JabFung

JabFung is the creative brainchild of Toronto bassist Julian Anderson-Bowes and Los Angeles-based drummer Anthony Fung. Since 2014, the project has served as a vital bridge between local and international jazz scenes, anchored by semi-annual multi-night runs at Toronto’s Rex Hotel. Over the years, JabFung has hosted a rotating cast of heavyweights—from Canadian icons like Kirk MacDonald to American greats like George Garzone and contemporary peers like Leland Whitty (BADBADNOTGOOD).

The project has recently solidified into a quartet featuring Juno-nominated Cuban-Canadian masters Luis Deniz (saxophone) and Rafael Zaldivar (piano). Their 2025 debut, Epoch, established the group's reputation for an improvisational musical dialogue rooted in trust and a shared vision for collaborative, instinctual performances. This core quartet, defined by a decade of collective history, provides the foundation for the group's blend of technical prowess and raw emotional presence.

Their sophomore album, In Real Life (out June 5th, 2026), acts as a defiant celebration of human presence in a cynical, virtual world. Recorded immediately following a 2025 tour, the album captures the group at its most intuitive, expanding for the first time to include celebrated NYC trumpeter Adam O’Farrill. The reunion with O’Farrill is a full-circle moment for the leaders, whose connections with the trumpeter trace back over ten years to their formative years at the Banff Centre Jazz Workshop and the Monterey Jazz Festival.

Following the album’s release, the group will bring their sound to the stage with a performance produced by Davie Studios in Toronto on June 25th, followed by a show at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal on June 27th.

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