LATEST NEWS

White Rock Blues Festival - Sep 6

It's the White Rock Blues Festival with Johnny Ferriera's Swing Machine.

Jim Byrnes Band in Gastown - Aug 17 & at Yale Hotel - Aug 21

I'll be performing with the Jim Byrnes Band on Aug 17 In the afternoon at Maple Tree Square in Gastown. Also on Aug 21 at The Yale Hotel which will be my last gig there before they close for renos.

Nanaimo Blues Festival - Aug 15

I'll be at the Nanaimo Blues Festival with Johnny Ferreira's Swing Machine.

Vancouver Art Gallery - Aug 6 1:00 pm

It'll be 'Caliente!' with John Korsrud's Orquestra Goma Dura at the Vancouver Art Gallery as part of Festival Vancouver.

Bowen Island Dock Dance - Aug 2

I'll be at the Bowen Island Dock Dance with Johnny Ferreira's Swing Machine.

Powder Blues - Coquitlam Jul 19 & Calgary Jul 20

I'm doing a concert with the Powder Blues at Blue Mtn. Park in Coquitlam and then flying next day to Calgary to play at the Deerfoot Casino.

Jim Byrnes - New Westminster Quay - Jul 18 7:00 pm

I'll be performing outside on the New Westminster Quay with Jim Byrnes.

Jazz Cellar - Jul 11 & 12

At the Jazz Cellar I'm part of a special large ensemble put together by Hugh Fraser to perform music written by Gil Evans for Jimi Hendrix. Should be interesting!

Paperboys - Jul 10

I'm with the Paperboys at the Harrison Arts Festival 8:00 pm show.

Luis Giraldo's CD Release - Jul 6

A special CD release for Luis Giraldo's newest recording, "It's Always You", which features many of my arrangements. We'll have a horn section and a string section. Not to be missed!

Soulstream - Robson Street - Jul 1 Canada Day

Performed on Robson Street for Canada Day with Soulstream.

Vancouver International Jazz Festival - Jun 29

Performed at the David Lam Park with Orquestra Goma Dura for the Vancouver International Jazz Festival.

Jazz Festival - Jun 23

I performed at the Jazz Festival with Sacred Linoleum (a.k.a. Soulstream without singers) which opened for Divine Brown with whom I also did several tracks on her latest recording.

Dal Richards Orchestra - Jun 21

Jazz Festival Concert at Maple Tree Square with the Dal Richards Orchestra.

Don Rickles - RiverRock Casino - Jun 20 & 21

I was honored to be insulted by the great Don Rickles at the RiverRock Casino Theatre as member of the pit orchestra.

Tom Jones at Jackie Cohen's Benefit - Jun 2

I played with Soulstream at Jackie Cohen's benefit and had the pleasure of backing up Sir Tom Jones himself!

Mayor Sam Sullivan - May 28

I had the pleasure of playing at a rally for Mayor Sam Sullivan. Sam is a good friend to musicians and it'll be a shame to see him go.

Calgary Stampede Recording Session w/Dave Pearce - May 26

I played at recording session for the pre-recorded music used at the Calgary Stampede. It was thrilling to record with a large orchestral ensemble and the orchestrations were done by the brilliant arranger, Dave Pearce.

Coda Magazine Photo Shoot - May 4

I was honored to take part in the Coda Magazine photo shoot, a day in Canadian Jazz, featuring jazz musicians being photographed simultaneously in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal. The concept was taken from the original Art Kane photograph, 'Harlem 1958', shown below.

Senorita Sarita - May 19

I performed with Senorita Sarita at the Vancouver Children's Festival. I did the arranging for and played sax and flute on her CD, "Groovy Latin Tunes for Children."

Hard Rubber Orchestra - May 11

I performed with John Korsrud's "Hard Rubber Orchestra" at the VECC. We did some movements from my extended piece, "Nirvana".

The Mighty Tamlins and Leroy Sibbles of Heptones

On April 18th, I performed with Jamaican Reggae legends, "The Mighty Tamlins" and "Leroy Sibbles" of "Heptones" fame.

Bend Sinister

I provided string arrangements for Vancouver band, "Bend Sinister's" upcoming CD release.

Jim Byrnes & Sojourners

I performed at a "World Hope event with "Jim Byrnes" and the fabulous "Sojourners".

Soulstream moved it's Mon/Tues rites to the Republic Night Club

Big News! After more than 10 years performing every Monday and Tuesday at Bar None in Yaletown, Soulstream is moving it's Mon/Tues rites to the Republic Night Club, 958 Granville, in the heart of Vancouver's entertainment district.

Divine Brown CD

I did some saxophone tracks for the upcoming Divine Brown CD, due out later this year. Divine has an astounding voice and wowed everyone when she sat in with Soulstream at Bar None while in Vancouver recording at The Armoury.

Goma Dura

I performed as a featured artist as part of several ensembles for the BC High School Jazz Competition at the Bell Centre for the Performing Art's. Goma Dura (a Salsa offshoot of John Korsrud's Hard Rubber Orchestra) was a huge hit with the young musicians in attendance.

Fred Stride's Jazz Orchestra

I also did a concert with Fred Stride's Jazz Orchestra. Fred is the winner of the 2007 International Jazz Arranging Competition and we performed some of the amazing compositions from his latest CD, "Forward Motion".

Recent Recordings include work with:

Due out in 2008, I'm very excited to be working on arrangements for pianist/vocalist Luis Giraldo's newest recording.

Alex 'A Train' Boynton, bassist of Payolas fame on his recording 'Lifetime' due out in 2008.

I took part in a very interesting concert with Hypatia Creative Women's Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Lorae Farrell. I played tenor saxophone and did some arrangements that featured other special guests, Jim Byrnes and Hugh Fraser.

Band of Rebels CD Release - Dec 6

I took the stage at the Plaza for the CD release of "Band Of Rebels" (for which I provided some saxophone tracks) with the legendary punk band DOA for probably the loudest concert I've ever participated in!

Soulstream at 2007 YamaJam on Sep 30

I had the great honor to perform with Soulstream as host band for the 2007 'YamaJam' featuring some legendary Yamaha artists.

Paperboys at Richards on Sep 16

I performed with The Paperboys at Richards on Richards.

Josh Groban

I performed with Josh Groban at GM Place on Aug 17.

Maple Ridge Jazz & Blues Festival

On Aug 11, I performed with old friends Johnny Ferreira's Swing Machine and Tom Lavin's Powder Blues at the Maple Ridge Jazz & Blues Festival.

West Vancouver Harmony Arts Festival

I performed at the West Vancouver Harmony Arts Festival with my favourite band, Soulstream, celebrating it's 10th anniversary.

Festival Vancouver

I had the pleasure of performing outside the VAG for Festival Vancouver on Aug 8 with The Festival Big Band lead by Al Matheson.

VEJI

I played with old friends, Hugh Fraser's VEJI (Vancouver Ensemble of Jazz Improvisation) at the Kaslo Jazz Festival on Aug 5.

Joe Keithley

I contributed a number of saxophone tracks for Joe Keithley's (DOA) latest release, "Band Of Rebels". It was really cool to work with a punk legend and was certainly a unique experience for me.

Dal Richards and Friends

Also in the recording realm I contributed three arrangements for Vancouver big band legend Dal Richards latest Cd release "Dal Richards and Friends".

Christie Grace

Due out this fall is a CD project that I produced for jazz singer Christie Grace. "Contemplation" features some very cool cover tunes and several song collaborations that Christie and I concocted and arrangements by myself, Bob Murphy, and Michael Creber. Some of the top Canadian jazz musicians play on the tracks, including Daryl Jahnke, Jodi Proznick, Dave Robbins, Chris Gestrin, Pepe Danza, and a special guest appearance by Paul Shaffer of Letterman Show fame.

Jim Byrnes Concert

I had the honour of doing horn arrangements and leading an allstar horn section consisting of Derry Byrne/Vince Mai-trumpets, Ross Taggart-tenor sax, Chad Makela-baritone sax, and myself on alto sax for a Jim Byrnes concert at the Vancouver International Folk Festival. There were several notable guests including Steve Dawson, Geoff Muldaur, and Karen Savoca.

Joe Coughlin

I performed with Juno Award winning Jazz vocalist, Joe Coughlin in Victoria, B.C. March 21 at the Hotel Grand and March 22 at Hermann's Jazz Club.

Joe is an amazing singer from Toronto, now residing in Victoria. I'm honoured to have performed on his new CD release, "Things Turn Out That Way" which features such West Coast Jazz luminaries as guitarist Pat Coleman (who also produced the CD), trumpeter Mike Herriot, pianist Tony Genge, bassist Ken Lister, and drummer Buff Allen.

The Creatures of Habit, Jazz Cellar

Our 20th anniversary reunion concert of my first recording project, “The Creatures of Habit”. We performed Mar.9th and 10th at the Jazz Cellar and in celebration of the event we re-released our CD, "Live In Montreal", (originally on Justin Time Records).

I was inspired to form this group after attending the Banff School Jazz Workshop for two summers(1987-88) and we eventually won the Grand Prix at the CBC-Alcan Jazz Competition at the Montreal Jazz Festival in 1990.

I’m pleased to say all the original members from the recording are going to be performing at the Cellar. Here we are in 1989, with more hair and less body mass than we currently have!

Havana Jazz Festival

Here's some pix from my trip to Cuba Nov.28/Dec.4 2006 with the Vancouver Ensemble of Jazz Improvisation (VEJI) where we performed at the Havana Jazz Festival. On opening night, bandleader Hugh Fraser sat in with the great Chucho Valdez, who sat in with us the following night!