The Artistic Director's Guide is our way of taking you "beyond the bio". Here you'll find audio and video clips, and I'll describe what I like about each artist and suggest why he or she is important to the scene. So dive in—use the menu options above to find an artist, and let's seek to answer "What's so good about...?"
Josh Grossman, Artistic Director
Toronto Downtown Jazz
Calling anyone "the greatest (insert instrument) player of all time" is recipe for endless debate. However - if the greatest jazz drummer of all time had to be crowned, Buddy Rich would certainly be a contender.
Okay - so I have to declare some bias here. I've had the good fortune of working with both Ingrid and Christine Jensen. Ingrid's one of my favourite trumpeters; Christine's writing for big band I think is some of the best in Canada (and the JUNO Awards have agreed twice). All that said - bias or no - I'm pretty excited that the Jensen sisters are coming to Toronto, along with guitarist Ben Monder, bassist Fraser Hollins and drummer Jon Wikan, for a project called Infinitude.
Several years ago, I attended the Detroit Jazz Festival. As part of their always-impressive line-up of free concerts, I caught a performance by the Maria Schneider Orchestra. As a big band leader (and sometimes composer), this was a show not to be missed - and the band sounded fantastic. On one particular tune - I'm having trouble remembering which - Donny McCaslin took a solo. And absolutely blew everyone away in the audience. As far as I can remember, it's the only solo I've ever seen in a big band context which on its own earned a standing ovation.
In short, Bokanté is a new project, conceived by Snarky Puppy founder Michael League, which brings together the diverse musical traditions of 8 musicians from 4 different continents. The result? Heavy grooves, a head-bop-inducing mix of musical styles, and original music which sounds - and feels - fantastic.
Yes. For reals. But with Hiromi and Edmar Castaneda, I guarantee you won't notice it's just the two of them.
Jazz festival aficionados will be familiar with Hiromi - in the past few years she has appeared as a featured artist with Stanley Clarke's band (2010 in the tent), and twice with her Trio Project (2012 in the tent on a double-bill with The Bad Plus, and 2014 at Koerner Hall). Her performances are bombastic, but also, at times, wonderfully delicate. The lesser known component of the duo - at least here in Toronto - is Colombian harp virtuoso Edmar Castaneda.