Results for "Toronto"

Nick Fraser: Still Screaming Into The Snare Drum

by Lawrence Peryer
May 23, 2026

Today, The Tonearm's needle lands on Toronto drummer and composer Nick Fraser.Nick Fraser is one of the most distinctive voices in Canadian improvised music. He has played with Anthony Braxton, Roscoe Mitchell, and William Parker, and has led projects that range from raw free jazz to something much harder to name.His latest ...

Josh Warren

Born: March 6, 2004

Rooted in the jazz tradition but drawing influences from all over the map, Josh Warren is an award-winning Canadian bassist, composer, and arranger originally hailing from Victoria, BC. Since moving to Toronto to study with Canada’s finest, he’s shared the stage and recorded with a plethora of Grammy-nominated and JUNO award-winning musicians (including Ingrid Jensen, Jeremy Ledbetter, Rich Brown, Allison Au, and Joaquin Nunez) and performed all across the country, playing at iconic venues and major festivals from coast to coast. 

His debut album “The Path”  (engineered and mixed by JUNO award-winner Patric McGroarty) will be out everywhere on August 22nd, 2026, and features an award-winning cast of young lions on the Canadian jazz scene, and blends the jazz tradition with shades of Pat Metheny, Stevie Wonder and Snarky Puppy

Jah Wobble & Evan Parker, Maria Schneider, Nils Petter Molvaer And More

by Lawrence Peryer
May 14, 2026

This week's Rotations opens with JOEYKEYSADE, whose Afro-jazz fuses Beninese-Nigerian tradition with modern composition, then moves through Jah Wobble & Evan Parker's dub-meets-free-jazz collision, Cochemea's Yaqui and Apache-rooted explorations, and Maria Schneider's American Crow. Toronto drummer Nick Fraser anchors the third set alongside Nils Petter Molvaer, and Kamasi Washington. New releases and deep cuts, connected across ...

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.

Charlie Ballantine Establishes Himself on the East Coast

by Robert Middleton
April 18, 2026

Jazz guitarist Charlie Ballantine has been on the move for the past decade. In that time, he's released ten albums, with his first official live recording set to arrive later this month--and another new studio album already finished and waiting in the wings. Originally based in Indianapolis, Ballantine moved to Baltimore in 2022 to ...

Patrick Smith: Bebop, Brass Bands, And A Bookstore

by Lawrence Peryer
February 28, 2026

Today, The Tonearm's needle lands on Toronto saxophonist Patrick Smith. Patrick has become a key player in the city's creative music scene. His album, Words Underlined, came out in December on Lit Soc Records, the first release from the new label started by Sellers & Newell, a Toronto bookstore that moonlights as a music ...

Steve Holt Jazz Impact Quintet Nominated For 2026 Juno Award – Jazz Album Of The Year

January 31, 2026

The Steve Holt Jazz Impact Quintet has received a 2026 JUNO Award nomination for Jazz Album of the Year for their latest release, Impact—marking a major milestone for the acclaimed Canadian pianist, composer, and bandleader Steve Holt. The nomination recognizes Impact as one of Canada’s most compelling jazz recordings of the year. The album showcases Holt’s ...

Micaela Rae

Ona

Oná is a Canadian-Brazilian eclectic chamber jazz ensemble inspired by the life-force that is the music of Brazil. Although an emerging ensemble, each musician has achieved international recognition on the Classical, Jazz and World Music stages spanning 3 decades. The ensemble's unique instrumentation of two french horns, bassoon, reeds (flute, clarinet, Saxophone), guitar and percussion provides a captivating global, “classical” sound combined with the soul of Jazz and Brazilian Choro music. Oná Ensemble strives to create new pathways for music creation, collaboration and performance.

Aretha Tillotson: Sad Junie (to Highway Jake)

by John Chacona
December 11, 2025

If the average fan living south of the 49th Parallel knows anything about jazz in Canada, it might begin and end with Oscar Peterson and Diana Krall. Yes, Toronto is emerging as a great jazz city and there are all those players from Nanaimo, but in between, nothing, right? Bassist Aretha Tillotson is here to explode that ...