideman. Time Out New York encapsulated Cervini as “a buoyant drummer as well as a sharp composer,” while the jazz bible, Downbeat, described his fluid style as one that “exemplifies `float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’.” The drummer released Abundance, his sixth album as a leader in October, 2018. Modern Drummer magazine said: “Cervini recalls such old-schoolers as Art Blakey and Billy Higgins. . . It’s his robust, magnetic personality that fascinates consistently.” Born in Toronto in 1982, Cervini graduated from Canada’s Royal Conservatory of Music with degrees in classical piano and clarinet performance before focusing his energies behind the drum kit