I grew up listening to my father's dixieland band, and during my high school years I walked a path that started at Bob Dylan and ended with Sonic Youth. While playing in rock bands in various basements throughout Nova Scotia I nurtured a love for Ornette Coleman and the free jazz of the early 1960s, which grew during my studies of Western art music composition at Dalhousie University. I left Nova Scotia to study jazz in Toronto, where I supported myself for several years teaching guitar and playing the odd gig before returning to school to study composition and ethnomusicology. Throughout my graduate studies I focused on learning more about free improvisation, while continuing to play in jazz, rock, and folks bands. Below are some of my recent creative projects.
See Through Trio
My main musical project for the last seven years has been a group called See Through Trio, which is composed of Tania Gill on piano, Mark Laver on saxophone, and myself on double bass. This trio has released two CDs of original compositions and toured throughout Canada. Here are some samples from our recordings - to hear more, please visit See Through Trio's full website at www.seethroughtrio.info.
Here is a short, low-fi video of See Through Trio in action:
Muskox
Muskox is a Toronto-based post-minimalist prog folk band led by multi-instrumentalist and composer Michael Smith. I have had the good fortune to play bass in this ongoing adventure, which to date has released five CDs of Smith's original compositions. Here are four tracks from these discs - for more Muskox, visit www.muskoxhq.net.
Muskox is a Toronto-based post-minimalist prog folk band led by multi-instrumentalist and composer Michael Smith. I have had the good fortune to play bass in this ongoing adventure, which to date has released five CDs of Smith's original compositions. Here are four tracks from these discs - for more Muskox, visit www.muskoxhq.net.
SISTER
SISTER is an independent rock band led by Carla and Lynette Gillis, whom I have known since the mid-1990s when they were members of the well-known Halifax band Plumtree. They have relocated to Toronto, and have been kind enough to allow me to return to my rock roots as the bassist in their new project. Check out www.sistermusic.ca for more SISTER music and news.
Along with these regular projects I perform frequently as a freelance bassist around Toronto, and have been lucky to play with some of the city's most compelling jazz musicians. As an example of this aspect of my musical activity, here are two tracks I recorded recently with a quartet led by pianist Tania Gill. These are her original compositions, and feature Lina Allemano on trumpet and Mark Segger on drums.
Magpie
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Compositions
Much of my recent work has been concerned with improvisation, yet I also enjoy composing music that is fully notated. I have written music for chamber ensembles as well as for film and dance. Here are three examples of my chamber music—the first is the third movement from a string quartet, the second a sextet piece for flute, clarinet, violin, piano, cello, and percussion, and the third an art song for voice and piano on a text by Nova Scotian-born poet Alden Nowlan.