Music

Martin Barre has been the guitarist of Jethro Tull for 43 years, his sound and playing having been a major factor in their success. Album sales have exceeded 60 million units and they continue to be played worldwide, representing an important part of classic rock history.

Martin’s guitar playing has earned him a high level of respect and recognition; he was voted 25th best solo ever in the USA and 20th best solo ever in the UK for his playing on 'Aqualung'. His playing on the album ‘Crest of a Knave’ earned him a Grammy award in 1988.

As well as numerous Jethro Tull albums, Martin has worked with many other artists including Paul McCartney, Phil Collins, Gary Moore, Jo Bonamassa and Chris Thompson and has shared a stage with such legends as Hendrix, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.

As Jethro Tull are taking a long break from touring, Martin has put together a band to play the "classic" music from the Tull catalogue. His band is a total commitment to give the Tull fans and a broader audience the chance to hear tracks not performed for many years. The band includes top musicians from a similar background.

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.

Recipients of twelve award nominations, including seven for the 2013 album, Chasse-Galerie (The Flying Canoe), Quebec’s MAZ have set themselves apart with their winning mix of folk, jazz and electro, which is inspired by tradition, but reaches for new and unbounded territories. For the band’s third and latest album, titled ID, the music is sung and danced – "speaking to the heart, body and soul – without losing the mind!"

Roger Lévesque of Penguin Eggs Magazine praises the group’s music as “uplifting stuff, old and new, rustic and high-tech all at once.”  Marc Maziade (electric guitar, banjo, foot percussion, programming and vocals), Pierre-Olivier Dufresne (violin, mandolin, foot percussion and vocals), Roxane Beaulieu (keyboards, vocals) and Hugo Blouin (double bass, keyboards and vocals) are brilliant musicians who, on stage as MAZ, form a deeply palpable connection, offering trance-inducing grooves, engaging sound textures and frenzied foot stomps.

MAZ’s 2012 debut release, Télescope, laid the groundwork for the band’s unique style, which combines traditional Québécois music, modal jazz and electronica. Through this album – often described as futuristic – MAZ already began to reveal their modern take on Québec’s past and present, earning them five award nominations, including one in the JUNO’s instrumental album category.

In a March 2016 interview with Vancouver’s The Georgia Straight (“Quebec’s MAZ aims to build cultural bridges”), Marc Maziade said: “The core is to try and start from French-Canadian traditional music.  But there’s this big question about blending or melding in my mind—I didn’t want to force things together quickly and go, ‘Here you go! French-Canadian music with an Arabic twist!’ What I wanted to do was reflect on our French-Canadian traditional music heritage, but reflect on it from a universal perspective. So the idea was to meld French-Canadian music, which implies spending time with its rituals and cultures and history, and then melding it with what we have inside — things like rock and jazz and electronic music, which stretch out to a universal identity.”  Marc went on to explain, if that blending of different influences has a spinoff effect, it’s to make a regional musical tradition accessible to those outside of Quebec’s borders.

The past year was full of milestones for MAZ, the highlight being the ensemble’s participation at WOMEX’17 in Poland.  Selected for an official showcase from amongst thousands of applicants, MAZ shared their music and projects with 2500 professionals from 90 countries.  2017 also included the premier of a new show at Montreal’s L’Astral on October 21st, and a celebration of Canada150 in Ghana (West Africa).  And 2018?  The new year kicked off with a busy international touring schedule for the band, including a January appearance at the 30th Internationale Kulturbörse (IKF) in Freiburg Germany and, immediately afterwards, a stop in Shanghai, China for another major showcase event.  While in London, they will be giving several school shows as well as a general audience concert at The Aeolian.

The Great Canadian Fiddle Show preserves and celebrates Canada’s rich musical heritage through traditional fiddling and step dancing. Visiting the breadth of Canada’s diverse regional styles, the show captivates audiences with energy and mastery. The Great Canadian Fiddle Shows provides fiddle-frenzied and family-friendly entertainment for music lovers of all ages. The show is filled with both musical excellence and a deep sense of Canadian musical tradition.

“A must see show indeed.” – CBC Radio 2

Get ready to tap your toes to irresistible Old Time melodies as you’re swept across the nation.

PLEASE NOTE THIS SHOW IS AT THE AEOLIAN EDUCATION CAMPUS AT CRONYN (formerly known as Bishop Cronyn Memorial Church).

Start your New Year with a new experience from Charlotte Abbott and Michael Pare. Experience the sound of classical music in three amazing concert venues. Southern Ontario Serenade is their debut tour together as professional musicians. Initially inspired by Canada’s 150th Anniversary, their program features music of Canadian culture and has grown to include some of the best music composed for guitar and voice. Together they continue to expand the acoustic boundaries of their instruments to new limits. Brave the cold, venture outside your door and participate in an intimate setting of live sound.

Michael Pare

Michael Pare is one of Canada’s young and aspiring classical guitarists, performing regularly in festivals and competitions throughout North America and Europe. Located in London, Ontario, Michael performs regularly at the London Club, Centennial Hall, Von Kuster Hall, and the McIntosh Art Gallery.

In 2015 Michael was the winner of the highly regarded Rose Bowl Competition in London, Ontario, and is scheduled to play with London Symphonia as a guest soloist.

Michael performs concerts, weddings and private events as a soloist and with soprano, Charlotte Abbott. His repertoire ranges from renaissance art songs to contemporary solo and duo pieces. Michael also teaches a variety of styles to beginner and advanced students.

Charlotte Abbott

Charlotte Abbott is a Masters of Music graduate from Western University. She is singer with a passion for teaching and performing. She is an active member in London’s musical theatre community. Last winter Charlotte played the role of Lily in Secret Garden with London’s Palace Theatre Community Players and in the spring she was the vocal coach for Link Theatre’s musical production of Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens.

Her opera credits include Rowan in Benjamin Britten’s Little Sweep and Le Feu/Le Rossignol in Maurice Ravel’s L’enfant et les sortileges. Currently, she is working on a production of Carlisle Floyd’s Susannah for the Fall of 2018.

Charlotte continues to study with mezzo-soprano, Patricia Green and maintains her own private studio. Charlotte occupies the rest of her time working at Lululemon, sweating in the gym and cosying up with a good book.

Lindi Ortega gives fair warning: “Don’t come any closer to my heart /If you’re afraid of the dark.”

However, that shroud is slowly lifted in Liberty. As the narrative unfolds in this concept album, a central character emerges – one who finally sheds the darkness of her past and emerges into the light. As melodies and tempos change throughout Liberty, her journey carries her steadily forward. Listen closely and you’ll find Ortega’s experiences in the lyrics too.

“I think the most important thing for me was that I ended on a very positive note because I've had so many people tell me that my songs helped them through really hard times in their life,” Ortega says. “That struck a chord for me, because just like everybody else, I have had hard times in my life, and continue to have pockets of difficult moments here and there. If I can provide some sort of solace with my music, then that gives me every reason to make music. I wanted this record to be all about helping people through the darkness.”

The melodies and arrangements of Liberty draw on the epic work of Oscar-winning composer Ennio Morricone, who became one of Ortega’s musical obsessions during the writing and recording of Liberty. Moreover she enlisted Nashville producer Skylar Wilson (Justin Townes Earle, Rayland Baxter) when she discovered their shared passion for Quentin Tarantino movies. It is fitting that NPR’s All Things Considered has described Ortega as “genre-defying in both her music and her personal style.”

During the sessions at Battle Tapes studio in East Nashville, Ortega and Wilson scaled back the boot-stomping, throwback country approach that she’s known for, instead polishing a set of music that reflects her lineage. Her father is Mexican; her mother is Irish. The sonic landscape of Liberty is enhanced by Nashville band Steelism, known for their dramatic blend of pedal steel guitar and electric guitar, as well as Country Music Hall of Fame member Charlie McCoy on harmonica.

In 2017, Ortega opened select dates for Chris Stapleton and Dwight Yoakam. In addition, she married Canadian musician Daniel Huscroft and relocated from Nashville to Calgary. Liberty concludes with “Gracia a la Vida” from the pen of Chilean composer Violetta Parra. The title translates as “Thank you to Life.”

“Even though I always tried to have a silver lining, whether it's by making my songs tongue-in-cheek, or writing some dark lyrics to happy music, there's always been an element of balancing light and dark on my previous albums,” Ortega explains. “But this is a full story, and I wanted everybody to be able to take something away from it at the end of the day.”

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.

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.”

Montreal’s Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra is an explosion of music and dance, circus and imagination. The band is a creative chaos that fuses Afro-Colombian percussion with the brass and violin melodies of the Roma peoples of Eastern Europe. Created In 2012 by GIROVAGO productions, the band has already performed over 140 shows, including many festivals across Canada, Colombia, France, Austria, Chec Republic. GKO was voted Montréal’s best world music group in 2015 (CAMUZ survey), and earned a 2016  JUNO and ADISQ Nominations for their first album, Revuelta Danza Party. With an ever growing following, the group has arrived as one of Canada’s leading new big bands.

 
La Gypsy Kumbia Orchestra est une explosion de musique, de danse, de cirque et d’imagination. Le groupe est un chaos créatif qui fusionne des percussions afro-colombiennes avec la mélodie des peuples roms de l’Europe de l’Est.

La boîte de production Girovago a créé le groupe en 2012, depuis plus que 140 spectacles ont été joué et le groupe a été présent lors de plusieurs festivals au Canada, en Colombie et en Europe. En 2015, GKO est voté comme le meilleur groupe de musique du monde montréalais, et a été nominé pour JUNO et ADISQ pour leur premier album, Revuelta Danza Party. Le groupe a réussi à se faire sa place dans la sphère des grands groupes de musique canadien, et est en constante évolution.

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