The Sho Yamamoto Trio (recently renamed The Moment Jazz Trio) is a young jazz ensemble from Osaka Japan who established themselves in 2010. The members of the band are: Yamamoto Sho -Alto Sax, Takeuchi Masashi -Piano, Izumi Masahiro -Bass. Within a year they had released their first recording entitled "That's A Moment" and had begun performing at various jazz clubs in Japan. In the summer of 2011, the Moment Jazz Trio competed in the annual Sapporo City Jazz Contest and out of more than a hundred entries, were awarded the Grand Prize.
For over 40 years, Tower of Power has been creating their own kind of soul music. Since 1968, Tower of Power has delivered their unique brand of music to their fans, appearing before sold out crowds as they tour the world each year. Tower’s sound can be hard to categorize, but the band's leader and founding member, Emilio Castillo, has labeled their sound as "Urban Soul Music."
ROSS WOOLDRIDGE (pianist, clarinetist, saxophonist, flutist, arranger, producer, composer, writer, copyist, teacher) was born on March 25, 1962 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Raoul and The Big Time, performed their first show in the back room of the legendary Queen Street West haunt The Cameron House in 1998. Since that time they have released four recordings, been named Best Toronto Blues Artist by NOW Magazine and are Maple Blues Award winners. They have performed all over the country including Montreal Jazz, Vancouver Folk and Ottawa Blues Festivals and with a number of blues legends including Bettye LaVette, Colin James, Billy Branch and Curtis Salgado.
The Boxcar Boys are a Toronto-based group of five young performers featuring Juno-nominated Rob Teehan on sousaphone, clarinetist and tunesmith John David Williams, jazz master Karl Silveira on trombone, folky fiddler Laura Bates, and soulful Ronen Segall on accordion. They deliver a veritable gumbo of wild gypsy, old-jazz, klezmer, and folk music always performed with a good-time New Orleans spirit.
Peripheral Vision is one of the most exciting and innovative jazz quartets to have recently appeared on the international jazz scene. The creative leaders of the group are long time musical collaborators, guitarist Don Scott and bassist Michael Herring. They have assembled a synergistic musical unit designed to push the boundaries of jazz while engaging the listener with a grooving, toe-tapping immediacy.
With influences ranging from Wayne Shorter to Deerhoof to J Dilla, The Worst Pop Band Ever is a Toronto based group that tries to combine a love of improvisational jazz music and “Pop” music.
A deeply exploratory latin-jazz outfit delving into Puerto Rican, Cuban and Brazilian modern jazz traditions with a New York latin-jazz attitude featuring some of Toronto’s most acclaimed jazz and latin music specialists from Trinidad, Cuba, Mexico & Canada. This quartet has been often compared to the "Wayne Shorter Quartet, were each member born in South America" & named after the Puerto Rican Arecibo radio telescope, responsible for the deepest exploration of space mankind has achieved to date.
The Donna Grantis Electric Band is a psychedelic fusion trio fronted by Canadian guitarist Donna Grantis. Featuring Roger Travassos (drums) and Steve Zsirai (bass), the group recently released their debut album titled Suites. Inspired by artists ranging from Bill Frisell to Billy Cobham and Jeff Beck to Jimi Hendrix, the album is a concept record featuring two suites of original instrumental music named after Donna’s beloved guitars: Elektra and Starla. Check out donnagrantis.com for a free track download.
Finding the right groove means digging deep. With a love of vintage soul and funk, The Soul Motivators have mined their musicality to bring you a fresh revival of a retro sound. Featuring numerous veterans of Toronto's thriving underground funk scene, The Soul Motivators are a 9-piece, 3 horn explosion, whose rough, tough and soulful funk with a hip hop flair motivates people straight to the dance floor. For The Soul Motivators, its all about keeping it real, keeping it right and keeping it tight.
