I grew up on the outskirts of Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. I am a 27 year old full time trumpet player, singer, entertainer, educator, and student of life. A lot of things have to happen to get from Chilliwack, British Columbia to Brooklyn and I will do my best to outline them here:
I grew up as the youngest of three on a two-acre hobby farm and was encouraged to keep all options open by my wonderful parents. After a brief stint in dance classes I joined all sorts of sports teams, entered French Immersion and started playing the piano. Just before turning 12 I switched from piano to trumpet, kept my grades up and generally distracted myself with friends, music, sports and boys (not necessarily in that order) throughout high school.
I graduated as Student Council President, Captain of my Volleyball and soccer team, a member of the Destination Imagination Drama Improv group, and lead trumpet in the school band. Halfway through 11th Grade I joined the CSS Dixieland band that shaped my life from there on. I was sponsored by the Vancouver Dixieland Jazz Society to attend a camp in California and fell in love with the music (and maybe a boy, not necessarily in that order). The CSS Dixieband was re-named The 51st Eight and was the first Canadian youth band to ever appear at the Sacramento jubilee. My future in music was set.
After graduating in 2001 I moved to Vancouver and entered Capilano College’s Degree program and earned my Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies Performance, completed in the Spring of 2006. There I studied with Kevin Elaschuk and Alan Matheson and played in the A Band under the direction of Rejean Marois. One of the best things about being in those groups is supporting artists – In my time we played with Cedar Walton, Jane Bunnett, Jimmy Heath, and Kristin Korb just to name a few. In 2005 my friend Claire McKenna and I founded an all female band called Mighty Aphrodite that was quite ground breaking for its time and still exists today – www.mightyjazz.com
2006-2009 were immense years of traveling and gaining experience from all over the world; You can see the wheres and whens under "Professional Resume" in the sidebar. Both the 51st Eight (now the Big Bang Jazz Band) and Mighty Aphrodite exploded on the festival scene and I played up to 20 weekend festivals in a year.
I began performing regularly with Canadian Icon Dal Richards and his Orchestra which fine tuned my performance chops – nothing is better than singing and playing over a full big band! I fell in love with a beautiful French man (some things never change) and focused a lot of my efforts towards performing in Europe for a few years. This was also during the Bush administration so my glossy-eyed view of the US had waned for the time being.
Through Dal I met my next great mentor, Paul Airey. Paul guided me through the incredible process of opening up my solo career, starting to write songs, and recording my first album. His studio, the “Sound Kitchen” was basically my second home for two years. I released my first solo album “Fresh” in 2009 which was a huge venture for me – It’s a huge eclectic mix and I love it like you would a first born child. I love it, and I've learned so much from creating it.
2010 sparked change. I had purposely stayed in Vancouver to witness and participate in the Winter
Olympics. I didn’t know what to expect a year prior but was fortunate to have a wealth of opportunity through Paul and Dal to perform and do some arranging work for the Paralympic Opening Ceremony.
I performed regularly at public and private venues (even for Princess Anne!) and have no regrets on making that time in Vancouver a priority. The highlight was definitely performing in the Ceremony for thousands of people and millions worldwide.. I remember thinking about my upbringing in Chilliwack and what it meant to me right before the lights came on for our portion of the show. In retrospect I wasn't all that far away, at least geographically :)
Still, it was time to move on.. I knew I couldn’t stay traveling all the time to make focused progress and for once wasn’t chasing a boy, so the spotlight was on what I really wanted to say musically and expected of myself personally. I began writing a lot and in July 2010 I toured Canada with a quartet playing original material, thanks to bookings by Turner Music. By that point I had already decided to seriously move to the US, and the athlete in me wanted the biggest challenge I could face. If you can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere, right?
So, here I am.
Schedule:
Schedule:
APRIL
02*Queens Half Marathon!!*
04: Sidney Bechet Society Concert. Leader. Bucky Pizzarelli, Jackie Williams, Jim Fryer, Scott Robinson, TBA. Symphony Spage 2537 Broadway 8pm
08: Hawkeye Swing Festival, Jayna Morgan
09: Hawkeye Swing Festival, My band!
16-17: Washington DCLX, Glenn Crytzer Big Band
30: Molly Ryan Band, Manhattan. 9-11 pm
Concert in Port Hardy, BC, 02/07/09
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