Jazz

Join Ellen Doty and her trio to celebrate the launch of her sophomore album, "Come Fall" in London. Ellen Doty is a soulful Canadian vocalist and songwriter with a world-class voice. Her music incorporates everything from jazz to soul, folk, pop and indie music: a sound that is uniquely hers. A true storyteller whose works are as intimate and as personal as their handwritten lyrics, Ellen's immense talent for songwriting is only complemented by her stunning vocals. Originally from Okotoks, AB, she currently makes her home in Calgary.

Her debut album Gold reached the top ten on the college jazz radio charts in Canada, and she followed up the release with a crowd-funded, self-booked 40 stop Canadian tour. In the past year, Doty has continued to tour extensively in Canada. She had the opportunity to open for two-time Grammy-winner Gregory Porter, and recently completed a concert theatre tour with award-winning saxophonist Eli Bennett from Vancouver. Doty was recently named one of the top 35 under 35 jazz artists in Canada by CBC Music along with BadBadNotGood, Larnell Lewis, Nikki Yanosky, and more: With an honesty and warmth that sets her apart from so many artists, Doty is an emerging Canadian talent who is clearly one to watch for 2017 and beyond.

Doty signed a record deal with Toronto-based label Alma Records, and her new album will come out on Universal Music in Canada on March 2nd, 2018 with a Canadian tour to follow. On the tour, she will be joined by Edmonton-born Efa Etoroma (Moonchild) on drums, and pianist Eric Haynes from Montreal (Busty and the Bass). The new album features solely the sounds of the trio: voice, piano, and drums. It seeks to strip the music down to its bare bones, in a powerful minimalist approach.

Laila Biali is an award-winning Canadian pianist & vocalist – and now weekly radio host (“Saturday Night Jazz,” 8 p.m. to midnight on CBC Radio 2) – who continues to garner global recognition for her performances at prestigious venues like the North Sea Jazz Festival (The Netherlands), Tokyo’s Cotton Club, and New York’s Carnegie Hall.  Over the past couple of years, she has toured with Grammy winners Chris Botti, Paula Cole and Suzanne Vega.  Also, she has recorded with and supported music icon Sting, who raved, “Laila is an exciting and unique talent and I admire her greatly.”

But for all her artistic brilliance and string of critical accolades, it’s Laila’s affinity for seeking inspiration in human relationships that most defines this highly admired artist. These special qualities were recognized by Toronto pianist Ron Davis, who described Laila as “a spiritually deep and beautiful soul,” adding “and this shows in her music."

A TD Sunfest standout over many years, Laila returns to London on March 1st to celebrate the release of her new follow-up album of genre-bending originals and covers (songs by David Bowie, Coldplay and Randy Newman).  Debuting at #1 on iTunes Jazz Canada, and #7 on iTunes Jazz USA, this eponymous recording further expands upon Laila’s unique “ability to meld traditional jazz with contemporary pop so effortlessly that neither style seems out of place on the same record” (Spinner Magazine).

Catchy, sophisticated, and unlike anything currently on the radio, it’s pop music, but not the kind that can be neatly tagged by an algorithm. Melodies take thrilling left turns and pre-choruses give way to instrumental interludes. One minute, Biali is soaring over a bluesy storm of handclaps and hard-charging keyboard riffs (“Got to Love”);  the next, she is pouring out her soul on an impassioned, slow-burning plea for empathy (“Refugee”). It’s pop music, but the experimental, distinctly human variety popularized by Regina Spektor, Rachael Yamagata and Sara Bareilles.  And it’s more improvisatory and spontaneous than House of Many Rooms. “We’ve brought the jazz back in, in a more meaningful way,” Laila says.

TD Sunfest in association with FCLMA presents SWINGROWERS as part of FCLMA London Music Week (April 28 – May 5, 2019)

With more than 20 million views on YouTube, Swingrowers (pronounced Swing-Growers) is one of the most sought-after bands on the retro-world scene. Based in Palermo (Italy) and Brighton (England), it is celebrated for its irreverent style, which blends the freshness of electronic dance music with the warm influences of 1920s & ’30’s era jazz to create a unique vintage-inspired pop sound.

The group’s debut album, PRONOUNCED SWING’GROWERS (2012), was largely a sample-based affair featuring founding members Loredana Grimaudo on vocals and Roberto Costa (a.k.a. PiSk) on production duties. Manouche guitarist Alessio Costagliola joined the unit prior to recording the 2013 single “Queen of Swing,” and its 2014 follow-up album REMOTE saw the band expand to a five-piece with the addition of Davide Rizzuto on violin and Ciro Pusateri on alto saxophone and clarinet. Swingrowers’ latest release is OUTSIDEIN (2018).

Along with three albums on the independent British label Freshly Squeezed, the band has released a series of catchy singles, cover versions and remixes, many of which were collected on its 2014 “Do Not Cover EP”. Hits include a cover of Technotronic’s 1989 classic “Pump Up the Jam,” and “Butterfly,” released in April 2017. On top of delivering official remixes for Caro Emerald and Swing Republic, Swingrowers has also collaborated with The Lost Fingers, Gypsy Hill and DJ Pony Montana.

Swingrowers has taken its explosive live show to major stages all over the globe, including the United States, Japan and India, and has opened sell-out concerts for the likes of pioneering electro swing artists/producers Parov Stelar, Chinese Man and Caravan Palace.

Alto saxophonist Allison Au refuses to be defined – or as All About Jazz reviewer David Wayne put it: “Au is an artist with a mind of her own. She panders to no-one.” Born to a Chinese father and a Jewish mother, and raised in multicultural Toronto, Allison soon turned to jazz as an outlet for self-expression and artistic experimentation.  Her beautifully bittersweet compositions weave a mosaic of influences – including images of nature – into a seamless and soulful sound that’s steeped in the tradition of jazz, but skillfully laced with elements of classical, pop, R&B/hip hop, Latin and world music. The Allison Au Quartet (Allison, saxophone; Todd Pentney, piano; Jon Maharaj, bass; Fabio Ragnelli, drums) has taken its “imaginatively written and performed modern jazz” (Mike Gates, UK Vibe) to the JUNO Awards twice (a nomination for its 2013 debut release “The Sky Was Pale Blue” and a win for the 2016 follow-up album “Forest Grove”).  The band’s latest recording, “Wander Wonder” (2018), is nominated for a 2019 JUNO.  On it, Au once again proves to be a marvelous composer of engaging, accessible and melodic tunes, which explore a lot of playful territory while maintaining a cohesive mood. In 2017, the Quartet received a series of additional honors:  the TD Grand Prix de Jazz at the Montreal International Jazz Festival and the Stingray Rising Stars Award at the TD Halifax Jazz Festival.  Allison also was named a 2017 Finalist for the Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Jazz Artist Award and made CBC Music's first annual list of the 35 best Canadian jazz artists under the age of 35.

With his recording career now spanning two decades and twelve albums (including two JUNO wins), Vancouver Island-based Michael Kaeshammer (pronounded Case-hammer) has earned a loyal international following as a triple threat.  He’s a piano virtuoso with a technical mastery of many different styles, an eloquent singer-songwriter and a charismatic showman who connects with concert hall audiences as though he were entertaining guests in his own living room.  Le Babill Art Montreal raves, “an original artist who is at the top of his art and clearly in love with the creative process.”  With his band, Michael is a sure bet on a great time.

On December 13th, Kaeshammer and mates will play music from the musician’s extensive repertoire, but not just the classic boogie-woogie, blues and jazz for which he was originally known.  Over the last few years, Michael has been steadily featuring more originals on his albums, and he told OttawaJazzScene.ca that writing those tunes at home “is actually what gives me the most in music… A lot of the material I do now is not so much playing the head or something and then soloing. I like songs that have a chorus, verse and story, almost like a singer-songwriter thing, played in a jazz style.”

Unconstrained by genre barriers and music industry pressures, Michael follows his own muse to create works that are richly melodic and warmly accessible. The performer’s latest TD Sunfest appearance is in support of his 2018 album, the eleven-track Something New, which was recorded in New Orleans at the historic Esplanade Studios in the beating heart of the Treme district.  On this new release, producer/arranger/performer Kaeshammer plumbed the depths of The Big Easy sound as he shared the spotlight with a series of celebrated guest performers, including Cyril Neville of the Neville Brothers, New Orleans Nightcrawlers Brass Band, Chuck Leavell (the Allman Brothers, Eric Clapton, Rolling Stones) and fellow Canucks Colin James and Randy Bachman.

Michael says, “Instead of recording and creating the touring band (in Canada), we decided to record where the sound already is…For me, everything I grew up listening to came from New Orleans. My piano style is based in that (culture) and I lived there for a little while before Katrina. I have a lot of friends there, musicians. I just love it. I hear a second-line beat or I hear (Professor) Longhair or James Booker and I’m a kid again.”  For more of the latest buzz on Michael Kaeshammer, please visit his website.

A soul-stirring artist with a singularly expressive voice that exudes both tenderness and strength as it exquisitely molds itself to the South American styles and rhythms of her songs, Patricia Cano “literally radiates on stage.  She is truly made for live concerts” (Luce Couture, Centennial Theatre, Sherbrooke, Quebec). Born in Sudbury, Ontario to Peruvian parents, this supremely talented singer-songwriter is also a brilliant actor.  Upon graduating from the University of Toronto, Patricia spent five years working in Paris, France with the world-renowned theatre company Le Théâtre du soleil, during which time its director, Madame Ariane Mnouchkine, sent her to Seoul to study traditional South Korean folk singing and drumming.  After leaving the French company, Patricia spent seven months in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil embracing the exceptional Carioca music scene.  In 2009, she launched her singing career with the album This is the New World, co-created with long-standing Brazilian (now Paris-based) musical partner Carlos Bernardo and produced by Toronto Latin percussion virtuoso Luis Orbegoso. Another key influence in Patricia’s artistic career is Tomson Highway, Canada’s premier Cree playwright and composer.  Since 2001, Patricia has toured the world alongside Tomson, singing and performing his songs and stories in a one-woman Cree cabaret show.  Last year, Patricia was awarded the 2017 Toronto Theatre Critics Award for Best Actress in a Musical to honor her work in Highway's musical “The (Post) Mistress”. She is also featured on his 2015 Juno-nominated album “Patricia Cano Sings Songs from The (Post) Mistress”. Once again produced by Luis Orbegoso, Patricia’s sophomore album MADRE AMIGA HERMANA (2017) is an homage to womanhood and the feminine, boasting 11 songs (9 original) that explore themes like motherhood, race, legacy, the birth of love, as well as the environment, with a lush ode to la Pachamama (Mother Earth).  With its title taken from lyrics to the beloved Latin American song “Gracias a la Vida,” this recording was inspired by the new, warrior-esque feelings that Patricia experienced after the birth of her son in 2011.  Afro-Peruvian rhythms, samba and Latin American folk elements intersect with jazz throughout, and Patricia's signature multilingual stylings (English, French, Spanish – and even the Quechua language of the Andes) intimately capture the spirit of the different cultures she inhabits.  Canadian music writer Raul da Gama calls MADRE AMIGA HERMANA “a breathtaking album…where Miss Cano reveals herself as an artist of the first order yet again.  Her instrument is gorgeous: lustrous, precise and featherlight.  Her musicianship is fierce as she digs into the expression of each word, brings ceaseless variety to the dynamics and gives each phrase an airy grace.”

• READ Raul da Gama’s superb Oct.18/18 feature on Patricia Cano in Toronto Music Report.
• WATCH the video for “Caminando,” the first track off Patricia Cano's sophomore album MADRE AMIGA HERMANA (2017).

PATRICIA CANO’S BAND

• Kevin Barrett – guitar
• Patricia Cano – vocals
• Paco Luviano – bass
• Luis Orbegoso – percussion & backing vocals

Praised by the Latin Jazz Network for a "gorgeous voice (that) rises to the heavens in rapturous wonder as if in consanguinity with a chorus of angels,” Kellylee Evans is a bold explorer who, since launching her music career over 15 years ago, has tackled everything from jazz to R&B and pop.

She has earned multiple JUNO Award nominations (winning "Best Jazz Vocal Album" for Nina, her impassioned tribute to Nina Simone), captivated adoring French and Canadian fan bases, and opened for the likes of Tony Bennett and John Legend.  A series of traumatic accidents — a concussion in 2015 and a freak lightning strike in 2013 — set Kellylee on a long journey of recovery and self-healing and temporarily put her singing career on hold.  READ MORE

With the belated release of her 2015 album Come On (and with the encouragement of Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy), the Ottawa-based singer is back on stage, albeit with the caveat that she now must slow down and focus on the important things in life.  KLE’s latest JUNO-nominated recording (to be highlighted in her May 12th TD Sunfest show) offers views on love and loss in an alluringly rhythmic approach that has touches of psychedelic pop, a resonating soul groove and that je ne sais quoi that is strictly Kellylee.

Although Come On didn’t win, KLE was everywhere on the 2018 JUNO weekend, prompting CBC Music host Tom Allen to offer this effusive praise: “Kellylee is an inspiration in every way.  She is a brilliant, versatile woman.  She is a musician’s musician…Not only is she personable and easy to work with and humble, she is a brilliant, razor-sharp singer whose pitch, whose musicianship — whose everything — is dead on…She’s just getting started, ladies and gentlemen.”

Every time Fred Hersch sits down at the piano is an act of revelation, discovery, confession and evolution. An exploratory artist, eloquent composer, outspoken activist, influential educator and possessor of one of the most personal and expressive pianistic styles in improvised music, Hersch has led a singular life that has shaped one of the most acclaimed and influential voices in modern jazz. At the forefront of the music for more than three decades, he has earned countless awards and accolades including ten Grammy® nominations, numerous acknowledgments from the jazz world’s most prestigious institutions and publications, and such recent distinctions as being named a 2016 Doris Duke Artist and the Jazz Journalists Association’s 2016 Jazz Pianist of the Year.

Hailed by Vanity Fair as “the most arrestingly innovative pianist in jazz over the last decade,” Hersch stands as a defining figure in several different contexts, from breathtaking solo recitals and compelling duos to his gold-standard trios and innovative chamber pieces. With more than 40 albums to his credit as leader or co-leader, Hersch can claim one of the most highly praised and consistently striking discographies in jazz history. His latest release, Open Book (Palmetto Records) is his 11th solo recording, capturing the vital essence of the bold adventurousness and intense beauty that have made Hersch one of the music’s most renowned solo artists while continuing to discover new areas of inspiration and depths of feeling.

Having long created uniquely intimate and expressive music that The New Yorker has lauded for its “intensity of intelligence and emotional directness unparalleled among his peers,” Hersch has never been shy about letting audiences glimpse his most private thoughts and feelings. He’s been a passionate advocate for AIDS services and education agencies, leading by example as jazz’s first openly gay, HIV-positive artist. The feature documentary The Ballad of Fred Hersch premiered at the prestigious Full Frame Film Festival in March 2016 to a sold-out house and rave reviews.

Hersch’s remarkable and inspiring story is finally being told in full with the publication in September 2017 of his much-anticipated memoir, Good Things Happen Slowly: A Life In and Out of Jazz (Crown Archetype/Random House). The book covers the pianist’s meteoric rise in jazz from his sideman days alongside masters like Art Farmer and Joe Henderson to his gradual recognition as one of the most individualistic and innovative artists of his generation. But it also frankly traces his path through hedonistic post-Stonewall New York City to the dramatic two-month medically induced coma in 2007 from which he emerged to make some of the most stunning and captivating music of his career, including the groundbreaking jazz-theater hybrid My Coma Dreams.

The premiere of the harrowing, transcendent My Coma Dreams in 2010 prompted the New York Times Sunday Magazine to describe Hersch as “singular among the trailblazers of their art, a largely unsung innovator of this borderless, individualistic jazz—a jazz for the 21st century.” Similar plaudits met his 2003 chamber piece Leaves of Grass, a celebration of the life and poetry of Walt Whitman that featured the acclaimed vocalists Kurt Elling and Kate McGarry along with an instrumental octet. Hersch’s compositional work has garnered such distinctions as a 2003 Guggenheim Fellowship in Composition; his classical compositions are published by Edition Peters.

Since his debut as a leader with Horizons in 1984, Hersch has led some of the most peerless trios in jazz, honing a distinctive vocabulary and unparalleled interplay. His longstanding current trio with bassist John Hébert and drummer Eric McPherson was proclaimed “one of the major ensembles of our times” by the Wall Street Journal. Their latest release, Sunday Night at the Vanguard (Palmetto), was praised by All About Jazz as “a combination of fearless determination and sensitive interpretation” and nominated for two 2017 Grammy Awards, as was its predecessor, Floating (Palmetto). The trio’s two-CD Palmetto set Alive at the Vanguard was awarded the 2012 Grand Prix du Disque in France and named one of the year’s best CDs by DownBeat Magazine.

In 2014 Hersch received his sixth Grammy nomination for his solo on “Duet,” an aptly named track from Free Flying (Palmetto), a duo album with guitar phenom Julian Lage. As an incisive communicator and improviser Hersch been heard in duo with a wide range of collaborators including Esperanza Spalding, Bill Frisell, Chris Potter, Norma Winstone, Nancy King and Anat Cohen. In other settings he’s worked with a staggering array of legendary artists: jazz (Joe Henderson, Charlie Haden, Stan Getz); classical (Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw, Christopher O’Riley); and Broadway (Audra McDonald).

Parallel with his prolific career in music, Hersch has worked tirelessly over the past several decades as a fervent spokesman and fundraiser for AIDS services and education agencies. He has produced and performed on four benefit recordings and played numerous concerts for charities including Classical Action: Performing Arts Against AIDS, and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. To date, his efforts have raised more than $300,000 for this vital and deeply personal cause. Hersch has also been a keynote speaker and performer at international medical conferences in the U.S. and Europe.

A committed educator, Hersch has taught at New England Conservatory, The Juilliard School, The New School and The Manhattan School of Music. He is currently a member of the Jazz Studies faculty of Rutgers University. He holds Honorary Doctorates from Grinnell College and Northern Kentucky University.

Through his playing, his composing and his educational work, Hersch’s influence has been widely felt on a new generation of jazz pianists, from former students Brad Mehldau and Ethan Iverson to his colleague Jason Moran, who has said, “Fred at the piano is like LeBron James on the basketball court. He’s perfection.”

“It’s one thing to just play a tune, or play a program of music, but it’s another thing to practically create a new language of music, which is what Kind of Blue did.” says Chick Corea. Peter Karle and his crew are proud to recreate Miles Davis’ 1959 album in its entirety at The Aeolian… “Kinda”. The Peter Karle Combo is a collective of young London musicians who thrive on the evolution of jazz in their community. Through a full instrumental score of the album and the combo’s own transcriptions, the combo will bring back the conversations of the jazz greats in a new life.

Honouring the original album.

Lineup will be:

Peter Karle on Guitar as Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly

Marsh Bindsell on Trumpet as Miles Davis

Adam Lamoureux on Tenor Sax as John Coltrane

Tony DeLuca on Alto Sax as Julian “Cannonball” Adderley

Andrew Kosty on Double Bass as Paul Chambers

Mark Swan on Drums as Jimmy Cobb

As well as the full “Kinda” Kind of Blue album, the night will also include pieces from the album’s infamous 1960 European Tour and Kind of Blue’s predecessor 1958 Miles.

Come celebrate Valentine's Day with the one and only, Carol Welsman, at the Aeolian! Internationally renowned singer/pianist Carol Welsman is a 6-time Juno Award nominee. She will be performing repertoire from her latest album For You, a collection of 16 classic love songs voted by her fans to appear on the recording via an exciting social media campaign. The album is officially released October 20, 2017 in Canada, and marks her 12th recording. This is a perfect way to spend Valentine's Day, in concert, "For You"! Like many other successful musical artists, singer/pianist Carol Welsman was surrounded by music from an early age. Music was “all over the family,” she recalls, reminiscing about her childhood in Toronto, Canada. Then, with a laugh, Carol adds, “The family story I always heard was that the members of the family who came over from Italy were all musicians.” In fact, her family roots were also English and Irish, and the music that was “all over the family” embraced them as well. Her mother was a piano teacher, an uncle was a violinist, and her father, Carol recalls, “played clarinet and saxophone quite well.” But the family member who had the highest visibility, many decades prior to Carol’s musical successes, was her grandfather on her father’s side. “His name was Frank S. Welsman, and he was the founder and first conductor of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.” Carol, herself, was taking music lessons at an early age, and played contra bass and violin in high school. Her fascination with jazz was triggered by a friend who had, she says, “an incredible record collection.” Starting at the age of twelve, she was also taken by her father to big band concerts. She happily remembers hearing Woody Herman and Count Basie, as well as Peggy Lee. “But I missed seeing Duke Ellington; he was my Dad’s favorite.” “I was Dad’s only daughter,” she adds, “and I liked getting special treatment. I wanted to go with him no matter what he was doing. If he wanted to go wood chopping, I went wood chopping.” In her teens, she found herself drawn to vocal groups such as the Four Freshmen, The Double Six of Paris and the Hi-Los. At sixteen, she organized and arranged for her own vocal ensemble. Despite the ever present musical environment surrounding her young years, Carol “never felt any pressure, unlike other young musicians I knew. I was surrounded by music in a loving way and I felt nothing but encouragement.” The supportive environment no doubt produced the positive results Carol achieved when she went to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music, where she finished all the music studies. She also became friends with Herve Legrand, the son of French composer/pianist Michel Legrand. The friendship opened the way to far-reaching musical vistas for Carol. With Legrand’s aid, she was accepted into a highly regarded Paris music school, CIM. She also received a grant that allowed her to go to Paris and study voice with Michel Legrand’s sister, the soprano Christiane Legrand. Carol’s string of good luck paused at this point. When she unexpectedly began to experience throat discomfort, she visited a doctor and was told that she had three polyps on her vocal cords. Surgery was recommended, but Carol spoke to an opera singer friend who advised her to “get another diagnosis and avoid the knife.” And she did. “I dealt with it myself,” she explains.“I went into serious vocal rehab in Paris. I didn’t go out at night, couldn’t go into any smoky clubs or restaurants. I lived in silence except when I was in a lesson with Christiane. Then I went back to Toronto and found another teacher who had dealt with polyps. Both she and Christiane basically trained me how to sing around my vocal condition so I could continue to perform.” Vocally healthy, Carol returned to Paris the next summer, formed a band and remained in France for the next four years, then toured Italy for three more. “It was,” she says, “one of the most memorable times of my life, musically and otherwise.” Returning to Toronto, Carol began the recording phase of her career in 1994, and released her first album, Lucky To Be Me a year later. It received a Juno [Canadian Grammy] Award nomination for “Best Jazz Vocal Album”. Since then, six of her ten albums to date have received Juno nominations. After some musician friends urged her to help further her professional visibility by leaving Toronto for the “big fish pond” of Los Angeles, she took their advice. Starting to record in L.A, she bought a second home there and traveled back and forth until 2003. Until, as she describes it, she “fell in love with the L.A. lifestyle” and decided to embrace it full time. In 2005, Carol took a major step in that direction when she married celebrated criminal defense attorney and current candidate for U.S. Senate from California, Pat Harris, and moved into their beautiful home in the glorious Hollywood Hills.