"A journey that finished at Starlight".
Click here for Pat Carey's Bio
Ted Quinlan is regarded as one of the most versatile guitar
players in Canada. His skills are highly in demand as a jazz player,
session musician, writer and educator. Ted is the head of the guitar
department at Humber College’s highly regarded music program. As
a busy sideman, Ted has performed with Chet Baker, Freddie Hubbard, Eddie
Harris, Jimmy Smith and Joey DeFrancesco. His debut CD “As If”, which
features a program of his original compositions, received a nomination
for the 1998 Juno award in Contemporary Jazz. His other numerous
recording credits include his performances on Doug Riley’s CD “Con Alma”
and Radioland Records’ compilation CD “A Tribute to Wes Montgomery” which
features six major Canadian jazz guitarists. Ted is the recipient
of the 1998 Jazz Report Award for Guitarist of the Year.
Toronto born bassist Kieran Overs has been active on the
Canadian music scene since 1970, first on guitar and electric bass and
for the past 24 years on acoustic bass. He has studied bass with renowned
Danish bassist Neils-Henning Orsted Pederson and arranging with the Boss
Brass's Rick Wilkins. Working in Toronto as a sideman with such artists
as Zoot Sims, Chet Baker, Sonny Fortune, Dewey Redman, Barry Harris, Kenny
Barron, Bill Charlap, Harold Mabern Jr., John Stetch, Carol Sloane and
Bill Mays and touring internationally with Moe Koffman, Dizzy Gillespie
and Jane Bunnett, he has established a solid reputation in Canadian jazz.
To his credit Overs has three CDs on the Unity/Page label
as leader/producer and many more as a sideman. He was one of only eight
jazz artists selected to represent Canada on the four CD, 50-artistboxed
set " HERE AND NOW", A Celebration of Canadian Music produced by the Canada
Council to commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations (released
world-wide in October 1995). In 1994 Kieran was bassist, producer and recording
engineer for Alex Dean's quintet recording "Kaitlyn's Waltz", that won
The Jazz Report's "Best Jazz CD" of 1994 and was on New York's Village
Voice "Top 10 Jazz Recordings" list for that year. He is currently a member
of the Brian Dickinson Trio, Bernie Senensky's "Chalet' Trio, the Nancy
Walker Trio, the Ted Quinlan Quintet, and leads his own quartet and dectet.
As a member of the John Stetch Trio he participated in the 1998 Montreal
International Jazz Festival where the trio won the Prix de Jazz award for
1998. The same trio has recorded a CD for Justin Time Records, that was
released in March 1999. The trio then toured in Canada and Brazil. Kieran
is featured on a new recording of Jane Bunnett's with special guests, Dewey
Redman and Stanley Cowell. This marks his fourth recording with Bunnett.
It will be released in 2002, as well as a new Kieran Overs quartet CD "For
the Record". Also for release in the fall of 2002 are CD projects with
Paul Read & Scott Robinson, Nancy Walker's trio featuring special guest
Kirk MacDonald and vocalist Maureen Kennedy's debut recording that Kieran
will play on and produce.
In addition to his freelance work, Kieran has taught bass,
theory and ensembles at Toronto's Humber College, and was Artist in Residence
for the fall term of 2000 at St Francis Xavier University. He also frequently
adjudicates student recitals at the University of Toronto.
Compositions by Kieran Overs are featured in the Canadian
Jazz Fake Book. A profile of Kieran’s career will be found in Mark Miller's
newly released book "The Miller Companion to Jazz in Canada".
Click here for Jason Jestadt's Bio
For the past thirty years, Tom has performed in almost
every facet of the music business and in every genre including jazz, bigband,
R& B, blues, pop and classical music. He has also been involved in
both the recording industry and in many musical theatre productions including
Cats, Durante, Crazy for You, and Jolson. Over the years, Tom has
accompanied a great variety of performers from The Drifters and Leslie
Gore to Gerry Mulligan, Kai Winding, Roy Eldridge and Bud Johnson.
Currently, he is working in his fifth season at the Shaw Festival.
Click here for Laura Hubert's Bio
Janice Hagan sings jazz with a strong voice, embodying
Duke Ellington's observation "that good dance musicians must be dancers".
Highly respected by the dancers, she inspires them to understand the music
better.
Toronto Star writer Rob Salem affectionately refers to
Janice as "The little lady with the big
voice." Janice Hagan is a powerhouse singer, dynamic
entertainer, and leader of one of the
hottest jaz:z swing groups in Toronto. Belting out great
tunes from the master's like Bessie
Smith, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong and many more,
Janice has been able to showcase her fiery vocals and stellar band every
Thursday night. With Janice running the show, it truly is a night not to
be missed.
Janice owes a lot to the roots jazz approach. A natural
singer from a young age, Janice turned
audiences her way in Karaoke bars where few could resist
her charming and soulful way of
giving an extra something to the meaning of a lyric.
Janice's winning demeanor and big gutsy
voice never loses touch with the audience; in the Sinatra
style she can make her singing come off like an intimate, mesmerizing conversation.
Toronto pianist-vocalist Tyler Yarema this high-energy
player displays everything that’s right about the current crop of young,
talented musicians sweeping the North American music scene. His driving
percussive left-hand and expressive melodic right-hand is complemented
by a smooth, fiery vocal delivery.
When Tyler Yarema started playing the piano at 16, he
gravitated towards exploring modern blues stylings, but as his technique
developed, he began the process of discovering and studying the works of
older musicians like Otis Spann, Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson,
Fats Waller, Duke Ellington and Lionel Hampton. This combination of early
blues and boogie piano players with the more harmonically sophisticated
works of prominent jazz composers has been an influence that he has now
integrated into his own compositions and interpretations of their many
standards.
After moving from his hometown of Thunder Bay to Toronto
in 1994, Tyler quickly established himself on the local music scene as
a high demand sideman. Over the next four years, he recorded and performed
with a who's who of the Toronto blues world including such artists as Snooky
Pryor, Phil Guy, Downchild Blues Band, Little Mac, King Biscuit boy, the
Sidemen and Hock Walsh along with leading his own unit
As a leader, his band has become one of the most sought-after
swing, boogie-woogie groups in the city. With regular appearances at The
Reservoir Lounge and numerous other performances at clubs, festivals and
galas, Tyler Yarema and His Rhythm has developed a large, loyal following
that continues to grow.
Review of "Starlight" by GlasJAZZ - Mar2003
You’ll enjoy this CD if
you fancy dropping in on a live, mellow jazz gig featuring experienced
musicians who like good tonal jazz and play a varied programme including
some bebop, a bit of swing, blues, a jazz ballad, a couple of vocal numbers,
and even a bit of reflective steelstring a la Ry Cooder’s Paris Texas sound.
The album is not in fact ‘live’ but the recording has the reverb setting
of a room or small hall and at times Pat Carey’s sax comes off the mike
slightly as sometimes happens in a gig. You feel there have not been a
lot of takes and this is to the good. There is a relaxed spontaneity in
the performances generally while the band are tight playing the ‘heads’
of the tunes.
Pat Carey’s saxophone has a great
sound,
very clearly steeped in the blues but also at home with jazz phrasing that
shows a broad width of experience. Ted Quinlan’s guitar style varies effortlessly
to suit the required mood. These guys are comfortable with their instruments
and it shows. But this is clearly not about demonstrating technique, this
is about the music.
The CD opens with ‘J.D’ on an up
tempo major pentatonic riff with extended bass pedal, followed by neat
soloing for a comfortable 6/7minutes; in the second track a contemplative
steel string guitar is featured solo in an atmospheric composition; track
four has a really great 5/4 jazz blues feel; ‘Father and Son’is a latin-tinged
number contemplative steel string guitar is featured solo in an atmospheric
composition; track four has a really great 5/4 jazz blues feel; ‘Father
and Son’is a latin-tinged number featuring a different, more modern, electric
reverb guitar sound and in keeping with this mood Pat Carey also develops
another assured solo with ‘edge’. Throughout, the piano of Jason Jestadt
is inventive and supportive, as are Kieran Overs’ bass and Tom (father
of Jason) Jestadts’ drums. (It reminds me of our own Scottish live jazz
dynasty with Ronny Rae’s son John on drums following his own career but
also popping up to support his father in various live and CD lineups).
On track three, a bright swing melody with vocal by Janice Hagan, the combination
of a steady rhythm guitar playing ‘four to a bar’ with a tinkling piano
support by guest Tyler Yarema, was a joy to listen to. Two guest vocalists
complete the eclectic feel of the album. Both clearly enjoy singing and
manage the somewhat jaded, cynical ‘now I’ve seen it all’ feel of the songs’
lyrics with humour. ‘How long was it gonna take?’- asks Janice Hagan, meaning
for the relationship with her man to flounder. Well er,…as it turns out,
‘as long as it takes for him to get caught’ (with another woman we assume).
Her voice is attractive, straight ahead and strong with little vibrato,
good in this kind of swinging, jaunty number, probably not strictly a voice
for jazz we assume). Her voice is attractive, straight ahead and strong
with little vibrato, good in this kind of swinging, jaunty number, probably
not strictly a voice for jazz ballads, but who knows. The other guest Laura
Hubert takes a bluesy tune and with something of the Eartha Kitt treatment
criticises her man for his ‘me,me,me,’ mentality. She has a nice blues
tone.
A very engaging album which will
be interesting throughout, to those who enjoy good music and are not too
precious about putting jazz into exclusive boxes. Hey! It’s not often you
can move from bebop to steel string contemplation, to a harangue by a woman
about men being selfish and all on the one album!
Give it a listen.
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