Jeff Johnston Trio

Last updated
Jeff Johnston Trio
Origin Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada
Genres Jazz
Years active1980s-present
MembersJeff Johnston
Mike Billard
Jim Vivian
Website www.jeffjohnstonmusic.com

The Jeff Johnston Trio is a Canadian jazz band from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. [1] The trio, consisting of pianist Jeff Johnston, bassist Jim Vivian and drummer Michael Billard, has been nominated for a 2002 Juno Award and a 2000 East Coast Music Award. [2]

Contents

History

The Jeff Johnston Trio played its first show in 1983; that year the trio participated in the first Newfoundland Sound Symposium. [3]

The band's album Nuage, recorded in 2001, was nominated for a Juno Award as "Best Contemporary Jazz Instrumental". [4] [5]

In 2013 the group released its fifth recording, Returning, featuring jazz in the style of 1970s and 1980s European pianists.

Johnston has relocated to Montreal, where he has brought together a new group, still called the Jeff Johnston Trio, with bassist Fraser Hollins, and drummer Rich Irwin. [6]

Drummer Mike Billard died on September 1, 2024, at the age of 60. [7]

Personnel

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oscar Peterson</span> Canadian jazz pianist (1925–2007)

Oscar Emmanuel Peterson was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. Considered a virtuoso and one of the greatest jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordings, won eight Grammy Awards, as well as a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy, and received numerous other awards and honours. He played thousands of concerts worldwide in a career lasting more than 60 years. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, simply "O.P." by his friends, and informally in the jazz community, "the King of inside swing".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holly Cole</span> Canadian jazz singer

Holly Cole is a Canadian jazz singer and actress. For many years she performed with her group The Holly Cole Trio.

Newfoundland and Labrador is an Atlantic Canadian province with a folk musical heritage based on the Irish, English and Cornish traditions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Abercrombie (guitarist)</span> American jazz guitarist (1944–2017)

John Laird Abercrombie was an American jazz guitarist. His work explored jazz fusion, free jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Abercrombie studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. He was known for his understated style and his work with organ trios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Don Thompson (musician)</span> Canadian jazz musician

Donald Winston Thompson, OC is a Canadian jazz musician who plays double bass, piano, and vibes. Thompson's career as a performer, recording artist, producer, session musician, and music educator has lasted for more than 50 years.

The Juno Awards of 2002 were presented in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada during the weekend of 13–14 April 2002.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Renee Rosnes</span> Canadian jazz pianist, composer, and arranger

Irene Louise Rosnes, known professionally as Renee Rosnes, is a Canadian jazz pianist, composer, and arranger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Husband</span> British jazz and rock musician

Gary Husband is an English jazz and rock drummer, pianist, keyboard player and bandleader. He is also a composer, arranger and producer.

John Geggie is an Ottawa-based Canadian bassist who performs jazz with several Ottawa-based groups and performers. As well, he is a classical bassist who has performed in the National Arts Centre Orchestra, in Ottawa-area chamber orchestras, and in chamber music concerts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jodi Proznick</span> Canadian jazz bassist and educator (born 1975)

Jodi Proznick is a Canadian jazz bassist, composer, educator and producer. In 2019, she was named Jazz Artist of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards and has been nominated for three Juno Awards. She is a recipient of the Lieutenant Governor's Arts and Music Awards in 2022 for her contribution to music education in British Columbia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robi Botos</span> Hungarian-Canadian jazz pianist

Robi Botos is a Hungarian-Canadian jazz pianist. He has recorded several albums as a leader and was the winner of the TD Grand Jazz Award at the 2012 Montreal International Jazz Festival. In 2016, Botos won the JUNO Award for Best Jazz Album of the Year (Solo) for his recording of Movin' Forward.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elizabeth Shepherd (musician)</span> Canadian singer and pianist

Elizabeth Shepherd is a Canadian pianst, singer, songwriter and producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phil Dwyer (musician)</span> Musical artist

Phil Dwyer is a Canadian jazz saxophonist, pianist, composer, producer and educator. In 2017 he graduated from the University of New Brunswick (UNB) Faculty of Law in Fredericton, New Brunswick and was called to the bar of British Columbia in 2018. Dwyer is Member of the Order of Canada, having been invested in 2013 "For his contributions to jazz as a performer, composer and producer, and for increasing access to music education in his community." Dwyer has been nominated for Juno Awards six times and won Best Mainstream Jazz Album in 1994 with Dave Young for Fables and Dreams and Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year in 2012 for the recording Changing Seasons. Dwyer has also appeared on Juno Award winning recordings with Hugh Fraser (1988), Joe Sealy (1997), Natalie MacMaster (2000), Guido Basso (2004), Don Thompson (2006), Molly Johnson (2009), Terry Clarke (2010), and Diana Panton (2015). He is an alumnus and Honorary Fellow of The Royal Conservatory of Music.

Marty Morell is a jazz drummer who was a member of the Bill Evans Trio for seven years—longer than any other drummer. Before joining Evans, he worked with the Al Cohn-Zoot Sims Quintet, Red Allen, Gary McFarland, Steve Kuhn, and Gábor Szabó.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Peter Togni</span> Musical artist

Peter Anthony Togni is a freelance Canadian composer and broadcaster based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laila Biali</span> Musical artist

Laila Biali is a Canadian jazz singer and pianist. She has been nominated for and won a Juno Award and has worked with Chris Botti and Sting.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kellie Loder</span> Canadian singer-songwriter

Kellie Loder is an independent singer-songwriter from Newfoundland who plays drums, guitar and piano. They have released three albums: The Way in 2009, Imperfections & Directions in 2010 and Benefit of the Doubt in 2018. With a voice that St. John's-based newspaper The Telegram has described as "powerful yet serene and soulful", they received critical recognition from Canada, including a nomination at the Juno Awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chris Jennings (musician)</span> Musical artist

Chris Jennings is a Canadian jazz double bassist, composer, arranger and educator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oliver Gannon</span> Irish-born Canadian jazz guitarist

Oliver Gannon is an Irish-born Canadian jazz guitarist.

The Florian Hoefner Trio are a Canadian jazz trio from St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador. Their album Desert Bloom was the winner of the Juno Award for Jazz Album of the Year, Group at the Juno Awards of 2023.

References

  1. "Popular Music". Newfoundland and Labrador Heritage. Memorial University of Newfoundland. Archived from the original on 3 October 2012. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  2. "Island artists collect 12 ECMA nominations". CBC News. Archived from the original on 4 September 2024. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  3. "Sound Symposium" Archived 2017-08-18 at the Wayback Machine . Canadian Encyclopedia, 02/07/2006
  4. "Local groups notch two Juno nominations". CBC News. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 18 November 2012.
  5. "Jeff Johnston returns to his trio's musical roots and then moves forward with his new album". OttawaJazzScene.ca, by Alayne McGregor 24 April 2013
  6. "Jeff Johnston Trio enraptures the audience (review)". by Alayne McGregor OttawaJazzScene.ca, 10 May 2013
  7. "Michael Gerard Billard". Cauls. Retrieved 4 September 2024.
  8. "Jeff Johnston Trio". Canadian Jazz Archive. Canadian Jazz Archive Online. Archived from the original on November 8, 2011. Retrieved 18 November 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)