Mike Downes Trio

Multiple JUNO award winner Mike Downes is a Canadian bassist, composer, arranger and educator. Described “as gifted a composer as he is a bassist*," his melodic approach to bass playing, composing and arranging has kept him at the forefront of the Canadian jazz scene since the 1980s.

His extensive discography includes projects as a band-leader, performer, composer and producer. His own Ripple Effect won a 2014 JUNO award for Traditional Jazz Album of the Year and Root Structure was the 2018 JUNO award winner for Jazz Album of the Year: Solo. Root Structure inspired UK Vibe to write “5/5 - This album is as close to perfect as it is possible to get and fully warrants its rating here. Buy it!”

Mike has performed with a long list of international jazz artists including Chris Potter, Pat Metheny, John Abercrombie, Kenny Wheeler, Dave Liebman and Donny McCaslin, and Canadians Don Thompson, Kirk MacDonald, Pat LaBarbera, Robi Botos, Molly Johnson and many more. He has performed throughout Europe, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Iceland, the United States and Canada.

Mike teaches music at Humber College in Toronto and is the author of The Jazz Bass Line Book and co-author of Jazz and Contemporary Music Theory.