Canadian Jazz Collective

Monday April 3rd, 2023

The Hare Wine Co.

769 Niagara Stone Road, Niagara-on-the-Lake

$49 + HST + Fees

$25 + HST + Fees (MAWS Discount: Musician/ArtsWorker/Student)

CD Release + Canadian Tour: 'Septology – The Black Forest Session'

 

ABOUT CANADIAN JAZZ COLLECTIVE (7-piece)

Derrick Gardner: 

Performer, composer, and veteran of the Count Basie Orchestra and Harry Connick Jr. Big Bands, Derrick Gardner has worked with artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, George Benson, Frank Forster, and Tony Bennet to name only a few. Recently, Derrick put together his 18-piece Big dig! Band for the recording of Still I Rise (Impact Jazz) – a powerful, explosive album released in July 2020 that spent over thirty weeks on the JazzWeek Top 50 chart.

Derrick formed his own sextet, The Jazz Prophets, in 1991; it continues to be one of the primary vehicles for his distinctive, hard-driving music. The band’s three-man horn line – consisting of himself, tenor sax player Rob Dixon and Derrick’s brother, trombonist Vincent Gardner of the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, has been together since the beginning. The Jazz Prophets have released three albums to date, and in 2009 they received the Independent Music Award’s Best Jazz Album Of The Year for their release Echoes Of Ethnicity. The Jazz Prophets’ albums boil with the long-standing collective’s sheer passion for the soulful, funky jazz sound of which Cannonball Adderly and Horace Silver built solid foundations with their 1950’s and 60’s ensembles.

Kirk MacDonald:

Two-time Juno Award winner and recipient of the Toronto Music Association’s Life Time Achievement Award, saxophonist/composer Kirk MacDonald is one of the most well-established Canadian jazz musicians of his generation. With over 100 compositions spanning sixteen CDs as a leader/co-leader, Kirk has led ensembles on tours across Canada, Spain, France, England, Germany, Italy, The US, Egypt, and India.

With an established reputation as one of Canada’s leading saxophonists, Kirk MacDonald cut his first record at the age of thirteen, and the scope and depth of his catalogue are legendary. Throughout his career, he has received numerous awards including one East Coast Music Award, two Jazz Report awards, the International Jazz Soloist award, and SOCAN’s Hagood Hardy Award for Composition. Kirk has worked with many leading musicians in a variety of musical genres, and critics describe him as “A powerhouse with mature style”.

Lorne Lofsky:

Over the course of a 40+ year career, Lofsky has played, toured, and recorded with some of the most prominent names in Jazz including Oscar Peterson, Chet Baker, Ed Bickert, Pat LaBarbera, Ray Brown, Joey DeFrancesco, and many others.

Born, raised, and based in Toronto, Canada, Lofsky’s career began when Oscar Peterson offered to produce his first record, It Could Happen To You (Pablo Records), in 1980. During the years that followed, Lofsky worked extensively in the Toronto area and toured with the likes of Pat LaBarbera, and fellow guitarist Ed Bickert. Bickert and Lofsky’s fruitful collaboration ran from 1983 through 1991 and produced two widely-acclaimed recordings including the well-known 1990 Concord release This Is New.

A master guitarist known for pianistic voicings and virtuosic skill, Lorne Lofsky is considered one of Canada’s great musical treasures. This Song Is New is his first recording as a leader in over two decades and signals an exciting new page in the guitarist’s illustrious career.

Virginia MacDonald:

Known for her lyrical and soulful clarinet playing, Virginia MacDonald has been described as a “powerful new voice in the Canadian scene” by Juno Award-winning bassist Mike Downes. Born and raised in Toronto, Virginia began playing clarinet at the age of seven. She has since established herself as a highly in-demand bandleader, side-woman, and composer, and regularly performs across Toronto and Canada with different iterations of her quartet and quintet. Virginia has performed in several Canadian and International jazz festivals including the Cambridge Jazz Festival, the Jaipur Jazz & Blues Festival, the TD Toronto Jazz Festival, the TD Ottawa Jazz Festival, the TD Markham Jazz Festival, the TD Halifax Jazz Festival, the Beaches International Jazz Festival, the Kensington Market Jazz Festival, and the Cape Breton Jazz Festival. Virginia has had the opportunity to work internationally in the United States, India, and Europe.

Brian Dickinson:

Juno Award-winning pianist and composer Brian Dickinson has been a mainstay on the Canadian jazz scene for close to 40 years. His skills as a jazz pianist, composer and arranger have been heard on well over sixty recordings including over ten of his own releases as leader. As a sideman, Brian has performed and recorded with many of the greatest international players including: Jerry Bergonzi, Randy Brecker, Kenny Wheeler, John Abercrombie, Pat LaBarbera, Kirk MacDonald, Maria Schneider, Vince Mendoza, Dave Liebman, George Garzone, Donny McCaslin, Seamus Blake, Ron McClure, Bob Mintzer, Phil Nimmons, Rob McConnell, Mike Murley, Tom Harrell, Lee Konitz, the Woody Herman Band, Cab Calloway, Nick Brignola, Sonny Greenwich, Eddie Daniels, Don Thompson, Jane Bunnett, and Dewey Redman. As well as touring Canada extensively, Brian has also toured the US, Europe and Asia.

Neil Swainson:

Four-time Juno Award winner & recipient of the 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award from the Toronto Musician’s Association, Neil Swainson began working with Paul Horn in 1975, for two years. He also backed up such musicians as Barney Kessel, Herb Ellis, and Sonny Stitt. In 1977, Neil moved to Toronto. He became very active in the local jazz scene, playing with Canadian greats: Moe Koffman, Ed Bickert, Rob McConnell, Peter Appleyard, and many others. He has played with many visiting jazz artists, to name a few: James Moody, George Coleman, Jay McShann, Tommy Flanagan, Lee Konitz, Joe Farrell, Slide Hampton, and Woody Shaw. Neil travelled and recorded with Woody Shaw, and Neil’s own recording, 49th Parallel, features Woody Shaw on trumpet and Joe Henderson on saxophone. In 1986 Neil began working with George Shearing. Together, they worked worldwide with many other great artists, such as Mel Tormé, Joe Williams, Nancy Wilson, Robert Farnon, and Diana Krall. Neil has made numerous recordings with George Shearing, and with a number of other artists. Several of the recordings on which Neil plays have won Canada’s Juno Award. Neil continues to compose music and freelance extensively in the Toronto area.

Bernd Reiter:

Award-winning Austrian drummer Bernd Reiter, who studied in Graz & New York & now lives in Paris, always delivers a rock-solid beat. He has worked with many international jazz stars such as Harold Mabern, Charles Davis, Don Menza, Kirk Lightsey, Ralph Lalama, Mundell Lowe, Cyrus Chestnut, Steve Grossman, Eric Alexander, Jim Rotondi, Grant Stewart, Joe Magnarelli, Andy McKee, Claudio Roditi, Dick Oatts, Gary Smulyan, Dusky Goykovich, John Marshall, Dmitry Baevsky, Jeb Patton, Joe Haider, Max Greger sen. & jr., Martin Weiss, Renato Chicco, Tony Lakatos, Heinz von Hermann, Rob Bargad, Gabor Bolla, Olivier Hutman, Al Porcino Big Band, Jazzfactory Orchestra, and many more.

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Lineup: 

Derrick Gardner: Trumpet

Kirk MacDonald: Saxophone

Lorne Lofsky: Guitar

Virginia MacDonald: Clarinet

Brian Dickinson: Piano

Neil Swainson: Bass

Bernd Reiter: Drums