After the incredible performance by Andrew Janusson Quartet last week, where we bade farewell to multi-talented John Lee and his return to Berklee College of Music in Boston, it’s time to settle into more local, but no less significant music in a cool, smooth jazz vein.
This Thursday, local musicians Jeff Drummond and bassist John Hyde celebrate the release of their new CD Drummond & Hyde: Spoondrift on Jan. 15 at the Avalanche bar & Grill.
The duo spent a few days at Dove Creek Studios last winter, where they produced 10 songs of relaxed and ambient instrumental guitar and bass music in the jazz idiom.
Hyde and Drummond will be joined by local drummer Aaron Amar to perform songs from the new CD as well as other jazz standards.
This is your opportunity to support local music and pick up a copy of this great new CD available at the show, and also Bop City, iTunes and CD Baby online.
Drummond
Jeff Drummond is a musician, producer/engineer, composer and music educator.
As a guitarist, he has toured North America and the U.K. with various artists spanning the genres of jazz, rock, R&B and roots music. Jeff is a creative force behind his own groups Sinistrio and Drummond & Hyde as well as a composer, bandleader and collaborator on many other side projects.
With 25 years of experience, he is a well-regarded music educator, teaching privately and as a faculty member at the CYMC jazz camp.
Also well known as a “studio guy”, he has many years of experience producing, engineering and performing on countless recordings. Jeff currently records at Dove Creek Studios, performs around Vancouver Island and teaches privately in the Comox Valley where he resides.
Hyde
John Hyde was born in Edmonton, Alberta into a family that valued the arts.
By the age of 15, he was working with bands in Edmonton, receiving valuable on-the-bandstand experience at an unusually young age.
In the late 1970s he was a first call recording session player, freelance jazz bassist and classical bassist with many organizations including the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and the Tommy Banks band. John relocated to Calgary where he continued to perform and teach in Calgary for three decades, creating recordings that feature his playing, compositions and collaborations with Ralf Buschmeyer, Verismo, two albums of his own, and now a duo recording with Jeff Drummond.
Amar
Aaron Amar, so well-known and respected by jazz fans in this area, grew up in Toronto, where he had access to an abundance of high quality music. There, he studied with Jim Blakley, one of the most renowned and sought after drum instructors in the world.
Aaron played around the Toronto scene before heading west on different pursuits. Since settling in the Comox Valley several years ago, Aaron has become a fixture and a first call drummer on the jazz scene, playing with numerous local and renowned musicians from afar.
Jazz is now offered every Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at Avalanche Bar and Grill. Admission to this performance is $5 for members and $7 for non-members.