This contemplative and often thrilling quartet’s explorations of modern, original repertoire is led by a fast-rising star in Toronto’s jazz piano community, 29 year old NICK MACLEAN.
Formed in 2016, Maclean’s foursome delivers jazz between the two poles of thoughtful introspection and powerhouse conveyance, taking influences from Herbie Hancock’s primordial 1960’s Blue Note era recordings, while paying tribute to some of the greatest improvisers in jazz history.
Repeatedly regarded as a modern take on the ferocious and hard-swinging post-bop era, the group is frequently lauded for the strength of their collective improvisatory vision and features one of Canada’s most provocative improvising trumpet-playing iconoclasts Brownman Ali, standing shoulder to shoulder with Maclean & two of Toronto’s top-tier rhythm section 20-somethings: Ben Duff on bass (in for Jesse Dietschi) and Jacob Wutzke on drums. The synergy of the 4 is always palpable in concert.
The group has toured across Canada as well as internationally and has been featured in numerous festivals and concert series including the Regina Jazz Society, the Altrincham Jazz Festival, and multiple appearances at the Toronto Jazz Festival both as a featured ensemble and an often requested backing band. In addition to their original material, the ensemble has also mounted several popular tribute series to jazz masters including Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, Clark Terry & Cole Porter.
The quartet’s debut 11-track full-length album “Rites Of Ascension” features 6 Maclean-penned compositions, 1 Brownman original and 4 re-imagined Herbie Hancock classics, all recorded at the renowned Canterbury Studios in Toronto. Produced by Brownman Ali, this new disk was released on October 31st, 2017 and was nominated for CJSF’s ‘2018 Julian Award of Excellence’, it won a ‘Gold’ Global Music Award in the ‘jazz’, ‘band’, and ‘album’ categories, and was featured as one of the Global Music Awards’ ‘Top 5 Albums of Spring 2018’. The group is hard at work on their next studio album slated for release on Browntasauras Records in winter 2023.
Tragedy Ann and Basset, a pair of Ontario-based folk duos, are emerging from the pandemic together to facilitate intimate musical gatherings between Ontario and the Maritimes.
They will be intertwining their songs to present a harmony-ridden night of storytelling, transporting listeners to beekeeper’s fields, haunted second-hand store basements, the shores of the Adriatic sea, and to their hometown communities. Tragedy Ann and Basset’s music answers the call for deeper connection with each other and with the natural world.Presenting new music recorded during a time of isolation, these concerts will be celebrations of resilience, vulnerability, and community.
To learn more about these bands, visit their websites: Tragedy Ann and Basset
Come join us for Open Mic outdoors on the patio, Wednesdays at the Old Church Theatre.
Sign up when you arrive if you want to play or just come out to listen and support local talent.
We are open at 5pm to serve you your favourite beverages from the bar and take orders for our wood-fired pizza.
Music starts at 6PM with our host Rick Zimmerman and sound tech Dave Cotterell.
Shannon Linton is a Canadian singer-songwriter, classically trained vocalist, and music educator.
After narrowly avoiding a career in opera, she rediscovered her passion for popular music and began performing and recording her own songs, first with Northern Hearts (2019 CBC Searchlight Top 100) and now as a solo artist.
Shannon’s debut EP, In Spite of Everything, will be released Spring 2022. She has invited a dream team – multi-instrumentalist Saskia Tomkins and the velvet-voiced Whitney O’Hearn – to join her for a series of shows across southern Ontario to celebrate the release.
You can listen to Shannon’s music at https://shannonlinton.bandcamp.com/ or wherever you stream music and follow her on Instagram or Facebook @shannonlintonmusic.
We’re happy to be holding the Quinte region CD Release concert with Tom Savage and the Savage Family Band!
However, through the benefits of digital technology, Savage could now send his multi-instrumental parts to his trusted rhythm section, bassist Jason Mercer (Ani DiFranco, Ron Sexsmith) and drummer Bonz Bowering, resulting in 21st Century Lo-Fi, Savage’s most diverse album to date.
“This record has a different feel than my previous albums, largely due to the circumstances under which it was recorded,” he says. “I made use of virtual instruments—Midi, synths—to achieve the sound I was looking for, and I feel this record is the closest I’ve gotten to what I hear in my head. A benefit of the pandemic was the opportunity to focus my whole attention on this project, because in normal times, the recording process would be broken up with tour dates, and other business distractions.”
Indeed, Savage greatly expands upon his familiar roots-based sound throughout 21st Century Lo-Fi, as evidenced by “Down Here,” on which he offers a rapid-fire indictment of economic disparity overtop a pulsing beat.
“That song focuses on what I believe is a major issue we are currently facing in our society, and something that has really bubbled to the surface during the pandemic,” he says. “I am a big proponent of universal basic income and wealth taxes to right the capitalist ship that has gotten even more askew over these past two years.”
Although like most singer/songwriters, Savage cites Neil Young as a primary inspiration for the fearless trust he’s always placed in his audience to follow him wherever the music led, Savage is likely to attract many brand new ears because of 21st Century Lo-Fi’s sonic exploration. As an album that ignores any preconceived notions, it’s the pure expression of an artist taking stock of his surroundings with an unflinching eye.
Kate will bring her trio to the Old Church with James Stephens on fiddle and mandolin and Brian Sanderson on the sousaphone
