Saturday 12 September | 8:45pm | Royal City Mission
Rob Clutton, Ethan Cohn, Josh Cole, Brandon Davis, Andrew Furlong, Georgia Korba, Jill McKenna, Mira Riselli, Stephen Vickery & Tyler Wagler
Joëlle Léandre was born September 12, 1951. What if, in celebration of her 75th trip around the sun, a choir of upright basses scattered throughout the RCM to bathe us all in the sound of that gorgeous instrument for a brief moment before Joëlle takes the stage with Gordon Grdina, Gerry Hemingway, François Houle, and Myra Melford?
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Rob Clutton is a bass player who works in the spaces between composition and improvisation, in collaboration with musicians, dancers, theatre and performance artists. Rob composes for and performs with small groups including solo bass, The Rob Clutton Trio, Cluttertones, Sweet Session, and duo with Tony Malaby. As a creative bassist, Rob has dedicated himself to playing original music, and has toured extensively in Canada and internationally with various long-term projects including Drumheller, The Nick Fraser Quartet, Lina Allemano’s Titanium Riot, Stranger Still, Steve Koven, John Millard, NOJO, and others. Rob has also performed with international musicians such as Ray Anderson, Michael Attias, Anthony Braxton, Don Byron, Tobias Delius, Charles Gayle, Ig Henneman, Ingrid Laubrock, Joe Lovano, Isabel Roessler, Roscoe Mitchell, Roswell Rudd, and Kenny Wheeler.
“Clutton composes pieces that begin with the improbable and sometimes approach the uncanny, strange states of musical mind in which the heterodox elements seem to tune calmly to a new standard.” — Stuart Broomer, Whole Note
robclutton.com
Ethan Cohn is a bass player, composer, improvisor, and educator based in New York City. Known for his versatility across genres and his love of musical cross-pollination, his work reflects his sponge-like capacity to absorb and integrate his many interests into one unified voice. He frequently fuses worlds of jazz and rock, composition and improvisation, acoustic and electric, tradition and invention, and is interested in the potential of electronics as both a compositional tool and an interface for live performers and improvisors. Ethan is an alumnus of McGill University, The New School, and Focusyear Basel.
ethan-cohn.com
instagram.com/cornbread6666
Originally from Vancouver, bassist, improviser, and composer Josh Cole co-founded the critically acclaimed October Trio with Dan Gaucher and Evan Arntzen in 2004. Since moving to Toronto in 2010, Josh has worked with Brodie West, Nick Fraser, Peter Zummo (NYC), Ken Aldcroft, and Martha and Rufus Wainwright. Josh’s current projects include the chamber ensemble Josh Cole Quartet + Strings, featuring Aline Homzy, Nick Storring, John Oswald, Lina Allemano, and Blake Howard; and Body Help with Colin Fisher and Kieran Adams. Additionally he is a regular collaborator with the Brodie West Quintet, Sandro Perri, Luka Kuplowsky, and Craig Dunsmuir’s Dun Dun Band.
joshcolebass.com
cassiarrecords.bandcamp.com
youtube.com/@joshcolebass
cassiarrecords.bsky.social
Brandon Davis is a double bassist, improviser, composer, and educator in Toronto. With roots in Toronto’s avant-garde improvising and singer/songwriter communities, he is a versatile musician with experience in a wide variety of contexts. In each of these contexts, he is committed, intentional, and deeply motivated by a passion to create vulnerable and impactful music and to help others do the same. Brandon is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Toronto where he studies the phenomenon of unselfconscious decision-making in improvisation.
instagram.com/bjsdavis
1039records.bandcamp.com/album/fourteen
Andrew Furlong is an upright and electric bass player and an active member of the Toronto music scene. He is fortunate to have performed with the likes of Han Bennink, Sandy Ewen, Michael Moore, Ben Bennett, Sam Weinberg, Ken Aldcroft’s Convergence Ensemble, Kevin Shea, Glen Hall, and John Stowell. He can usually be found playing around Toronto a few nights a week and occasionally across Canada, the U.S, and Europe.
Georgia Korba began playing piano at age six and upright bass at fourteen, developing a deep interest in jazz. Encouraged by her bass instructors, she completed a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies at Capilano University in 2007. She then toured extensively across North America and Europe with numerous jazz bands before settling in Calgary in 2011. Specializing in Traditional Hot New Orleans–style jazz, she has performed with groups such as Hopping Mad and the Big Bang Jazz Band, and she developed a strong foundation in Western Swing during her years in Alberta. Influenced by bassists Slam Stewart and Pops Foster, Georgia now begins her DMA in Jazz Performance at the University of Toronto, focusing on hot jazz history, solo bass repertoire, improvisation, and equity in jazz.
intagram.com/georgia_bear
instagram.com/korbasuncollective
Jill McKenna is an upright bassist and educator. Originally from Hamilton, she spent the better part of a decade in Nelson, BC, embedding herself in western Canada’s acoustic music scene while continuously pursuing an improvisation-based practice. She recently moved to Guelph, where she is pursuing her PhD in Critical Studies in Improvisation at U of G. When not on stage, you can usually find Jill with a cup of coffee in hand eating locally grown vegetables.
jillianmckennamusic.com
instagram.com/jmckennamusic
Mira Riselli (she/her) is a bassist, composer, and improviser based in Toronto, ON. She draws inspiration from many different genres, including free jazz, punk, folk, pop, and emo. She has performed and written for many different series and festivals, such as Women from Space, Track Could Bend, and Liquid Architecture. In addition to her work as a musician, you can find her volunteering at the Toronto Zine Library, cross-stitching, or trying to perfect her tomato sauce.
Stephen Vickery (bass, voice) has been professionally involved in creative music since 1984. He has performed at festivals in Canada, the United States, and Japan, also on television and radio. He is a strong advocate for music education, graphic and visual arts, and community involvement. He is also active as a recording artist and writer. His photographic work can be seen on Instagram.
Tyler Wagler is a Guelph based multi-instrumentalist, improviser, songwriter and educator. For the last eighteen years he has played bass as a founding member of modern roots reggae band The Human Rights. He is also busy as a double bass player playing everything from folk music to straight ahead swing and free jazz. As a singer/songwriter he has released two EPs under his own name, the latter of which Gray Owl Point calls “a skillfully orchestrated and intimate affair.” He is currently the Musical Director of the Guelph Youth Jazz Ensemble and also teaches private lessons in double bass and acoustic guitar at University of Guelph.
instagram.com/tyler.wagler
tylerwagler.bandcamp.com
photos by RitaTaylor, Yakiv Tsvietinskyi, and GeeWong, among others.