Harris, of LA Jazz Weekly noted that the album “swings with excitement…Kemp is richly expansive …the whole team is…anything but the expected piano trio.” The inventive trio’s debut release “Dark Continent” (BJ3440) is sparking interest both nationally and internationally, already having been featured on Toronto Jazz 91.1FM. His work has won numerous awards, including the 2015 awards for “Best Jazz Group.” The 3oh! features RiShon Odel (bassist for GRAMMY-Nominated Najee) and master percussionist David Hulett. Gruvology hasperformed at most Western New York venues and Jazz Festivals, Queen City Jazz Festival, Lewiston Jazz Festival, Slyfest at the Huron as well as in Erie, PA, New York City and Toronto, Canada.Īpril 2015 saw the band's first European tour in Germany, Holland, Belgium and Switzerland with concerts at Dortmund's famous Domicil Jazz Club, Splendor in Amsterdam, Centre Culturel Marius Staquet in Mouscron, Belgium, Haberhaus Kultur Klub, Schaffhausen, Switzerland and more.īlujazz Recording Artist Walter Kemp 3, lead composer and pianist for the Walter Kemp 3oh!, has won widespread critical acclaim for his classic and compelling musical compositions. 2012) and runner-up best jazz guitarist for 2016. Guitarist Bernard Kunz was named one of the areas most adventurous guitarists by Buffalo News Music Critic Jeff Miers (Feb. Bassist, James Benders, was named rising star in 2015. Walter Kemp was voted best keyboard player for 20. Grüvology and it's individual band members have won numerous awards including " Best Western New York Jazz Fusion Group" in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.
All of the band's music consists of original compositions influenced by gospel, blues, folk, latin and middle eastern genres and is available on iTunes. The band has relesased 3 cds, First Set (2008), Unbridled (2010) and Freeway (2015). It’s got the off-the-cuff energy of our live shows, which is something we always try to capture in the studio.Grüvology was founded in 2006 by pianist Walter Kemp and guitarist Bernard Kunz. We were all pretty excited by how this track turned out. “We had a lot of fun arranging and recording this one, which we first heard sung by Roscoe Holcomb, (the high lonesome sound embodied in a man), but written by Barbecue Bob in the 20s. We wanted to put a few tunes on this record that were just straight up bluegrass presentations, with no real arrangements to speak of. He passed on last year and is one of the ultimate unsung heroes of the genre. We got it from the great Dave Evans, the powerhouse, tour-de-force, musical equivalent of a tornado ripping through your town. “This is an old song, and a bit of an obscure one as far as bluegrass classics go. “Sun’s Gonna Shine in my Backdoor Someday”: The (only) beauty of flying that early is you often get a whole row to yourself, so while the rest of us slept, Frank wrote this tune.” on a flight up to Iqaluit in Nunavut, where we booked to play the Alianait Music Festival. “This one was written by our banjo player, Frank, and features him playing his clawhammer banjo in a crazy tuning he made up just for this tune. Here’s what they have to say about each one: “Just to Know” The Slocans have agreed to premiere three songs from the new album exclusively on Roots Music Canada. It was recorded (mostly) live off the floor as a band, and we really tried to capture the high energy live show that is the defining feature of our group.” “It features more original song-writing and lots of obscure gems that we’ve uncovered over the years. “It’s really the culmination of our growth as players individually, as a unit, and as writers,” Adrian Gross told me by email this week. Their new album, Queen City Jubilee, showcases the mature sound the band has developed after four years of hard work on the road together. If that’s not the ultimate prize for a Canadian band, we here at Roots Music Canada don’t know what is. In fact, their performance of “Abide with Me” on that show caught the attention of Don Cherry, who, in turn, talked up the band to Ron MacLean during Coaches Corner on Hockey Night in Canada.
#QUEEN CITY JAZZ FESTIVAL 2018 TV#
They’ve opened for Steve Martin’s bluegrass band and taken part in a Vision TV gospel special called “God’s Greatest Hits.” Torontoist named them the Best New Artist at the 2013 Toronto Jazz Festival, and Bluegrass Situation called them one of the Top New Discoveries of the 2014 Folk Alliance Conference. Toronto bluegrass outfit the Slocan Ramblers have managed to impress everyone from old-school folkies to hipster old-time revivalists with their innovative, fiddle-free arrangements and original takes on the high lonesome sound.Īll one-time students of the Humber College music program, the Slocans – who are named for a historic mine in B.C.’s Slocan Valley, where bassist Alastair Whitehead spent his summers – count among their influences lesser-known bluegrass great Dave Evans and celebrated player Norman Blake.