Aeolian Jazz & Musical Arts Festival Presents... Amanda Tosoff featuring Emilie-Claire Barlow

Amanda Tosoff
Amanda Tosoff is a Toronto-based jazz pianist, composer, and educator (Humber College and MusicArtsCollective.com). She has received various honours, including the Montréal Jazz Festival Grand Prix de Jazz, the Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Jazz Artist Award – and most recently, a 2022 JUNO nomination for her album Earth Voices. With her latest release, Amanda continues to pursue the creative and stylistic leap she began on her previous album Words, once again blending jazz, pop and art-song, as well as drawing on poetry with a deep personal and emotional connection. This summer, Amanda is touring with 5 of the 16 guest artists on her album, including JUNO Award winning vocalist Emilie-Claire Barlow, saxophonist Allison Au, bassist Jon Maharaj and drummer Morgan Childs. The band will perform music from Earth Voices, plus selections from Emilie-Claire’s repertoire – including clever arrangements of Burt Bacharach, Bob Dylan, Gershwin and more!
"Thoughtful, sparkling, poetically-inspired chamber jazz!"
– DELARUE (NEW YORK MUSIC DAILY)
“…with the release of Earth Voices […] Tosoff has taken the concept that she so brilliantly mastered with Words and built upon it. More instruments, more beautiful poems, more vocalists that equal more invigorating compositions that inspire and lift the already powerful words off the page into the present moment.”
– LAVENDER SUTTON (LONDON JAZZ NEWS)   Emilie-Claire Barlow is an award winning and critically acclaimed Canadian jazz singer, arranger, record producer and voice actress. A two time Juno Award winner and 6 time nominee, she has released 12 self-produced albums on her own label, Empress Music Group. 

Her performing career spans over 24 years in venues ranging from Toronto’s storied Montreal Bistro & Top of the Senator, to Tokyo’s Cotton Club and more recently concerts with symphony orchestras at Toronto’s Massey Hall and Montreal’s Maison Symphonique. She has performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival on seven occasions including a 2015 performance on the Main Stage with 50,000 people attending.

Ms. Barlow has lead bands featuring the finest musician’s in Canada. Her work as a band leader and producer has been recognized with a Juno Award nomination for “Producer of Year” for her recording “Clear Day” (2015) — notable for being only the 2nd Jazz recording nominated in this category. Ms. Barlow is also one of a very women to be honoured as “Producer of the Year”.

Ms. Barlow’s all francophone recording “Seule ce soir” won a Juno and Felix Award in 2013 representing an unprecedented achievement in Canadian bilingualism.

After releasing her second holiday album Lumières d'hiver in 2017, Emilie-Claire turned her attention to her duo project with Steve Webster, Bocana. Bocana has released 8 singles over the last couple of years in the electro-pop, lounge, world muic genres, amassing a healthy following on streaming platforms. ECB has also released a collection of James Taylor covers as part of her JT Project.

Up next is her 13th full album, due for release in early 2023. In the meantime, You can listen to ECB's newest singles - a stripped down take on the classic "My Favorite Things" and a guest vocal on Lou Pomanti's latest, "Stoned Soul Picnic".

60
Aeolian Hall
Price
$40 Advanced $45 Doors
Event type
Festival
Genre
Jazz
Allison Au

Toronto-based alto saxophonist Allison Au (pronounced "ow") is a rising force as an improviser, composer and bandleader. Since assembling her quartet a decade ago she’s steadily gained recognition with a welcoming, interactive group sound inspired by post-bop idioms, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, pop music forms and R&B cadences.

Au’s debut album, “The Sky Was Pale Blue, then Grey” earned a Juno nomination in 2013, and her sophomore album “Forest Grove” seized the Juno for "Best Jazz Album of The Year: Group" in 2016. In 2019, the group garnered yet another Juno nomination for "Best Jazz Album of the Year: Group" for "Wander Wonder."

The Allison Au Quartet has toured extensively in Canada and the US. Winner of the 2017 Montreal Jazz Festival TD Grand Prix de Jazz, the 2017 Halifax Jazz Festival Sting Ray Rising Star Award, and a 2017 Finalist for Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Jazz Artist Award, Allison was also featured in SFJAZZ’s 2018 list of "10 Rising Instrumentalists You Should Know.”

Jon Maharaj

Jon Maharaj is a JUNO award winning bass player from Toronto Ontario. He has performed with Emilie-Claire Barlow, Allison Au, Amanda Tosoff, The Tenors and Mark Masri. Jon was the bass player in the Canadian production of hit musical Come From Away from 2018-2021, where he performed over 800 shows for almost 1 million audience members. He is currently on faculty at Humber College and the University of Toronto.

Morgan Childs

A native of Invermere, a small town in the Rocky Mountains of western Canada, Morgan Childs has established himself as a first-call drummer for many leading Canadian and international jazz artists. Morgan has four recordings to his name as a leader, including his most recent, On The Street of Dreams, which was chosen by the Ottawa Citizen as one of the top-10 Canadian jazz records of 2016. Morgan has toured Canada, the US, Central America and the UK with Juno-nominated pianist/composer Amanda Tosoff, NYC bassist Brandi Disterheft, saxophonist Richard Underhill, guitarist Nathan Hiltz, pianist/vocalist Laila Biali, and pianist Robi Botos. Awards to his credit include three consecutive CBC Galaxie Rising Star Awards in 2006/07/08 with three different groups, as well as the 2009 and 2012 Grand Prix du Jazz at the Montreal Jazz Festival, with the Amanda Tosoff Quartet and Robi Botos Trio, respectively. Other notable artists Morgan has performed and recorded with include Zach Brock (Snarky Puppy), Phil Dwyer, Ingrid and Christine Jensen, Ian Hendrickson-Smith (The Roots), Mike Murley, and Pat Labarbera (Elvin Jones). In 2016, Morgan was awarded a Chalmers Prize from the Ontario arts Council, and a Canada Council Study Grant to study privately in New York City with jazz legends Billy Hart, Kenny Washington, and Jimmy Cobb. The culmination of his experience results in a distinctive, energetic, and musical approach to the drums that is steeped in the bebop tradition of his mentors, yet is forward-looking and diverse enough for the most contemporary of jazz artists. In 2018, Morgan travelled to Lviv Ukraine to perform at the Leopolis Jazz Festival with the Jake Koffman Quartet, as part of a delegation of Canadian jazz artists sponsored by the Canadian Embassy in Kiev. Morgan’s latest release is Donnybrook, Live at the Bassment, which is currently available exclusively on the Bandcamp platform.