MIKE DOWNES AND LARNELL LEWIS

Mike Downes

Multiple JUNO award winner Mike Downes has been a major force in Canada’s music scene since the early 80s. He has worked with a long list of international artists including Pat Metheny, Chris Potter, John Abercrombie, Kenny Wheeler, Dave Liebman and Donny McCaslin, along with many of Canada’s top musicians including Don Thompson, Kirk MacDonald, Pat LaBarbera, Robi Botos and Molly Johnson.

His extensive discography as a bassist, composer, arranger and producer includes his own Ripple Effect (2014 JUNO winner for Traditional Jazz Album of the Year) and Root Structure (2018 JUNO winner for Jazz Album of the Year: Solo). He has performed throughout Europe, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Iceland, the United States and Canada.

Mike is the Bass Department Head at Humber College in Toronto and author of The Jazz Bass Line Book and co-author of Jazz and Contemporary Music Theory.

For more information please visit www.mikedownes.com.

“This bass ace is incapable of letting you down” – Midwest Record

Mike’s time playing is delightfully inventive…his lines are clear, hip, and agile. His technique and intonation are extraordinary” Kim Richmond, Jazz Player Magazine

As gifted a composer as he is a bassist” – International Society of Bassists

Downes’ playing is marked by an unerring and versatile technique, the kind of bass playing that’s never static yet nevertheless establishes a firm foundation” Textura

 

Larnell Lewis is a Grammy Award winning musician, composer, producer, and educator. A Toronto native, Larnell has quickly established himself as one of the most diverse and in-demand drummers currently on the music scene. Along with his long-standing position behind the drums in Snarky Puppy, Larnell has led many highly successful groups of his own and toured the globe with some of the most well known names in music, including Etienne Charles, Gregory Porter, Benny Golson, Lalah Hathaway, John Scofield, Pat Metheny, Lisa Fisher, Kurt Elling, Gary Burton, and more.

Larnell’s immense talent, fierce creativity, and continually evolving musical style is what has kept him at the top of the list as a musical collaborator for artists across the globe. In June 2018, Larnell released his highly anticipated debut album In The Moment, which featured ten original compositions in a variety of musical styles. His talents not just as a musician but as a producer also landed him the opportunity to act as Musical Director for a performance during the Toronto International Film Festival’s premiere of the critically-acclaimed documentary of Quincy Jones, Quincy, (directed by Rashida Jones & Al Hicks), where he led performances from the likes of Yebba Smith, Mark Ronson, and Chaka Khan.

Among his many accolades, including the 2004 Oscar Peterson Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music (Humber College), Larnell was named as the fourth recipient of the Toronto Arts Foundation’s Emerging Jazz Award (2017), which is a $10,000 cash prize intended to support the creation of a project that features original compositions from each recipient.

Larnell’s talents can be seen worldwide via his various social media platforms, which have a combined total of over 100,000 followers. His reach to fans and musicians of all generations is proof that he not only possesses undeniable talent, but a spirit unlike any other that excites, inspires, and encourages music fans of all ages to further explore their musical tastes and the follow him on the road he has paved for himself.

Larnell Lewis is endorsed by
Yamaha Drums, Zildjian, Promark, Evans, D’Addario, and Latin Percussion.