Reagan Mitchell
April 21 @ 5:00 pm

Reagan Mitchell - Saxophone

Brandon Davis -Bass
Mark Kelso -Drums

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Reagan Mitchell, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, earned his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in music with an emphasis in Jazz Studies and his Educational Specialist’s and Doctor of Philosophy degrees with an emphasis in Curriculum and Instruction. The transdisciplinary training in composition, performance, and educational philosophy has afforded them the space to explore the social, communal, therapeutic, political, and geographic implications of music. In addition to currently being independent scholar based in Toronto, ON, Reagan was an Associate Professor (2019-2025) in the Division of Liberal Arts at University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) and prior was the A. Lindsay O’Connor Endowed Visiting Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at Colgate University (2017-2019). Reagan has freelanced as a saxophonist, composer, and arranger in the Nashville, Greeley, Denver, Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Winston-Salem, Charlotte, Raleigh-Durham, New York, and Greensboro areas. Some of the musical luminaries he/they have performed with are Charlie Hunter, Bobby Previte, Jnerio Jarel, Randy Brecker, Ernestine Anderson, David Liebman, Slide Hampton, Deborah Brown, Tim Hagans, Dick Oatts, Steve Wiest, Marvin Stamm, Mike Longo, and Benny Golson. The opportunity to perform in such culturally and ethnically diverse settings has profoundly influenced Reagan’s overall approach to scholarship, pedagogy, and music. Moreover, the merger of scholarship and performance has proven to be invaluable to Reagan’s artistic and intellectual development. Through these expanded courses of engagement, they have laid the foundation for a program of research on the cultural and historical influences of race, space, gentrification, auditory architecture, and communal wisdom on education. Reagan’s scholarship brings together curriculum theory, ethnic studies, Black diaspora studies, Critical Race Theory, Queer theory, critical geography, and critical sound studies. 

photo by Steel String Photography

Classic REx jam
hosted by chris banks
April 7, 14, 21, and 28 @ 8:00pm

NO RESERVATIONS

$10 Cover Charge

Jam with us! Enjoy our house band (a collection of beloved all-stars) spontaneously creating musical goodness just for you!

Hosted by the legendary Chris Banks.

The Michael Arnowitt - George Koller Jazz Duo with Nico Dann, drums
April 22 @ 5:00 Pm

Michael Arnowitt - Piano 

George Koller - Upright bass 

Nico Dann - Drums 

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Michael Arnowitt recently immigrated to Canada from having lived in Vermont in the United  States for many years, and has been warmly received by Toronto locals for his extraordinary  sense of touch at the piano, the absorbing musical landscapes he creates through improvisation,  and his natural and engaging onstage manner with audiences of all ages. He has delighted music  lovers in concert halls and clubs around the world, including performances in Paris, Amsterdam,  Prague, Budapest, Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Seoul. The bassist George Koller is well known  in Toronto for promoting jazz, world, and folk music through his many concerts and recordings.  In his varied and expansive career, he has performed with great musicians including Peter 

Gabriel, Eartha Kitt, Chaka Khan, Loreena McKennitt, David Clayton-Thomas, Larry Coryell,  Karrin Allyson, Phil Woods, The Shuffle Demons, and Laila Biali, and last year had a week-long  engagement with the vocalist Holly Cole at the prestigious Blue Note in Japan. Drummer Nico  Dann is part of one of Toronto’s most notable musical families with his father Steven and sister  Robin distinguishing themselves in diverse musical genres. Nico Dann has collaborated with  outstanding musicians including Allison Au, Andrew Downing, Christine Jensen, Roberto  Occhipinti, Michael Davidson, Reg Schwager, and the double-bass virtuoso Joel Quarrington.  Dann has performed at festivals in the U.S. and Europe at the North Sea Jazz Festival,  Montreal’s Off Jazz Festival, South by Southwest and the Glastonbury Festiianist Michael Arnowitt is joined by Toronto favourites George Koller on upright bass and Nico  Dann on drums for a colourful and lively set of acoustic jazz. The trio will perform jazz classics  such as Benny Golson’s stylish Along Came Betty, Miles Davis’ evocative Nardis, music by  Wayne Shorter, jazz arrangements of the Beatles’ She’s Leaving Home and Eleanor Rigby, and  improvisations on tunes from more recent decades by Brad Mehldau, Kamasi Washington, and  Dave Holland. A highlight of the set will be Michael Arnowitt’s jazz arrangement “The Stream”  based on J.S. Bach’s atmospheric and moody Fugue in C-sharp minor from the Well-Tempered  Keyboard, transformed into the language of jazz . The trio will also in celebration of Earth Day  play a few tunes marking our appreciation of the planet. 

Come to the Rex for an up-close experience – a great opportunity to hear these three outstanding  creative musicians perform a set of acoustic jazz full of improvisational interplay and musical  conversation.  

TERI pARKER qUartet

aPRIL 22, 23, 24, 25@ 8:00pm

Teri Parker - Piano
Luis Deniz - alto saxophone
Mark Godfrey - bass
Ernesto Cervini - drums

Teri Parker (MA, BMus) is a jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader based in Toronto, Canada. Parker has studied with world-renowned artists, including Sophia Rosoff, Aaron Goldberg, Guillermo Klein, Fred Hersch, and Enrico Pieranunzi, and holds both a BMus in Performance from the University of Toronto and an MA in Composition from York University. She has played at many major national festivals, including the Toronto Jazz Festival, the Halifax Jazz Festival, and the Guelph Jazz Festival, and at prominent venues such as the National Music Center, The Rex, and The Jazz Room. In 2023, Parker released Shaping The Invisible, featuring some of Canada’s top jazz talent: Luis Deniz, on alto saxophone; Mark Godfrey, on bass; Ernesto Cervini, on drums and Andrew McAnsh, on trumpet.

teriparkermusic.com 

Sean Bray Peach TrIO
April 23 @ 5:00 PM

Sean Bray - Guitar
Davide Direnzo -Drums
George Koller - Bass.

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Sean Bray is considered to be one of  Canada’s top guitarists. After studying at the prestigious  Manhattan School of Music in New York City, Sean moved  to Toronto in 1990. Sean has the ability to fit into many  musical genres while still retaining an unmistakably original  voice on his instrument. This quickly helped him become a  sought after sideman, studio guitarist and leader of his own  projects. Sean has played and/or recorded with Pat  LaBarbera, Mike Murley, Kirk MacDonald, Bob Mintzer,  George Garzone, Campbell Ryga, Brian Dickinson, Alex  Dean, Roy Styffe, Big Miller and many more. Sean Bray is  endorsed D’Addario Strings. 

TERI pARKER qUartet

aPRIL 22, 23, 24, 25@ 8:00pm

Teri Parker - Piano
Luis Deniz - alto saxophone
Mark Godfrey - bass
Ernesto Cervini - drums

Teri Parker (MA, BMus) is a jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader based in Toronto, Canada. Parker has studied with world-renowned artists, including Sophia Rosoff, Aaron Goldberg, Guillermo Klein, Fred Hersch, and Enrico Pieranunzi, and holds both a BMus in Performance from the University of Toronto and an MA in Composition from York University. She has played at many major national festivals, including the Toronto Jazz Festival, the Halifax Jazz Festival, and the Guelph Jazz Festival, and at prominent venues such as the National Music Center, The Rex, and The Jazz Room. In 2023, Parker released Shaping The Invisible, featuring some of Canada’s top jazz talent: Luis Deniz, on alto saxophone; Mark Godfrey, on bass; Ernesto Cervini, on drums and Andrew McAnsh, on trumpet.

teriparkermusic.com 

Isaak Bonk & The Roast Chicken Ramblers
April 24 @ 5:00 PM

Kyle Sullivan - Drums
Clayton Harder - Bass
Michael Spiroff - Piano
Tom Moffett - Trumpet
Sean McCarthy - Saxophon
Laurent Humeau - Clarinet
Isaak Bonk - Vocals / Guitar

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Isaak Bonk’s stride guitar playing serves as the foundation for turn of the 20th century jazz,  blues and ragtime. By way of the great early American blues guitarists (Blind Blake, Lonnie  Johnson) Isaak has cultivated a playing style to suit swing music of the pre war era. The Roast  Chicken Ramblers are comprised of Toronto’s finest musicians, they blend humour and reverie  into an eclectic repertoire from a by-gone age.

TERI pARKER qUartet

aPRIL 22, 23, 24, 25@ 8:00pm

Teri Parker - Piano
Luis Deniz - alto saxophone
Mark Godfrey - bass
Ernesto Cervini - drums

Teri Parker (MA, BMus) is a jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader based in Toronto, Canada. Parker has studied with world-renowned artists, including Sophia Rosoff, Aaron Goldberg, Guillermo Klein, Fred Hersch, and Enrico Pieranunzi, and holds both a BMus in Performance from the University of Toronto and an MA in Composition from York University. She has played at many major national festivals, including the Toronto Jazz Festival, the Halifax Jazz Festival, and the Guelph Jazz Festival, and at prominent venues such as the National Music Center, The Rex, and The Jazz Room. In 2023, Parker released Shaping The Invisible, featuring some of Canada’s top jazz talent: Luis Deniz, on alto saxophone; Mark Godfrey, on bass; Ernesto Cervini, on drums and Andrew McAnsh, on trumpet.

teriparkermusic.com

Heather Luckhart Blues Trio
April 24 @ 11:00 PM

Heather Luckhart - Vocals / Band Leader
Eric St - Laurent - Guitar
Ethan Ardelli - Drums

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Heather Luckhart’s career has grown out of Toronto’s club scene, where she built a reputation as a powerhouse singer comfortable in everything from trio settings to full horn‑driven bands. Her debut album “Make It Through” introduced a writing style that blends rootsy arrangements with lyrics about resilience, heartbreak, and finding light in the middle of hard seasons, positioning her as one of the city’s rising blues voices.​​

Onstage, Heather leans into dynamic shifts—whispered lines that suddenly bloom into full‑throated shouts, call‑and‑response passages with the band, and improvised endings that stretch songs into cathartic, crowd‑clapping finales. The Heather Luckhart Blues Band has appeared at rooms such as Grossman’s Tavern, the Horseshoe, Poetry Jazz Café, and Function Bar, where regular “Final Fridays” shows close each month with a mix of blues, soul, and deep groove.

Ally Fiola & Next Quest
April 25 @ 2:00 PM

Ally Fiola - Saxophone
Emily Ferrell - Trombone
Addison Sowery-Quinn - Sousaphone
Tom Richards - Keys
Lowell Whitty - Drums

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Ally Fiola is a Nova Scotian saxophonist, film composer, and bandleader of The Next Quest, a groove-based jazz ensemble. Known for blending quirky melodies with infectious grooves inspired by funk, soul, and New Orleans brass bands, Ally’s emotionally charged jazz compositions have earned recognition, including a nomination at the 2022 Marvin Hamlisch International Music Awards and multiple Music Nova Scotia award nominations.

As a resourceful composer with a background in jazz and classical studies, Ally often experiments with sonic and harmonic elements, blending traditional and contemporary styles with influences of her experiences as a professional saxophonist. The majority of her writing contains an element of storytelling, which is a creative framework that she values immensely, having worked on films across North America and Europe. She is an active board member for the Screen Composers Guild of Canada, and received her Masters in Film Composition from Kingston University in London, UK. 

Her 2023 album Interblaze — a bold and soulful exploration of grief, passion, and resilience — features standout collaborations with Grammy-winning musicians such as saxophonist Jeff Coffin (Béla Fleck & the Flecktones, Dave Matthews Band) and keyboardist Glenn Patscha (Bonnie Raitt). The record showcases Ally’s strength as a composer, performer, and producer, and has resonated with international listeners for its emotional depth and musical sophistication.

Ally's artistic development includes a music residency at the Banff Centre for Arts & Creativity where she worked with the Quasar Saxophone Quartet, and was part of the Canadian Academy's ‘Women in Post’ 2024-2025 cohort for composition and post-production sound. In 2023, she was selected for the La Napoule Canadian Artist Residency in France, where she composed a Canada Council-funded orchestral piece on climate change’s impact on coastal communities, and was a co-artist in residence alongside award-winning accordionist Mary Beth Carty at the 2025 Deep Roots Residency at Ross Creek Centre for the Arts.

Neon Eagle
april 25 @ 5:00 PM

Led by: Mike Eckert - Pedal Steel

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Bringing entrancing instrumental fusion music featuring the pedal steel.

Come in, sit back, and feel the hypnotic vibes of this incredible group!

TERI pARKER qUartet

aPRIL 22, 23, 24, 25@ 8:00pm

Teri Parker - Piano
Luis Deniz - alto saxophone
Mark Godfrey - bass
Ernesto Cervini - drums

Teri Parker (MA, BMus) is a jazz pianist, composer, and bandleader based in Toronto, Canada. Parker has studied with world-renowned artists, including Sophia Rosoff, Aaron Goldberg, Guillermo Klein, Fred Hersch, and Enrico Pieranunzi, and holds both a BMus in Performance from the University of Toronto and an MA in Composition from York University. She has played at many major national festivals, including the Toronto Jazz Festival, the Halifax Jazz Festival, and the Guelph Jazz Festival, and at prominent venues such as the National Music Center, The Rex, and The Jazz Room. In 2023, Parker released Shaping The Invisible, featuring some of Canada’s top jazz talent: Luis Deniz, on alto saxophone; Mark Godfrey, on bass; Ernesto Cervini, on drums and Andrew McAnsh, on trumpet.

teriparkermusic.com

Joel Bracken Quintet
April 25 @ 11:00 Pm

Joel Bracken - Tenor Sax
James Griffiths - Alto Sax
Ewen Farncombe - Piano
Sylvestor Pederson - Bass
Mateo Mancuso - Drums

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Joel Bracken is a new, unique voice on the saxophone in the Toronto music scene. His style is lyrical and playful but also fiery and spontaneous. As a composer, Joel strikes a balance between singable melodies and colourful harmony that provide a setting for an ensemble to explore and improvise together.

Joel was born and raised in Toronto and hails from a musical family. The eclectic mix of music he heard during his upbringing has given him an open mind and heart to different musical perspectives. At a young age, Joel began exploring jazz clubs around the city, and as he started to focus on the saxophone, he found himself inspired by the rich music community in Toronto. 

At Humber’s Community Music School and later at Humber College, Joel had the opportunity to study with some of Canada’s finest musicians, such as Lorne Lofsky, Kirk MacDonald, David French, and Mike Downes. These experiences helped inform Joel’s direction as a player early on. 

Joel has started to make his name as a performer around the city at many venues including, Jazz Bistro, The Rex, The Emmet Ray, Drom Taberna, and Koerner Hall. Joel has had the opportunity at Humber College and on the scene to perform with brilliant musicians like Davide Virelles, Ingrid Jensen, Lorne Lofsky, and Mike Downes. In July 2024, Joel released a short EP of his original compositions in a quartet with Sam Dickinson, Mike Downes, and Mateo Mancuso, and plans on releasing more music soon!

Joel is a passionate educator and is on staff as a woodwind and piano instructor at Bloor West Music Studios and Stay At Home Music. Joel also teaches private lessons out of his studio.

Bard From The Club
April 26 @ 2:00 PM

Patrick Blanchard - Trombone/Leader 

John Pittman - Flugelhorn/Keys 

Onika Blackman - Vocals 

Ricky Franco - Vocals 

Adam Hutchinson - Guitar/Vocals 

Eric Woolston - Drums 

Jonathan Amador - Bass 

Joao Leao -Keys / Vocals

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Toronto's Bard from the Club is a dynamic collective of the city's busiest musicians, blending lovers rock reggae and jazz influences with English and Spanish vocals. Their soundscape is enriched by members hailing from Salseros with Attitude, Hardcore Band, The Human Rights, The Heavyweights Brass Band, and Bubblegum Bikini. With soulful rhythms and vibrant melodies, Bard from the Club transforms every stage into a pulsating celebration of cross- cultural groove, uniting audiences through irresistible beats and heartfelt passion. 

Carl Mayotte Quintet
April 26 @ 8:00 PM

Carl Mayotte- Bass
Gabriel Cyr- Guitar
Stéphane Chamberland- Drum
Damien-Jade Cyr- Saxophones and Keys
Francis Grégoire- Keys and piano

Grand laureate of the 2020-2021 Radio-Canada Jazz Revelation title, Carl Mayotte is now one of the most popular young bassists and jazzmen in Quebec and Canada. Having started his professional career at the age of 16 and completed a master's degree in jazz performance at McGill University, his virtuosity and versatility have been noticed by several musicians and critics from Alain Caron to the Bass Magazine. His third album, Escale, won him a Félix award (the equivalent of the Grammy awards in Quebec) for jazz album of the year in 2022. He just release a new album name Carnaval, wich is a tribute to his passion for brasilian and latin music.



Carl Mayotte’s new concert will showcase the music from his upcoming album Claude. Staying true to the energy and virtuosity that define his group, this performance also explores a more emotional and introspective dimension.
Inspired by two significant life events, including the passing of his father, this music blends nostalgia with a sense of release—an experience that will leave you both smiling and deeply moved.
With Claude, Carl Mayotte presents a work that is both intimate and luminous, shaped by two pivotal moments in his life: the fire that destroyed his apartment in 2023 and the loss of his father in 2024. From these trials emerges a body of music where nostalgia intertwines with the joy of remembrance, carried by a renewed sonic language drawing from contemporary jazz, indie pop, and the modern UK fusion scene.
Through this project, the musician pays tribute to his father, Claude Mayotte.

Carl Mayotte Quintet
April 26 @ 8:00 PM

Carl Mayotte- Bass
Gabriel Cyr- Guitar
Stéphane Chamberland- Drum
Damien-Jade Cyr- Saxophones and Keys
Francis Grégoire- Keys and piano

Grand laureate of the 2020-2021 Radio-Canada Jazz Revelation title, Carl Mayotte is now one of the most popular young bassists and jazzmen in Quebec and Canada. Having started his professional career at the age of 16 and completed a master's degree in jazz performance at McGill University, his virtuosity and versatility have been noticed by several musicians and critics from Alain Caron to the Bass Magazine. His third album, Escale, won him a Félix award (the equivalent of the Grammy awards in Quebec) for jazz album of the year in 2022. He just release a new album name Carnaval, wich is a tribute to his passion for brasilian and latin music.



Carl Mayotte’s new concert will showcase the music from his upcoming album Claude. Staying true to the energy and virtuosity that define his group, this performance also explores a more emotional and introspective dimension.
Inspired by two significant life events, including the passing of his father, this music blends nostalgia with a sense of release—an experience that will leave you both smiling and deeply moved.
With Claude, Carl Mayotte presents a work that is both intimate and luminous, shaped by two pivotal moments in his life: the fire that destroyed his apartment in 2023 and the loss of his father in 2024. From these trials emerges a body of music where nostalgia intertwines with the joy of remembrance, carried by a renewed sonic language drawing from contemporary jazz, indie pop, and the modern UK fusion scene.
Through this project, the musician pays tribute to his father, Claude Mayotte.

Adriana Malandrino
April 28 @ 5:00 PM

Adriana Malandrino - Vocals
Eric Liang - Piano
Kieran Menard - bass
Keith Barstow - drums

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Adriana Malandrino is a Toronto-based jazz vocalist and recent graduate of the University of Toronto’s renowned Jazz Music program. Known for her warm tone, expressive phrasing, and modern interpretations of classic standards, she brings a fresh and thoughtful voice to the contemporary jazz scene. Whether performing with small ensembles or leading her own projects, Adriana combines technical skill with heartfelt musical storytelling.

Classic REx jam
hosted by chris banks
April 7, 14, 21, and 28 @ 8:00pm

NO RESERVATIONS

$10 Cover Charge

Jam with us! Enjoy our house band (a collection of beloved all-stars) spontaneously creating musical goodness just for you!

Hosted by the legendary Chris Banks.

Mike Kawabe
April 29 @ 5:00 PM

Mike Kawabe: Drums
Pat Labarbera: Sax
Steve Cole: Guitar 
Neil Swainson: Bass.

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Born in Japan and growing up in the GTA, Mike Kawabe’s background in jazz, classical, world and various pop music idioms has provided him with a rare perspective. A drummer-percussionist-writer-arranger-educator who continues to perform in all styles of music for over 30 years. Mike has played with the likes of Guido Basso, Pat Labarbera, Robi Botos, John MacLeod, Kirk MacDonald, Gene DiNovi, and Mike Murley. He has also played in a number of musicals including Songs For A New World, The Producers, Kinky Boots, Little Shop of Horrors, Blood Brothers, Evita and Guys and Dolls to name a few.
Mike’s quartet performs a wide variety of jazz standards from traditional to modern and features original pieces by him and the members of his talented group. Mike adds a fresh and unique voice to venues from small clubs, studio sessions, orchestra pits to large scale

NYC’S Rez Abbasi Spark Quartet
April 29, 30 &
May 1, 2 @ 8:00 PM

Rez Abbasi - guitar

Marta Sanchez - piano

Chris Lightcap - bass

Hamir Atwal - drums

Guitarist, composer, author and 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, Rez Abbasi is among a rare  breed of artists that continue to push boundaries from within the traditions he has  embraced. Consistently placing on DownBeat magazine’s International Critics Poll in  Guitar alongside luminaries Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny since 2014, Abbasi continues to  forge new ground with his multi-dimensional projects.  

“Abbasi is living, breathing proof that jazz music can be as vital and boundary-pushing as  ever.” AllAboutJazz.com.  

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, migrating to Southern California at the age of four, schooled  at the University of Southern California and the Manhattan School of Music in jazz and  classical music, along with a pilgrimage in India under the guidance of master  percussionist, Ustad Alla Rakha, Abbasi is a vivid synthesis of all the above stated  influences and genres.  

“Mr. Abbasi succeeded in making some fairly cerebral intricacies feel intuitive and  touched by a higher purpose.” – New York Times  

With seventeen self-titled albums and multiple composition grants, Abbasi’s wide-ranging  projects continue to capture the attention of The Wall Street Journal, The New York  Times and NPR to name a few. His most recent album Sound Remains reunites his acoustic  group, RAAQ. With the addition of a percussionist, the sound explores sonic territories  rarely heard in jazz. His prior release Charm is a collaboration with American sitarist, Josh  Feinberg while his 2022 trio release Django-shift recasts legendary guitarist Django  Reinhardt’s lesser-known compositions into a modern light. In 2019, commissioned by  the New York Guitar Festival, he released his live score to the 1929 Indian/German silent  film A Throw of Dice and in 2018, his long-standing group featuring band-mates Vijay Iyer  and Rudresh Mahanthappa released Unfiltered Universe, the third in a trilogy of albums  that set out to explore South Asian musical influences with jazz. Rez also serves as musical  director, arranger and guitarist for his life partner, Indian vocalist, composer and multiple  Juno Award winner Kiran Ahluwalia. www.RezTone.com

Harley Card Trio
April 30 @ 5:00 PM

Harley Card - Guitar
Dan Fortin - Bass
Ethan Ardelli - Drums

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

harley card is a Toronto based guitarist, composer, singer-songwriter and educator originally from Winnipeg Manitoba, via Ottawa Ontario. In addition to leading his own groups, Harley is a member of  and co-composer for the Canadian bands; Hobson's Choice, Stoptime, God's Gift To Yoda, and Dream Logic.

As a contributor to the creative music scene in Toronto since 2003, Harley has played with many artists including; Richard Underhill, Alex Dean, Alex Samaras, Mike Malone, Kelly Jefferson, Colin Fisher, William Carn, Alexander Brown, Michael Herring and Harrington, Chris Gale, Ethan Ardelli, Bernie Senensky, Michael Davidson, Don Scott, Matt Newton, Daniel Jamieson, Felicity Williams, Dave Clark, Carlie Howell, Jon Challoner, Sarah Jerrom, RJ Sachnanathan, Rebecca Hennessy, Dan Fortin, Ted Crosby, Dan Gaucher, and Ernesto Cervini, among others.

"Card’s musical sensibility is fully formed and urbane. His writing reflects a sense of history and is therefore worldly wise." 

                  -Raul d’Gama Rose- All About Jazz

NYC’S Rez Abbasi Spark Quartet
April 29, 30 &
May 1, 2 @ 8:00 PM

Rez Abbasi - guitar

Marta Sanchez - piano

Chris Lightcap - bass

Hamir Atwal - drums

Guitarist, composer, author and 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, Rez Abbasi is among a rare  breed of artists that continue to push boundaries from within the traditions he has  embraced. Consistently placing on DownBeat magazine’s International Critics Poll in  Guitar alongside luminaries Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny since 2014, Abbasi continues to  forge new ground with his multi-dimensional projects.  

“Abbasi is living, breathing proof that jazz music can be as vital and boundary-pushing as  ever.” AllAboutJazz.com.  

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, migrating to Southern California at the age of four, schooled  at the University of Southern California and the Manhattan School of Music in jazz and  classical music, along with a pilgrimage in India under the guidance of master  percussionist, Ustad Alla Rakha, Abbasi is a vivid synthesis of all the above stated  influences and genres.  

“Mr. Abbasi succeeded in making some fairly cerebral intricacies feel intuitive and  touched by a higher purpose.” – New York Times  

With seventeen self-titled albums and multiple composition grants, Abbasi’s wide-ranging  projects continue to capture the attention of The Wall Street Journal, The New York  Times and NPR to name a few. His most recent album Sound Remains reunites his acoustic  group, RAAQ. With the addition of a percussionist, the sound explores sonic territories  rarely heard in jazz. His prior release Charm is a collaboration with American sitarist, Josh  Feinberg while his 2022 trio release Django-shift recasts legendary guitarist Django  Reinhardt’s lesser-known compositions into a modern light. In 2019, commissioned by  the New York Guitar Festival, he released his live score to the 1929 Indian/German silent  film A Throw of Dice and in 2018, his long-standing group featuring band-mates Vijay Iyer  and Rudresh Mahanthappa released Unfiltered Universe, the third in a trilogy of albums  that set out to explore South Asian musical influences with jazz. Rez also serves as musical  director, arranger and guitarist for his life partner, Indian vocalist, composer and multiple  Juno Award winner Kiran Ahluwalia. www.RezTone.com

Fifth Element
May 1 @ 5:00 PM

Glenn Anderson - Drums

Jack Gelbloom - Piano

Kurt Lund - Woodwinds

Nina Richmond - Vocals

Ron Johnston - Bass

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

In classical thought, the four elements are earth, water, air and fire. For the members of this ensemble, the fifth element, quintessence or spirit, is captured in the music we perform.

The repertoire of the band draws from the Great American Songbook and jazz standards covering the swing, ballad, latin and hard bop genres, along with some pop classics. The ensemble’s goal is to draw the audience in with musical treatments of this music that are accessible and engaging.

In 2016, Dave Coules, a seasoned sax player and arranger, followed his dream of starting his own vocal jazz quintet. He approached experienced musicians who had worked together over the years in various ensembles, including vocalist Nina Richmond who, having recently closed her law practice, was finally able to devote her full attention to singing.

Until February of 2025, the band consisted of Dave and Nina and original bassist Ron Johnston. Drummer Glenn Anderson joined in 2018 and pianist Jack Gelbloom in 2021. Now, missing from the lineup is Dave Coules who sadly passed away in February of 2025. Kurt Lund, always Dave’s sub of first choice, then joined Fifth Element and he is the perfect addition to the quintet. With Dave’s blessing, Fifth Element continues, performing his excellent original arrangements as well as those written by current band members and others.

From its first performance in September of 2016, the band has never been without a steady residency at venues including Gate 403, 120 Diner and now Reid’s Distillery.

NYC’S Rez Abbasi Spark Quartet
April 29, 30 &
May 1, 2 @ 8:00 PM

Rez Abbasi - guitar

Marta Sanchez - piano

Chris Lightcap - bass

Hamir Atwal - drums

Guitarist, composer, author and 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, Rez Abbasi is among a rare  breed of artists that continue to push boundaries from within the traditions he has  embraced. Consistently placing on DownBeat magazine’s International Critics Poll in  Guitar alongside luminaries Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny since 2014, Abbasi continues to  forge new ground with his multi-dimensional projects.  

“Abbasi is living, breathing proof that jazz music can be as vital and boundary-pushing as  ever.” AllAboutJazz.com.  

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, migrating to Southern California at the age of four, schooled  at the University of Southern California and the Manhattan School of Music in jazz and  classical music, along with a pilgrimage in India under the guidance of master  percussionist, Ustad Alla Rakha, Abbasi is a vivid synthesis of all the above stated  influences and genres.  

“Mr. Abbasi succeeded in making some fairly cerebral intricacies feel intuitive and  touched by a higher purpose.” – New York Times  

With seventeen self-titled albums and multiple composition grants, Abbasi’s wide-ranging  projects continue to capture the attention of The Wall Street Journal, The New York  Times and NPR to name a few. His most recent album Sound Remains reunites his acoustic  group, RAAQ. With the addition of a percussionist, the sound explores sonic territories  rarely heard in jazz. His prior release Charm is a collaboration with American sitarist, Josh  Feinberg while his 2022 trio release Django-shift recasts legendary guitarist Django  Reinhardt’s lesser-known compositions into a modern light. In 2019, commissioned by  the New York Guitar Festival, he released his live score to the 1929 Indian/German silent  film A Throw of Dice and in 2018, his long-standing group featuring band-mates Vijay Iyer  and Rudresh Mahanthappa released Unfiltered Universe, the third in a trilogy of albums  that set out to explore South Asian musical influences with jazz. Rez also serves as musical  director, arranger and guitarist for his life partner, Indian vocalist, composer and multiple  Juno Award winner Kiran Ahluwalia. www.RezTone.com

Wintergarten Orchestra
May 2 @ 2:00 PM

Ted Atherton And Tanya Wills - Vocals
Bill Beecroft - Leader/trombone
Sandy Barter-trumpet 
Paul Mifsud-Reeds 
Natalie Wong-Violin 
Louise Pauls-Violin 
Herb Poole-Helicon 
Bill Bridges-Guitar/arranger
Doug Balfour-Piano/arranger
Kevin Coady-Percussion

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

The Wintergarten Orchestra is an eleven piece ensemble  performing the memorable melodies of the Jazz Age in the  1920's and 30's. With male and female vocalists and  original period instruments the Wintergarten Orchestra  recreates the syncopated music of this golden age with  style and humour. Bill Beecroft is the leader/trombonist  along with the superb vocal and acting talents of Ted  Atherton and Tanya Wills. With the stellar musicianship of  our orchestra including two violins, banjo, tuba, reeds,  trumpet, piano and percussion, we salute the great bands  of this era. Our musical inspiration comes from European  and American bands and vocalists such as Ray Noble, Duke  Ellington, Leo Riesman, Jack Hylton, Fletcher Henderson,  Kurt Weil, Jean Goldkette, Edith Piaf, Lee Wiley, Cab  Calloway, Helen Kane, Louis Armstrong, Al Bowley and  composers such and Cole Porter, George Gershwin and many  others.  

 The Wintergarten Orchestra blends the music of these  great artists into an enjoyable two hours of toe tapping  entertainment. So leave your troubles outside and  willkommen to the Wintergarten Orchestra.

RONLEY TEPER
May 2 @ 5:00 PM

Ronley Teper - Vocals/Guitar

Tim Posgate Banjo/Electric Guitar

Dafydd Hughes - Piano

Caleb Hamilton - Trumpet/Accordian

Elena Kapeleris - Tenor Saxophone

Chris Adriaanse - Bass

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

nyc’s Rez Abbasi Spark Quartet
April 29, 30 &
May 1, 2 @ 8:00 PM

Rez Abbasi - guitar

Marta Sanchez - piano

Chris Lightcap - bass

Hamir Atwal - drums

Guitarist, composer, author and 2021 Guggenheim Fellow, Rez Abbasi is among a rare  breed of artists that continue to push boundaries from within the traditions he has  embraced. Consistently placing on DownBeat magazine’s International Critics Poll in  Guitar alongside luminaries Bill Frisell and Pat Metheny since 2014, Abbasi continues to  forge new ground with his multi-dimensional projects.  

“Abbasi is living, breathing proof that jazz music can be as vital and boundary-pushing as  ever.” AllAboutJazz.com.  

Born in Karachi, Pakistan, migrating to Southern California at the age of four, schooled  at the University of Southern California and the Manhattan School of Music in jazz and  classical music, along with a pilgrimage in India under the guidance of master  percussionist, Ustad Alla Rakha, Abbasi is a vivid synthesis of all the above stated  influences and genres.  

“Mr. Abbasi succeeded in making some fairly cerebral intricacies feel intuitive and  touched by a higher purpose.” – New York Times  

With seventeen self-titled albums and multiple composition grants, Abbasi’s wide-ranging  projects continue to capture the attention of The Wall Street Journal, The New York  Times and NPR to name a few. His most recent album Sound Remains reunites his acoustic  group, RAAQ. With the addition of a percussionist, the sound explores sonic territories  rarely heard in jazz. His prior release Charm is a collaboration with American sitarist, Josh  Feinberg while his 2022 trio release Django-shift recasts legendary guitarist Django  Reinhardt’s lesser-known compositions into a modern light. In 2019, commissioned by  the New York Guitar Festival, he released his live score to the 1929 Indian/German silent  film A Throw of Dice and in 2018, his long-standing group featuring band-mates Vijay Iyer  and Rudresh Mahanthappa released Unfiltered Universe, the third in a trilogy of albums  that set out to explore South Asian musical influences with jazz. Rez also serves as musical  director, arranger and guitarist for his life partner, Indian vocalist, composer and multiple  Juno Award winner Kiran Ahluwalia. www.RezTone.com

Seu Quartet
May 2 @ 11:00 PM

Jorge Moran - Voice/Melodica
Clayton Harder - Bass
Luis Anselmi - Piano
Arath de la Garma - Drums

NO RESERVATIONS, PWYC

Bolero Soul, Funk and Latin Jazz. 

Solidaridad Tango
May 3 @ 2:00 PM

Aparna Halpe - Violin

Valeria Matzner - Vocals

Shinjoo Cho - Bandoneon

Yolanda Tapia - Piano

Sarah Lahasky - Bass

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

Dive into the enchanting world of
Solidaridad Tango, where virtuoso
musicians intertwine their artistry
to redefine the very essence of
passion and power. This all-women
ensemble is a beacon of innovation
in the world of tango. With
concerts that have spanned clubs,
halls, schools and international
stages, their performances are not
merely concerts, they are
declarations of strength, unity, and
the unyielding power of women’s
expression. Join the movement;
join the solidarity.

Laura hubert Band
May 3, 17, 31 @ 5:00 PM

Led by : Laura Hubert - Vocals

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Canadian vocal treasure, born and raised in Toronto, Laura Hubert has remained a steady force on the city’s music scene over the past 25 years. Although she retired from rock and roll back per se when JUNO-winning indie-rock group Leslie Spit Treeo split up late last millennium, for several decades now she has been singing her soulful interpretations of vintage blues, jazz and Western swing all over the Greater Toronto Area. “I want to participate in the joy of the world, try to keep it light,” says Hubert.  “Just trying to have some fun. Sing some songs. Make some music. Give some joy.”

Over the years she recorded 3 solo albums with her band, led by pianist Peter Hill and featuring some of Toronto’s finest including Chris Whiteley, Brandi Disterheft, Victor Bateman, William Sperandei: “Girlish Days” (2000), “Live at the Rex” (2001) and “Half Bridled” (2004).

In the years since these recordings, Hubert and her fans enjoyed residencies at venerable venues such as Grossman’s Tavern, The Cameron House and The Rex Hotel. Singing many of the same old classic songs over the years, like the finest of wine Hubert’s art has aged in the best way, her bluesy growl deeper and more powerful than ever.

“One Night in Kensington” is an initiative spearheaded by Order of Canada member, singer-songwriter and long-time friend of Hubert, is the new recording fans have long been waiting for. “Hubert’s unique and soulful vocal delivery can make any old song sound brand new,” says Molly Johnson.

Produced by Johnson and her Kensington Market Jazz Festival team, the new album live at Poetry Jazz Café find Hubert in the happy company of four very fine players: Eric St-Laurent on guitar, Davide DiRenzo on drums, Steve Wallace on bass and long-time musical partner Peter Hill on piano.  

Charlie Ballantine
May 3 & 4 @ 8:00 PM

Charlie Ballantine - Guitar
Quinn Sternberg - Bass
Paul Wells - Drums

Named as one of the top 200 living guitarists by All About Jazz Magazine and a Rising Star in the Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll, Charlie Ballantine is acclaimed as one of the finest and most versatile  young guitarists on the scene today. JAZZ TIMES MAGAZINE hails his playing as “teeming with intricate grooves and maniacal precision his guitar work is both beautiful and complex” and VINTAGE GUITAR MAGAZINE described his style by stating “Jazz, rock, and folk music peacefully coexist in Charlie Ballantine’s world”. 

   Equipped with an impressive body of original compositions on albums like “Vonnegut” and “Cold Coffee”, Ballantine also displays a great reverence for the jazz tradition through the inclusion of standards like ‘My One and Only Love’, ‘East of the Sun’ and an entire double album dedicated to the music of Thelonious Monk released September 2021.  “In the vein of fellow guitarists like John Scofield, Bill Frisell and Julian Lage, Ballantine reconciles his educational background in jazz with the stylistic background of his instrument. He approaches the gratifying tonal and harmonic language of rock/roots with the groove, ambition and improvisational focus of a jazz musician” - (JAZZIZ MAGAZINE)

   After graduating from the Jacobs School of Music under the direction of David Baker, Ballantine relocated to Indianapolis and quickly developed a name for himself with a string of high energy performances at clubs like the Jazz Kitchen and Chatterbox Jazz Club. After releasing two solo albums Ballantine was able to attain global recognition with his award winning third album “Life is Brief: The Music of Bob Dylan” which ALL ABOUT JAZZ named in their top ten jazz albums of the year. “From the opening bars of "The Times They Are a-Changin'" it is clear that something special is happening” - (ALL ABOUT JAZZ) 

   Although primarily a front man for his own projects with tours and frequent appearances throughout the US and Canada at venues and festivals such as the Detroit Jazz Festival, Indianapolis Jazz Festival, Rochester Jazz Festival, The Winnipeg International Jazz Festival and The Elkhart Jazz Festival, Ballantine also has an extensive list of side man credits having performed with names like Rob Dixon, Emmett Cohen, and Amanda Gardier helping to further solidify him as a creative force and  put him in the highest of ranks as a performer.  

"Befitting a guitarist from America's heartland, Charlie Ballantine mixes jazz, folk-rock, surf/instro, blues, pop, and country into a simmering pot of guitar sound and style."

                                                                           - Vintage Guitar Magazine

Rosie Nina
May 4 @ 5:00 PM

Rosie Nina - Vocals

Alexander Zlotnik - Piano

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

Rosie Nina is a singer-songwriter who has been performing since the age of 8. After years of singing in school choirs throughout her adolescence, she began releasing original music at 18 and has since built a steady presence in the local music scene.

Known for her blend of jazz, pop, and contemporary R&B, Rosie has sold out venues including the Jazz Room, the KW Registry Theatre, and the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium, and was named Best Vocalist in GTA’s Got Talent 2018, as well as a top 3 finalist in the Long & McQuade 2025 Singing Competition.

She continues to perform regularly across Ontario, bringing her original songs and live vocals to a growing audience.

Charlie Ballantine
May 3 & 4 @ 8:00 PM

Charlie Ballantine - Guitar
Quinn Sternberg - Bass
Paul Wells - Drums

Named as one of the top 200 living guitarists by All About Jazz Magazine and a Rising Star in the Downbeat Magazine Critics Poll, Charlie Ballantine is acclaimed as one of the finest and most versatile  young guitarists on the scene today. JAZZ TIMES MAGAZINE hails his playing as “teeming with intricate grooves and maniacal precision his guitar work is both beautiful and complex” and VINTAGE GUITAR MAGAZINE described his style by stating “Jazz, rock, and folk music peacefully coexist in Charlie Ballantine’s world”. 

   Equipped with an impressive body of original compositions on albums like “Vonnegut” and “Cold Coffee”, Ballantine also displays a great reverence for the jazz tradition through the inclusion of standards like ‘My One and Only Love’, ‘East of the Sun’ and an entire double album dedicated to the music of Thelonious Monk released September 2021.  “In the vein of fellow guitarists like John Scofield, Bill Frisell and Julian Lage, Ballantine reconciles his educational background in jazz with the stylistic background of his instrument. He approaches the gratifying tonal and harmonic language of rock/roots with the groove, ambition and improvisational focus of a jazz musician” - (JAZZIZ MAGAZINE)

   After graduating from the Jacobs School of Music under the direction of David Baker, Ballantine relocated to Indianapolis and quickly developed a name for himself with a string of high energy performances at clubs like the Jazz Kitchen and Chatterbox Jazz Club. After releasing two solo albums Ballantine was able to attain global recognition with his award winning third album “Life is Brief: The Music of Bob Dylan” which ALL ABOUT JAZZ named in their top ten jazz albums of the year. “From the opening bars of "The Times They Are a-Changin'" it is clear that something special is happening” - (ALL ABOUT JAZZ) 

   Although primarily a front man for his own projects with tours and frequent appearances throughout the US and Canada at venues and festivals such as the Detroit Jazz Festival, Indianapolis Jazz Festival, Rochester Jazz Festival, The Winnipeg International Jazz Festival and The Elkhart Jazz Festival, Ballantine also has an extensive list of side man credits having performed with names like Rob Dixon, Emmett Cohen, and Amanda Gardier helping to further solidify him as a creative force and  put him in the highest of ranks as a performer.  

"Befitting a guitarist from America's heartland, Charlie Ballantine mixes jazz, folk-rock, surf/instro, blues, pop, and country into a simmering pot of guitar sound and style."

                                                                           - Vintage Guitar Magazine

Trombone Charlotte
May 5, 12, 19, 26 @ 5:00 PM

BAND TBA

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

A force in the city’s jazz scene since 2016, Charlotte has spent nearly a decade crafting her sound as both a sideman and star. Since stepping into the spotlight in 2021, she’s led high-energy ensembles across Canada’s top stages — Toronto Jazz Festival, Kensington Market Jazz Festival, Port Hope, Mont Tremblant, and a knockout appearance at Massey Hall’s Women’s Blues Revue where she belted out originals that brought the house down.

Classic REx jam
hosted by chris banks
May 5, 12, 19, and 26 @ 8:00pm

NO RESERVATIONS

$10 Cover Charge

Jam with us! Enjoy our house band (a collection of beloved all-stars) spontaneously creating musical goodness just for you!

Hosted by the legendary Chris Banks.

Sam Dickinson quartet
May 6 @ 5:00 PM

Sam Dickinson - Guitar
Joel Bracken - Saxophone
Julian Anderson-Bowes - Bass
Eric West - Drums

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

SAM DICKINSON was born in Toronto, and began playing guitar at the age of eight. He studied  jazz during high school at the Humber College Community Music Program, followed by studies  at New England Conservatory, Humber College, and McGill University. Dickinson received his  Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Miami in 2019. Dickinson’s formative years  included guitar instruction from Mick Goodrick, Lorne Lofsky, Ben Monder, Joe Morris, John  Hart, Ted Quinlan, and Brad Shepik, as well as composition/arranging lessons from John  Hollenbeck, Christine Jensen, and Joe Sullivan. Dickinson has shared the stage with Donny  McCaslin, Jerry Bergonzi, Jack DeJohnette, Seamus Blake, Jean- Michel Pilc, Dave Holland, Pat  LaBarbara, Jimmy Heath, and Danilo Perez, to name a few. Dickinson released his debut  album Don’t Ask Me in 2023, and maintains an active schedule performing, composing, and  teaching. Dickinson’s second album Gemini Duets (TQM Records) is a collection of solo guitar  music, and was released digitally and on vinyl in 2025. 

Don Byron and NOJO
May 6, 7, 8, 9 @ 8:00 PM

Don Byron - Clarinet
NOJO Led by Michael Occhipinti (Guitar) and Paul Neufeld (Piano

Don Byron and NOJO, the Neufeld-Occhipinti Jazz Orchestra, have played together for almost thirty years, and Don appears on NOJO's JUNO nominated albums You Are Here and Highwire.  Don is no stranger to the Rex, having played a number of truly jaw-dropping shows over the years, while NOJO is the brainchild of guitarist Michael Occhipinti and pianist Paul Neufeld, a large ensemble dedicated to performing their bold and memorable original compositions the Globe and Mail called "the sound of surprise."  NOJO was the first big band to set up long running residence at the Rex starting in 1995, so it is only fitting that Don and the band are reuniting at the Rex once again. This show is not to be missed!

Jay BoeHmer's Queen Street Four
May 7 @ 5:00 PM

Jay Boehmer - Drums

Rebecca Hennessy - Trumpet

Chris Gale - Tenor Sax

Michael Herring - Bass

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

Queen Street Four is led by drummer and composer Jay Boehmer (BEE-mer) and exploits the great sound of trumpet and tenor sax with the absence of piano or guitar for harmony, similar to the Chet Baker and Gerry Mulligan Quartet. The band’s repertoire is arranged by Boehmer and combines original compositions along with new arrangements of standards like Night Train, Yesterdays and Jitterbug Waltz. You may even hear a ballad by Frank Zappa.

Don Byron and NOJO
May 6, 7, 8, 9 @ 8:00 PM

Don Byron - Clarinet
NOJO Led by Michael Occhipinti (Guitar) and Paul Neufeld (Piano

Don Byron and NOJO, the Neufeld-Occhipinti Jazz Orchestra, have played together for almost thirty years, and Don appears on NOJO's JUNO nominated albums You Are Here and Highwire.  Don is no stranger to the Rex, having played a number of truly jaw-dropping shows over the years, while NOJO is the brainchild of guitarist Michael Occhipinti and pianist Paul Neufeld, a large ensemble dedicated to performing their bold and memorable original compositions the Globe and Mail called "the sound of surprise."  NOJO was the first big band to set up long running residence at the Rex starting in 1995, so it is only fitting that Don and the band are reuniting at the Rex once again. This show is not to be missed!

Trevor Hogg
May 8 @ 5:00 PM

BAND TBA

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

"In my opinion, Trevor Hogg's artistic integrity has, piece-by-piece, built a  sophisticated musical style devoid of self-affirmation or sentimentalism, placing him  within the rare category of musicians’ musician.” - David Braid 

Saxophonist Trevor Hogg has performed across North America, and Western Europe,  with pianist/composer David Braid and the Juno Award Nominated band Peripheral  Vision (Michael Herring, Don Scott, Nick Fraser). In Toronto, he leads his own group  which Mike Murley describes as “one of Canada’s leading proponents of the melodically  inventive tradition of saxophonists Lee Konitz and Warne Marsh.”

Don Byron and NOJO
May 6, 7, 8, 9 @ 8:00 PM

Don Byron - Clarinet
NOJO Led by Michael Occhipinti (Guitar) and Paul Neufeld (Piano

Don Byron and NOJO, the Neufeld-Occhipinti Jazz Orchestra, have played together for almost thirty years, and Don appears on NOJO's JUNO nominated albums You Are Here and Highwire.  Don is no stranger to the Rex, having played a number of truly jaw-dropping shows over the years, while NOJO is the brainchild of guitarist Michael Occhipinti and pianist Paul Neufeld, a large ensemble dedicated to performing their bold and memorable original compositions the Globe and Mail called "the sound of surprise."  NOJO was the first big band to set up long running residence at the Rex starting in 1995, so it is only fitting that Don and the band are reuniting at the Rex once again. This show is not to be missed!

Brian An quartet
May 9 @ 2:00 PM

Brian An - Trombone
Ewen Farncombe - Piano
Malcolm Connor - Bass
Ethan Ardelli - Drums

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

An Ottawa native, Brian An (pronounced “on”) “has quickly become a compelling hard bop trombonist with plenty to say on his horn” (Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen). His previous appearances include The Rex in Toronto, the Ottawa International Jazz Festival and the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, and The Jazz Room and the Registry Theatre in Waterloo. Brian has also been interviewed by CBC regarding his career and performances. Brian was initially a student of classical music before being drawn to the hard bop era of jazz, drawing inspirations from such artists as J.J. Johnson, Curtis Fuller, Dexter Gordon, Oscar Peterson, and more. He studied with trombonists Drum Hudson (Frank Sinatra, Paul Anka, Tony Bennett), Chris Glassman (Michael Bublé, Ulysses Owens Jr., Kurt Elling), and Doug Elliott (Airmen of Note). In addition to his musical pursuits, Brian studies Mathematics at the University of Waterloo.

Maika Monroe + Daniel Cowans
May 9 @ 5:00 PM

Maika Monroe - Vocals

Daniel Cowans - Piano

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

Maiko Munroe is a Toronto-based vocalist known for her warm tone, expressive phrasing, and soulful approach to song. Blending elements of jazz, soul, and classic vocal traditions, she brings an intimate and emotionally resonant style to the stage.

For this performance at The Rex, Maiko is joined by pianist Daniel Cowans for an evening of voice and piano. Together, the duo explores beloved standards and soulful interpretations in a relaxed setting where melody, storytelling, and musical chemistry take center stage.

Don Byron and NOJO
May 6, 7, 8, 9 @ 8:00 PM

Don Byron - Clarinet
NOJO Led by Michael Occhipinti (Guitar) and Paul Neufeld (Piano

Don Byron and NOJO, the Neufeld-Occhipinti Jazz Orchestra, have played together for almost thirty years, and Don appears on NOJO's JUNO nominated albums You Are Here and Highwire.  Don is no stranger to the Rex, having played a number of truly jaw-dropping shows over the years, while NOJO is the brainchild of guitarist Michael Occhipinti and pianist Paul Neufeld, a large ensemble dedicated to performing their bold and memorable original compositions the Globe and Mail called "the sound of surprise."  NOJO was the first big band to set up long running residence at the Rex starting in 1995, so it is only fitting that Don and the band are reuniting at the Rex once again. This show is not to be missed!

flintlock
May 9 @ 11:00 PM

Jordana Talsky - Vocals

James Thomson - Bass

Mark Hundevad - Drums

Scott Metcalfe - Keys (June 5)

Lee Wallace - Guitar (May 9, June 5)

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

Flintlock is a Toronto-based jazz quintet that draws influence from bebop, alternative pop, rock, and beyond. Featuring vocalist Jordana Talsky, drummer/vibraphonist Mark Hundevad, pianist Scott Metcalfe, bassist James Thomson, and saxophonist Shawn Nykwist, along with guest artists, the group thrives on freedom, fun, and creativity. Their performances are driven by deep listening and improvisation, embracing an in-the-moment spirit that invites surprises and spontaneous grooves. With a love for pushing jazz’s boundaries, Flintlock makes every show an exciting, unpredictable ride.

Just prince and friends
May 10 @ 2:00 pM

Just Prince - Guitar / Vocals
Abbas Jan - Tabla
Patrick O’Reilly - Guitar
Max Senitt - Drums
Reza Moghaddas - Bass

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

Toronto-based singer-songwriter, Just Prince, is known for  seamlessly blending Western and Eastern sounds into a  harmonious tapestry. With a captivating style that defies  genre constraints, his music weaves elements of folk,  rock, blues, and Hindustani classical music into a  mesmerizing experience. Just Prince's evocative  compositions take listeners on a sonic journey,  transcending cultural boundaries and resonating with the  soul. With Max Senitt on Drums, Patrick O'Reilly on Guitar  and Joan Lomas Ortega on Bass, they will craft a musical  landscape that bridges worlds with the intention of genuine  songwriting and experimental expression

The Bentley Collective
May 10 @ 5:00 pM

Roger Williams - Bass and BG Vocals

Paige Armstrong - Guitar and BG Vocals

Rich Greenspoon - Drums 

Brooke Blackburn - Acoustic and Electric Guitars / Vocals 

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

Brooke Blackburn has spent a lifetime in music. The second son of Toronto music veteran Bobby Dean Blackburn, Brooke was surrounded by music in the home growing up because that’s where his dad’s musical friends gathered to rehearse.

“My mom and dad owned their home so we had a basement, and that was the rehearsal spot,” he said at last year’s Folk Music Ontario conference.

Whether they were local musicians or Americans avoiding the draft during the time of the Vietnam War, the Blackburn home was the place to congregate and play music.

Bobby Dean’s career started when he was 15 in the mid-50s with his group “Bobby Dean & the Gems,” playing Bo Diddley/Fats Domino/Little Richard-style rock and roll. So it’s no wonder Brooke and his brothers followed in their father’s footsteps.

Brooke started playing at venues like The Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto when he was 15. When younger brother Cory turned 16, The Blackburn Brothers Band was formed with brothers Robert and Duane. They built their own recording studio and released their first album, Soul Searching, in 1996. Four more albums have followed, including their latest, SoulFunkn’Blues. Robert no longer performs in the band but still contributes as a songwriter, as does Brooke.

Throughout his long career, Brooke has played electric guitar in a wide variety of styles, from reggae to R&B to jazz and blues. He didn’t play acoustic guitar until about 10 years ago. It was a musical revelation. Right away he wrote the song, ‘Conqueror’, which is on the 2016 album, The Bentley Collective. Bentley is Brooke’s middle name.

“I never played in open keys before. It’s almost like a piano for me. It has a richness.”

Brooke keeps busy with his acoustic act, be it solo, duo, trio or quartet, at places like the Shangri-la Hotel, The Function Bar and the Poetry Jazz Cafe in Toronto. Working with his brothers means touring to the Panama Beaches Jazz and Blues Festival, Ottawa Blues Festival, White Mountain Boogie n’ Blues Festival and the International Blues Cruise. And that’s just this year! There’s also the prospect of a booking at a blues festival in Norway later on.

Brooke is well-versed in a variety of blues styles, whether from Louisiana, Chicago, Kansas City or elsewhere. So the question is, is there a Toronto-style of blues?

“It’s more of a collaboration thing,” said Brooke.

“Everything in Toronto is about multi-culturalism, so you get all these feels in your music. We’re big into jazz, so all the different kinds of blues find its way in there. It’s very international.”

Speaking of collaboration, you can also see Brooke supporting singer-songwriter Shakura S’Aida in concert and providing music for Soulpepper Theatre in Toronto.

The Steve Holt Jazz Impact Quintet
May 10 & 11 @ 8:00 PM

Kevin Turcotte - Trumpet

Perry White - Tenor Saxophone

Steve Holt - Piano

Duncan Hopkins - Bass

Terry Clarke - Drums

Steve Holt was a child prodigy starting to play piano at the age of 4. Born in Montreal Canada, he began his professional career at the age of 18, playing the clubs in and around Montreal. Since that time, Steve has built an international reputation as one of Canada's premier Jazz pianists, having worked with the likes of Archie Shepp, Larry Coryell, James Moody, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, and Michel Urbaniak.

In October 1987, Steve moved to Toronto, where he recorded two more important jazz CDs for the Sackville label. In 2002 Steve recorded his first CD as a vocalist as well as pianist and keyboardist - an CD of Adult Contemporary music for the Trilogy label. This CD led to him winning an Honorable Mention at the 2002 USA Songwriting Competition, the largest songwriting competition in the world. The award included a showcase tour of major U.S cities including New York, Washington DC, Nashville, and Los Angeles.

By 2014 Steve had fully returned to his jazz roots with many live performances.

In 2025 he released IMPACT with The Steve Holt Jazz Impact Quintet. The album received critical acclaim around the world and was nominated for a JUNO award for Jazz Album of the Year (Group).

Steve currently lives in Trent Hills Ontario, about 2 hours east of Toronto and 3 hours west of Ottawa. 

Muhirka Trio
May 11 @ 5:00 pM

Karina Muhir - Vocals
Tak Arikushi - Guitar
Jon Meyer - Double Bass

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

Muhirka Trio 

Based in Toronto, Muhirka Trio is led by singer Karina Muhir. The trio plays  tunes with rich storytelling from the swing dance era of the 1920s–30s.  Karina has a warm alto voice that presents her elegant style, yet remains  vividly expressive. 

The Steve Holt Jazz Impact Quintet
May 10 & 11 @ 8:00 PM

Kevin Turcotte - Trumpet

Perry White - Tenor Saxophone

Steve Holt - Piano

Duncan Hopkins - Bass

Terry Clarke - Drums

Steve Holt was a child prodigy starting to play piano at the age of 4. Born in Montreal Canada, he began his professional career at the age of 18, playing the clubs in and around Montreal. Since that time, Steve has built an international reputation as one of Canada's premier Jazz pianists, having worked with the likes of Archie Shepp, Larry Coryell, James Moody, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, and Michel Urbaniak.

In October 1987, Steve moved to Toronto, where he recorded two more important jazz CDs for the Sackville label. In 2002 Steve recorded his first CD as a vocalist as well as pianist and keyboardist - an CD of Adult Contemporary music for the Trilogy label. This CD led to him winning an Honorable Mention at the 2002 USA Songwriting Competition, the largest songwriting competition in the world. The award included a showcase tour of major U.S cities including New York, Washington DC, Nashville, and Los Angeles.

By 2014 Steve had fully returned to his jazz roots with many live performances.

In 2025 he released IMPACT with The Steve Holt Jazz Impact Quintet. The album received critical acclaim around the world and was nominated for a JUNO award for Jazz Album of the Year (Group).

Steve currently lives in Trent Hills Ontario, about 2 hours east of Toronto and 3 hours west of Ottawa. 

Trombone Charlotte
May 5, 12, 19, 26 @ 5:00 PM

BAND TBA

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

A force in the city’s jazz scene since 2016, Charlotte has spent nearly a decade crafting her sound as both a sideman and star. Since stepping into the spotlight in 2021, she’s led high-energy ensembles across Canada’s top stages — Toronto Jazz Festival, Kensington Market Jazz Festival, Port Hope, Mont Tremblant, and a knockout appearance at Massey Hall’s Women’s Blues Revue where she belted out originals that brought the house down.

Classic REx jam
hosted by chris banks
May 5, 12, 19, and 26 @ 8:00pm

NO RESERVATIONS

$10 Cover Charge

Jam with us! Enjoy our house band (a collection of beloved all-stars) spontaneously creating musical goodness just for you!

Hosted by the legendary Chris Banks.

Luis Deniz and the Brandon Jazz All-Stars
May 13 @ 5:00 PM

Carlo Muscat - Tenor sax
Luis Deniz - Alto sax ,
Diogo Peixoto - Guitar  
Eric Platz  - Bass
Fabio Ragnelli - Drums

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

Winner of the Grand Prix de Jazz General Motors 2006 at  the Montreal Jazz Festival(David Virelles Quintet) and  Galaxie Rising Star 2010 at the Halifax Jazz Festival(Rich  Brown & Rinsethealgorithm),Grammy Nominated and  Juno Award Wining artist(Hilario Duran Latin Jazz Big  Band),alto saxophonist Luis Deniz was born in Camaguey,  Cuba on April 21st, 1983. In 1993, Luis started his musical  studies at the Escuela Vocacional de Arte Luis Casas  Romero in his hometown of Camaguey, where he  subsequently continued at the Escuela Profesional de  Musica Jose White. Luis later moved to the Cuban capital,  where he gratuated at the prestigious Escuela Nacional de  Musica (ENA), the alma mater of several of Cuba's most  prominent musicians. After graduating with high honors,  he was awarded 1st place at the international jazz  competition JOJAZZ, held in Havana(2003). Luis also kept  a busy schedule, both teaching saxophone at the National  School of Music and playing locally and touring  internationally as well,Luis has performed and given  workshops all over Cuba, Australia, Japan, USA, Canada,  Bermuda, Spain, Germany, France, Belgium, England,  Ireland, Scotland, Luxembourg and Switzerland. Upon his  arrival in Toronto in 2004, Deniz has performed/ recorded  with some of Toronto and International most outstanding  musicians, including Mark Turner,Tony Allen(Fela Kuti)  Hilario Duran, Luis Mario Ochoa, Paquito D Rivera,  Horacio El Negro Hernandez, Reg Schwager, Dafnis  Prieto, Francisco Mela, Barry Romberg, Darren  Sigesmund, Cubanismo, Rich Brown's Rinsethealgorithm 

and Rich Brown & The Abeng(currently), Mark Kelso & the  jazz Exiles, NOJO, Kirk MacDonald Jazz  

Orchestra,Roberto Occhipinti, Canadian Idol jazz  Orchestra,The Art of Jazz Orchestra, Jane Bunnett,  Canada’s Global Orchestra Kune, among others.He has  also shared the stage with international figures such as  Barry Harris,Howard Johnson, Ray Vega, Steve Turre,  Randy Brecker, Donald Harrison,Ingrid Jensen, Mark  Feldman, Gary Versace and Hermeto Pascoal. One of the  highlights of Luis’s career has been as educator as well,  acting as a part time faculty member at Toronto’s Humber  College, since September 2013, as well as University of  Toronto Jazz studies, since September 2021, imparting  private saxophone lessons and as a small and large  ensemble instructor, and as associate professor of  saxophone at Brandon University since January 2024.With  an impressive career as a sideman and saxophonist, Luis  keeps on working on his own development. In 2010 he  was awarded a Canada Council for the Arts Grant to study  with innovative saxophonist Greg Osby in New York City.  With all this achievements, Luis Deniz is definitely a name  to look for in the future of jazz. Luis Deniz’s debut album  entitled “ El Tinajon”, on Modica Music, was released in  May 2021, and has been positively received by critics and  fans alike. Luis plays exclusively Yamaha Saxophones,  Legere reeds and BG France accessories.

John Hollenbeck's GEORGE
May 13, 14, 15, 16 @ 8:00 PM

Anna Webber-tenor sax/flute
Sarah Rossy-voice/synth
special guest Yvonne Rogers-synths/piano
John Hollenbeck-drums/composition

GEORGE is what happens when groove meets inquiry — when analog warmth and digital edge blur into something both unexpected and deeply human. Formed by composer/drummer John Hollenbeck during the stillness of the pandemic, the quartet quickly became a fully realized ensemble.

Featuring Anna Webber (tenor saxophone, flute), Sarah Rossy (voice, synthesizer), Chiquita Magic (synthesizers, voice), and John Hollenbeck (drums, composition), GEORGE creates music that lives in the margins — between vintage funk and futuristic electronica, jazz and art-pop, structure and improvisation. As DownBeat noted, “Magic happens in the margins and the middle.” As Pitchfork observed, when the band locks in, its energy is “as infectious as a perfect pop tune.”

But GEORGE isn’t just about sound — it’s about resonance.

The band is named in tribute to George Floyd — in remembrance of his life and the violence that ended it. The name also resonates with a wide constellation of Georges: the Greek georgos (“earthworker”), George Washington Carver, George Clinton, George Orwell, Georgia O’Keeffe, George Saunders, George Lewis, George Gervin. Saints and revolutionaries. Artists and outsiders. The name carries history, contradiction, groove, and gravity.

These themes are woven seamlessly into performances audiences describe as sublime, immersive, surprising, and deeply nourishing.

Their debut album, Letters to George (Out Of Your Head Records, 2023), was praised by AllMusic as “a remarkable debut” featuring “captivating, provocative compositions.” In 2026, GEORGE releases Looking for Consonance, also on Out Of Your Head Records,  recorded at Hansa Studios in Berlin. The album expands the band’s sonic world while deepening its emotional and political clarity. From groove-driven pieces like “bounce,” to the diasporic offering “Nassam Alayna-LHawa,” to “Norma (in support of reproductive autonomy),” the music moves fluidly between celebration and reflection, tension and release.

Live, GEORGE is immersive, dynamic, and deeply felt. Wordless vocal harmonies dissolve into microtonal synth textures. Tenor saxophone lines soar over rhythmic frameworks that are both tight and expansive. Drums shift from whisper to thunder. The band’s compact instrumentation belies a vast sonic palette — at times orchestral, at times intimate.

Each member brings a singular voice:

Anna Webber is a flutist, saxophonist, and composer whose interests and work live in the aesthetic overlap between avant-garde jazz and new classical music. She was recently named a 2021 Berlin Prize Fellow and was voted the top “Rising Star” flutist in the 2020 

Downbeat Critic’s Poll. 

Sarah Rossy is a vocalist, keyboardist, composer and producer based in Montreal, Canada. Sarah's practice combines live electronic processing with jazz, folk, and Arabic music to create autobiographical, ethereal, and socially-outspoken soundscapes. Recent themes in Sarah's work include ancestral continua, intergenerational linkage and community healing. A debut audiovisual album, a tender autobiographical soundscape imagined through a kaleidoscopic electronic jazz lens entitled 'OF WHO WE HAVE BECOME', is set for release in 2024.
SPECIAL GUEST: Yvonne Rogers is a pianist, composer, and multimedia artist from Maine, now based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is rooted in improvisation and play, blending avant-garde jazz with contemporary composition and intuitive, textural exploration. Described as a “fresh, new voice on piano” (The Free Jazz Collective), she leads her own projects — including her 2023 debut album Seeds, a suite of lyrical, playful and collaborative music — and appears on trumpet-leader Adam O’Farrill’s 2026 album ELEPHANT, where her piano and synthesizer work contributes to the quartet’s fluid, genre-blurring sound.

Genre-crossing composer/percussionist John Hollenbeck, renowned in both the jazz and new-music worlds, has gained widespread recognition as the driving force behind the unclassifiable Claudia Quintet and the ambitious John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, groups with roots in jazz, world music, and contemporary composition. He has earned six GRAMMY nominations and has worked with many of the world's leading musicians in jazz including Bob Brookmeyer, Fred Hersch, Tony Malaby, and is well known in new-music circles for his long-time collaboration with Meredith Monk.

Together, they deliver music that is inventive yet deeply human — groove-centered, emotionally generous, and instantly engaging.

Fern Lindzon
May 14 @ 5:00 PM

Fern Lindzon - Piano / Vocals
Band - TBA

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

“Fern Lindzon is an engaging pianist and singer who brings an unassuming authority, an inquiring spirit and a natural grace to contemporary jazz.” – Mark Miller, jazz writer

With the release of her third CD, Like a Circle in a Spiral, in 2014, Fern Lindzon has continued to put her own, unique spin on contemporary jazz.

The Toronto singer, pianist, arranger, composer and 2012 JUNO Award Nominee has again drawn on a wide range of inspirations, finding both the personal and the universal in the work of Michel Legrand, Egberto Gismonti, Cole Porter, Mary Lou Williams and others old and new, near and far, all warmly sung, imaginatively arranged and gracefully played. This wealth of musical riches is complemented by the work of saxophonist David French, vibraphonist Michael Davidson, bassist George Koller (also the recording’s producer), drummer Nick Fraser and guest flutist Bill McBirnie.

Like a Circle in a Spiral is the culmination to date of a fascinating musical journey that began when Fern took classical voice and piano lessons as a child and continued through a degree in music history at the University of Toronto, studies with Frank Falco and Don Thompson and on, as a performer, into jazz and world music.

Since its launch in May 2014 at Toronto’s prestigious Jazz Bistro, Like a Circle in a Spiral has received extensive airplay and uniformly favorable reviews. Stuart Broomer, writing in The WholeNote, described Fern as “a rare jazz singer” and noted that her “strong identity [is] based on nuanced expression, a clear, almost silky voice, and a freedom from the collections of mannerisms that many jazz singers use to distinguish themselves.” Shelley Gummeson, commenting in !earshot, suggested that Fern “personifies a woman who lives confidently with her own instincts and artistry” on Like a Circle in a Spiral, and lauded her interpretations as “smart and smouldering” and “sublimely elegant.”

Like a Circle in a Spiral follows Two Kites (2011), which was nominated for a Juno Award in 2012 as Vocal Jazz Album of the Year. The work of “a rare and fascinating talent,” in the words of Montreal writer Irwin Block, Two Kites features Fern with George Koller, Nick Fraser and saxophonist Mike Murley in a typically embracing Lindzon program that flies gracefully on the winds of contemporary jazz, soaring from Antonio Carlos Jobim to Norma Winstone and touching down in Eastern Europe and on Broadway and Basin Street along the way. Fern’s Juno nomination for Two Kites was foreshadowed by a juried Special Projects award from Toronto Downtown Jazz in support of the CD’s launch in April 2011 Toronto’s Lula Lounge.

Her first CD, Moments Like These (2008), of duets with George Koller, vibraphonist Don Thompson and guitarist Reg Schwager, was also critically well received and brought her to national attention through a feature article in The Globe and Mail and a broadcast performance in 2009 on CBC Radio’s Canada Live. Tracks from all three of her CDs have been heard widely on other CBC radio programs, JAZZ.FM91, Espace Musique and many college and community stations across Canada.

Fern herself has appeared in leading jazz clubs in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Victoria, Ottawa and Waterloo, and at several festivals in Ontario, notably the Barrie Jazz and Blues Festival, where she has been a favorite for several years and in 2011 presented a special concert in tribute to the great American pianist and composer Mary Lou Williams.

Fern’s embracing vision of music has further been evident in her work as the music director from 2005 to 2011 of the klezmer-swing Sisters of Sheynville, who appeared at world music events in Canada, the United States and Poland, and won the Canadian Folk Music Award in 2008 for Vocal Group of the Year. She received a Canada Council grant in 2009 to study Yiddish repertoire and improvisation with Marilyn Lerner in Toronto and has also studied improvisation with Alan Bern at Yiddish Summer Weimar in Germany. More recently, she has collaborated on special Jewish music projects in Toronto with singer Theresa Tova and trumpeter David Buchbinder.

In 2010 she entered a new musical phase of her career when she led her own jazz/klezmer sextet in several performances of her original score for Buster Keaton’s Sherlock Jr. at the Toronto International Film Festival’s Bell Lightbox. Fern has continued to compose and improvise scores for other classic films by Keaton, Charlie Chaplin and others presented by the TIFF Bell Lightbox, the Toronto Silent Film Festival and the Vintage Film Festival.

Even as Like a Circle in a Spiral brings Fern new fans internationally, she remains vitally involved in the Toronto music scene as a performer and composer, a community event organizer and a voice and piano teacher, roles that she plays with an ever-inquiring mind and a wonderful generosity of spirit.

John Hollenbeck's GEORGE
May 13, 14, 15, 16 @ 8:00 PM

Anna Webber-tenor sax/flute
Sarah Rossy-voice/synth
special guest Yvonne Rogers-synths/piano
John Hollenbeck-drums/composition

GEORGE is what happens when groove meets inquiry — when analog warmth and digital edge blur into something both unexpected and deeply human. Formed by composer/drummer John Hollenbeck during the stillness of the pandemic, the quartet quickly became a fully realized ensemble.

Featuring Anna Webber (tenor saxophone, flute), Sarah Rossy (voice, synthesizer), Chiquita Magic (synthesizers, voice), and John Hollenbeck (drums, composition), GEORGE creates music that lives in the margins — between vintage funk and futuristic electronica, jazz and art-pop, structure and improvisation. As DownBeat noted, “Magic happens in the margins and the middle.” As Pitchfork observed, when the band locks in, its energy is “as infectious as a perfect pop tune.”

But GEORGE isn’t just about sound — it’s about resonance.

The band is named in tribute to George Floyd — in remembrance of his life and the violence that ended it. The name also resonates with a wide constellation of Georges: the Greek georgos (“earthworker”), George Washington Carver, George Clinton, George Orwell, Georgia O’Keeffe, George Saunders, George Lewis, George Gervin. Saints and revolutionaries. Artists and outsiders. The name carries history, contradiction, groove, and gravity.

These themes are woven seamlessly into performances audiences describe as sublime, immersive, surprising, and deeply nourishing.

Their debut album, Letters to George (Out Of Your Head Records, 2023), was praised by AllMusic as “a remarkable debut” featuring “captivating, provocative compositions.” In 2026, GEORGE releases Looking for Consonance, also on Out Of Your Head Records,  recorded at Hansa Studios in Berlin. The album expands the band’s sonic world while deepening its emotional and political clarity. From groove-driven pieces like “bounce,” to the diasporic offering “Nassam Alayna-LHawa,” to “Norma (in support of reproductive autonomy),” the music moves fluidly between celebration and reflection, tension and release.

Live, GEORGE is immersive, dynamic, and deeply felt. Wordless vocal harmonies dissolve into microtonal synth textures. Tenor saxophone lines soar over rhythmic frameworks that are both tight and expansive. Drums shift from whisper to thunder. The band’s compact instrumentation belies a vast sonic palette — at times orchestral, at times intimate.

Each member brings a singular voice:

Anna Webber is a flutist, saxophonist, and composer whose interests and work live in the aesthetic overlap between avant-garde jazz and new classical music. She was recently named a 2021 Berlin Prize Fellow and was voted the top “Rising Star” flutist in the 2020 

Downbeat Critic’s Poll. 

Sarah Rossy is a vocalist, keyboardist, composer and producer based in Montreal, Canada. Sarah's practice combines live electronic processing with jazz, folk, and Arabic music to create autobiographical, ethereal, and socially-outspoken soundscapes. Recent themes in Sarah's work include ancestral continua, intergenerational linkage and community healing. A debut audiovisual album, a tender autobiographical soundscape imagined through a kaleidoscopic electronic jazz lens entitled 'OF WHO WE HAVE BECOME', is set for release in 2024.
SPECIAL GUEST: Yvonne Rogers is a pianist, composer, and multimedia artist from Maine, now based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is rooted in improvisation and play, blending avant-garde jazz with contemporary composition and intuitive, textural exploration. Described as a “fresh, new voice on piano” (The Free Jazz Collective), she leads her own projects — including her 2023 debut album Seeds, a suite of lyrical, playful and collaborative music — and appears on trumpet-leader Adam O’Farrill’s 2026 album ELEPHANT, where her piano and synthesizer work contributes to the quartet’s fluid, genre-blurring sound.

Genre-crossing composer/percussionist John Hollenbeck, renowned in both the jazz and new-music worlds, has gained widespread recognition as the driving force behind the unclassifiable Claudia Quintet and the ambitious John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, groups with roots in jazz, world music, and contemporary composition. He has earned six GRAMMY nominations and has worked with many of the world's leading musicians in jazz including Bob Brookmeyer, Fred Hersch, Tony Malaby, and is well known in new-music circles for his long-time collaboration with Meredith Monk.

Together, they deliver music that is inventive yet deeply human — groove-centered, emotionally generous, and instantly engaging.

Bob Brough Birthday
May 15 @ 5:00 PM

David Occhipinti - guitar, Artie Roth - bass, Terry Clarke - drums. And of course, me on saxophone.

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

A driving force on Canada’s jazz scene since the 1980s, the Bob Brough Quartet  delivers dynamic, straight-ahead jazz rooted in tradition and fueled by modern  energy. The group has shared major festival stages across the country, including  opening night of the 2004 Ottawa International Jazz Festival, where they opened for  the Herbie Hancock All-Star Band. 

With three chart-topping recordings to their credit — including A Decade of  Favourites, Like A Spring Day and Time Away — the Quartet continues to earn radio  play and captivate audiences nationwide. A mainstay in Toronto, they perform  regularly at The Rex, The Pilot, and The Jazz Bistro, bringing swing, soul, and  spontaneity to every stage.

John Hollenbeck's GEORGE
May 13, 14, 15, 16 @ 8:00 PM

Anna Webber-tenor sax/flute
Sarah Rossy-voice/synth
special guest Yvonne Rogers-synths/piano
John Hollenbeck-drums/composition

GEORGE is what happens when groove meets inquiry — when analog warmth and digital edge blur into something both unexpected and deeply human. Formed by composer/drummer John Hollenbeck during the stillness of the pandemic, the quartet quickly became a fully realized ensemble.

Featuring Anna Webber (tenor saxophone, flute), Sarah Rossy (voice, synthesizer), Chiquita Magic (synthesizers, voice), and John Hollenbeck (drums, composition), GEORGE creates music that lives in the margins — between vintage funk and futuristic electronica, jazz and art-pop, structure and improvisation. As DownBeat noted, “Magic happens in the margins and the middle.” As Pitchfork observed, when the band locks in, its energy is “as infectious as a perfect pop tune.”

But GEORGE isn’t just about sound — it’s about resonance.

The band is named in tribute to George Floyd — in remembrance of his life and the violence that ended it. The name also resonates with a wide constellation of Georges: the Greek georgos (“earthworker”), George Washington Carver, George Clinton, George Orwell, Georgia O’Keeffe, George Saunders, George Lewis, George Gervin. Saints and revolutionaries. Artists and outsiders. The name carries history, contradiction, groove, and gravity.

These themes are woven seamlessly into performances audiences describe as sublime, immersive, surprising, and deeply nourishing.

Their debut album, Letters to George (Out Of Your Head Records, 2023), was praised by AllMusic as “a remarkable debut” featuring “captivating, provocative compositions.” In 2026, GEORGE releases Looking for Consonance, also on Out Of Your Head Records,  recorded at Hansa Studios in Berlin. The album expands the band’s sonic world while deepening its emotional and political clarity. From groove-driven pieces like “bounce,” to the diasporic offering “Nassam Alayna-LHawa,” to “Norma (in support of reproductive autonomy),” the music moves fluidly between celebration and reflection, tension and release.

Live, GEORGE is immersive, dynamic, and deeply felt. Wordless vocal harmonies dissolve into microtonal synth textures. Tenor saxophone lines soar over rhythmic frameworks that are both tight and expansive. Drums shift from whisper to thunder. The band’s compact instrumentation belies a vast sonic palette — at times orchestral, at times intimate.

Each member brings a singular voice:

Anna Webber is a flutist, saxophonist, and composer whose interests and work live in the aesthetic overlap between avant-garde jazz and new classical music. She was recently named a 2021 Berlin Prize Fellow and was voted the top “Rising Star” flutist in the 2020 

Downbeat Critic’s Poll. 

Sarah Rossy is a vocalist, keyboardist, composer and producer based in Montreal, Canada. Sarah's practice combines live electronic processing with jazz, folk, and Arabic music to create autobiographical, ethereal, and socially-outspoken soundscapes. Recent themes in Sarah's work include ancestral continua, intergenerational linkage and community healing. A debut audiovisual album, a tender autobiographical soundscape imagined through a kaleidoscopic electronic jazz lens entitled 'OF WHO WE HAVE BECOME', is set for release in 2024.
SPECIAL GUEST: Yvonne Rogers is a pianist, composer, and multimedia artist from Maine, now based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is rooted in improvisation and play, blending avant-garde jazz with contemporary composition and intuitive, textural exploration. Described as a “fresh, new voice on piano” (The Free Jazz Collective), she leads her own projects — including her 2023 debut album Seeds, a suite of lyrical, playful and collaborative music — and appears on trumpet-leader Adam O’Farrill’s 2026 album ELEPHANT, where her piano and synthesizer work contributes to the quartet’s fluid, genre-blurring sound.

Genre-crossing composer/percussionist John Hollenbeck, renowned in both the jazz and new-music worlds, has gained widespread recognition as the driving force behind the unclassifiable Claudia Quintet and the ambitious John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, groups with roots in jazz, world music, and contemporary composition. He has earned six GRAMMY nominations and has worked with many of the world's leading musicians in jazz including Bob Brookmeyer, Fred Hersch, Tony Malaby, and is well known in new-music circles for his long-time collaboration with Meredith Monk.

Together, they deliver music that is inventive yet deeply human — groove-centered, emotionally generous, and instantly engaging.

Diane Roblin’s Life Force
May 16 @ 2:00 PM

Diane Roblin - Piano/Keys/Compositions
George Koller - Electric/Upright bass
Kevin Turcotte - Trumpet/Flugelhorn
John Johnson - Bass Clarinet/Tenor Sax
Colleen Allen - Soprano/Alto sax
TIm Shia - Drums

Diane Roblin’s Life Force band has been described as a "virtuosic  ensemble of Canadian hotshots” who play Diane’s diverse and spirited compositions that blend her broad influences ranging from high-energy  jazz-funk to impressionism…something unique to offer jazz  fans" (JAZZ.FM91). 

Diane Roblin’s dynamic career has earned her a place among Canada’s most respected women in jazz.  Diane is an International Songwriter Competition winner.  She is known for her powerful compositions and expressive keyboard style blending technical agility with a deep commitment to the connective power of music. As a composer, pianist, electric keyboardist, improviser, and bandleader, Diane’s spirited, genre-crossing work has led to collaborations with artists ranging from avant-garde improviser Charles Gayle to the iconic rock band Rough Trade. Her new album, Breath of Fresh Air, released on Zsan Records in late 2024, continues this legacy. It showcases Roblin’s expansive musical voice, weaving jazz, funk, and impressionist harmony into compositions that are both adventurous and deeply moving. Leading her six-piece ensemble, Life Force, Diane explores high-energy soundscapes punctuated by intricate, emotionally resonant improvisations. A classical pianist by training, Diane pursued a diverse music education,  immersing herself in jazz improvisation, world music, as well as electronic composition with David Rosenboom. She has also studied with mridangam master Trichy Sankaran and participated in the Ornette Coleman/Karl Berger workshop in NYC, where she worked with luminaries like Lee Konitz, and in the Dutch Improv Academy with drummer Hans Bennink. Diane’s collaborations span an impressive range of Canadian jazz and experimental musicians, and she regularly performs in both traditional and experimental contexts.  Her CDs have had international airplay and her performances have reached audiences at major venues and festivals in North America and Europe including Amsterdam’s Bimhuis and New York’s Smalls. Diane is also an active member of the Association of Canadian Women Composers. www.dianeroblin.com

Neon Eagle
may 16, 23, 30 @ 5:00 PM

Led by: Mike Eckert - Pedal Steel

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Bringing entrancing instrumental fusion music featuring the pedal steel.

Come in, sit back, and feel the hypnotic vibes of this incredible group!

John Hollenbeck's GEORGE
May 13, 14, 15, 16 @ 8:00 PM

Anna Webber-tenor sax/flute
Sarah Rossy-voice/synth
special guest Yvonne Rogers-synths/piano
John Hollenbeck-drums/composition

GEORGE is what happens when groove meets inquiry — when analog warmth and digital edge blur into something both unexpected and deeply human. Formed by composer/drummer John Hollenbeck during the stillness of the pandemic, the quartet quickly became a fully realized ensemble.

Featuring Anna Webber (tenor saxophone, flute), Sarah Rossy (voice, synthesizer), Chiquita Magic (synthesizers, voice), and John Hollenbeck (drums, composition), GEORGE creates music that lives in the margins — between vintage funk and futuristic electronica, jazz and art-pop, structure and improvisation. As DownBeat noted, “Magic happens in the margins and the middle.” As Pitchfork observed, when the band locks in, its energy is “as infectious as a perfect pop tune.”

But GEORGE isn’t just about sound — it’s about resonance.

The band is named in tribute to George Floyd — in remembrance of his life and the violence that ended it. The name also resonates with a wide constellation of Georges: the Greek georgos (“earthworker”), George Washington Carver, George Clinton, George Orwell, Georgia O’Keeffe, George Saunders, George Lewis, George Gervin. Saints and revolutionaries. Artists and outsiders. The name carries history, contradiction, groove, and gravity.

These themes are woven seamlessly into performances audiences describe as sublime, immersive, surprising, and deeply nourishing.

Their debut album, Letters to George (Out Of Your Head Records, 2023), was praised by AllMusic as “a remarkable debut” featuring “captivating, provocative compositions.” In 2026, GEORGE releases Looking for Consonance, also on Out Of Your Head Records,  recorded at Hansa Studios in Berlin. The album expands the band’s sonic world while deepening its emotional and political clarity. From groove-driven pieces like “bounce,” to the diasporic offering “Nassam Alayna-LHawa,” to “Norma (in support of reproductive autonomy),” the music moves fluidly between celebration and reflection, tension and release.

Live, GEORGE is immersive, dynamic, and deeply felt. Wordless vocal harmonies dissolve into microtonal synth textures. Tenor saxophone lines soar over rhythmic frameworks that are both tight and expansive. Drums shift from whisper to thunder. The band’s compact instrumentation belies a vast sonic palette — at times orchestral, at times intimate.

Each member brings a singular voice:

Anna Webber is a flutist, saxophonist, and composer whose interests and work live in the aesthetic overlap between avant-garde jazz and new classical music. She was recently named a 2021 Berlin Prize Fellow and was voted the top “Rising Star” flutist in the 2020 

Downbeat Critic’s Poll. 

Sarah Rossy is a vocalist, keyboardist, composer and producer based in Montreal, Canada. Sarah's practice combines live electronic processing with jazz, folk, and Arabic music to create autobiographical, ethereal, and socially-outspoken soundscapes. Recent themes in Sarah's work include ancestral continua, intergenerational linkage and community healing. A debut audiovisual album, a tender autobiographical soundscape imagined through a kaleidoscopic electronic jazz lens entitled 'OF WHO WE HAVE BECOME', is set for release in 2024.
SPECIAL GUEST: Yvonne Rogers is a pianist, composer, and multimedia artist from Maine, now based in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is rooted in improvisation and play, blending avant-garde jazz with contemporary composition and intuitive, textural exploration. Described as a “fresh, new voice on piano” (The Free Jazz Collective), she leads her own projects — including her 2023 debut album Seeds, a suite of lyrical, playful and collaborative music — and appears on trumpet-leader Adam O’Farrill’s 2026 album ELEPHANT, where her piano and synthesizer work contributes to the quartet’s fluid, genre-blurring sound.

Genre-crossing composer/percussionist John Hollenbeck, renowned in both the jazz and new-music worlds, has gained widespread recognition as the driving force behind the unclassifiable Claudia Quintet and the ambitious John Hollenbeck Large Ensemble, groups with roots in jazz, world music, and contemporary composition. He has earned six GRAMMY nominations and has worked with many of the world's leading musicians in jazz including Bob Brookmeyer, Fred Hersch, Tony Malaby, and is well known in new-music circles for his long-time collaboration with Meredith Monk.

Together, they deliver music that is inventive yet deeply human — groove-centered, emotionally generous, and instantly engaging.

Marc Decho’s “Bom Começo” – A Celebration of Afro-Brazilian Jazz
May 16 @ 11:00 PM

Marc Decho- Electric Bass / Compositions

Anh Phung - Flute / Electronics

Jeremy Ledbetter - Piano

Marito Marques – Drums

Dijerdam “Baiano” Gomes - Percussion

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

The latest project from acclaimed Toronto based electric bassist and composer Marc Decho. This dynamic, multi-cultural ensemble brings to life an irresistible blend of rhythm, harmony, and improvisation through all-original Afro-Brazilian Jazz works.  With Bom Começo (“Good Beginning”), Marc Decho leads audiences on a soulful journey that bridges continents and cultures — honoring the timeless traditions of Afro-Brazilian music while pushing the boundaries of modern jazz.

By bringing together artists with deep ties to Brazilian, Afro-diasporic, Cuban and Portuguese musical practices, the project fosters cross-cultural dialogue, expands the sonic palette of Canadian jazz, and creates a space for innovative musical exploration that situates traditional rhythms of Bahia with the rhythmic, melodic, and harmonic innovations of modern jazz giants such as Hermeto Pascoal

Laura hubert Band
May 3, 17, 31 @ 5:00 PM

Led by : Laura Hubert - Vocals

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Canadian vocal treasure, born and raised in Toronto, Laura Hubert has remained a steady force on the city’s music scene over the past 25 years. Although she retired from rock and roll back per se when JUNO-winning indie-rock group Leslie Spit Treeo split up late last millennium, for several decades now she has been singing her soulful interpretations of vintage blues, jazz and Western swing all over the Greater Toronto Area. “I want to participate in the joy of the world, try to keep it light,” says Hubert.  “Just trying to have some fun. Sing some songs. Make some music. Give some joy.”

Over the years she recorded 3 solo albums with her band, led by pianist Peter Hill and featuring some of Toronto’s finest including Chris Whiteley, Brandi Disterheft, Victor Bateman, William Sperandei: “Girlish Days” (2000), “Live at the Rex” (2001) and “Half Bridled” (2004).

In the years since these recordings, Hubert and her fans enjoyed residencies at venerable venues such as Grossman’s Tavern, The Cameron House and The Rex Hotel. Singing many of the same old classic songs over the years, like the finest of wine Hubert’s art has aged in the best way, her bluesy growl deeper and more powerful than ever.

“One Night in Kensington” is an initiative spearheaded by Order of Canada member, singer-songwriter and long-time friend of Hubert, is the new recording fans have long been waiting for. “Hubert’s unique and soulful vocal delivery can make any old song sound brand new,” says Molly Johnson.

Produced by Johnson and her Kensington Market Jazz Festival team, the new album live at Poetry Jazz Café find Hubert in the happy company of four very fine players: Eric St-Laurent on guitar, Davide DiRenzo on drums, Steve Wallace on bass and long-time musical partner Peter Hill on piano.  

Valérie Lacombe
May 17 & 18 @ 8:00 PM

Valérie Lacombe - Drums
Kirk MacDonald - Tenor
Mike Murley - Tenor
Jonathan Chapman - Bass

Valérie is a Montreal-based jazz drummer, bandleader, and composer whose work centers on original music for chordless quartet. Her debut album, State of Garden and Shadow, will be released on April 17th 2026 and features Camille Thurman on tenor saxophone, Caoilainn Power on alto saxophone, and Ira Coleman on bass. 

In 2026, she was selected for a residency at the Tribeca Jazz Institute in New York City, where she studied with Kenny Washington, Chris Byars, Eric Alexander, Harry Allen, Grant Stewart, Greg Ruggiero, and other leading figures of the New York jazz scene. 

Valerie holds a Master of Music in Jazz Performance from McGill University (2024), where she studied with Darrell Green and Kevin Dean. 

She is also a member of The Ostara Project, a Canadian collective featuring a rotating cast of award-winning women musicians, with whom she has toured extensively across Canada, including the Yukon Territory.

Chris Rice Trio
May 18 @ 5:00 PM

Chris Rice - Bass
Mateo Mancuso - Piano
Norbert Botos - Drums

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Hailing from the British Columbia interior, Chris Rice is an upright bass player making big moves in the Toronto scene. Currently finishing his second year at Humber Polytechnics esteemed jazz program, and inspired by the legendary quarter notes of Ray Brown and Christian Mcbride Chris has been developing his own unique sound on, and off of the bandstand. 

Valérie Lacombe
May 17 & 18 @ 8:00 PM

Valérie Lacombe - Drums
Kirk MacDonald - Tenor
Mike Murley - Tenor
Jonathan Chapman - Bass

Valérie is a Montreal-based jazz drummer, bandleader, and composer whose work centers on original music for chordless quartet. Her debut album, State of Garden and Shadow, will be released on April 17th 2026 and features Camille Thurman on tenor saxophone, Caoilainn Power on alto saxophone, and Ira Coleman on bass. 

In 2026, she was selected for a residency at the Tribeca Jazz Institute in New York City, where she studied with Kenny Washington, Chris Byars, Eric Alexander, Harry Allen, Grant Stewart, Greg Ruggiero, and other leading figures of the New York jazz scene. 

Valerie holds a Master of Music in Jazz Performance from McGill University (2024), where she studied with Darrell Green and Kevin Dean. 

She is also a member of The Ostara Project, a Canadian collective featuring a rotating cast of award-winning women musicians, with whom she has toured extensively across Canada, including the Yukon Territory.

Trombone Charlotte
May 5, 12, 19, 26 @ 5:00 PM

BAND TBA

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

A force in the city’s jazz scene since 2016, Charlotte has spent nearly a decade crafting her sound as both a sideman and star. Since stepping into the spotlight in 2021, she’s led high-energy ensembles across Canada’s top stages — Toronto Jazz Festival, Kensington Market Jazz Festival, Port Hope, Mont Tremblant, and a knockout appearance at Massey Hall’s Women’s Blues Revue where she belted out originals that brought the house down.

Classic REx jam
hosted by chris banks
May 5, 12, 19, and 26 @ 8:00pm

NO RESERVATIONS

$10 Cover Charge

Jam with us! Enjoy our house band (a collection of beloved all-stars) spontaneously creating musical goodness just for you!

Hosted by the legendary Chris Banks.

Chase Ward Quintet
May 20 @ 5:00 PM

Chase Ward - Drums
Joel Bracken - Tenor Saxophone
Miles Cakebread-Kraus - Guitar
Minh Hoang - Piano
Josh Warren - Bass

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Chase Ward is a Toronto-based musician and composer originally from Victoria, BC. With a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Performance from Humber College, Ward creates art that invites people into a shared story, believing that wonder belongs to everyone and can change everything. His work is defined by curiosity, care, and a commitment to excellence that honours both his craft and his audience. 

A multi-instrumentalist with a collaborative spirit, Ward has performed and recorded widely as a sideman with artists and ensembles including The West Coast Soul Collective, The Simon Williams Sextet, Ryan Van Winkle (20 EYES), and The Mumbo Jumbo Combo. He has also appeared as a substitute percussionist for Disney’s The Lion King Musical, presented by Mirvish Productions in Toronto. 

Ward’s primary creative outlet is his trio, a dynamic, improvisatory project rooted in storytelling, spontaneity, and musical expedition. Featuring pianist/arranger Simon Williams and bassist Josh Warren, the group blends the jazz tradition with rhythmic 

influences from Latin, Afro-Cuban, and New Orleans music, crafting performances that are both grounded and exploratory. 

His debut record, Senary, is a vivid expression of his artistic purpose. Inspired by the dynamic chemistry of the Miles Davis Quintet and the rhythmic complexity of artists such as Dafnis Prieto and Eliane Elias, the album navigates the emotional landscape of Ward’s transition from the West Coast to Toronto. Featuring a range of guest musicians, including Latin percussionist Joaquín Núñez Hidalgo and vibraphonist Kayla Hoshizaki, Senary brings together harmonic richness, improvisational depth, and rhythmic drive in service of something larger: moments of shared wonder, reflection, and joy.

Brian Charette Organ Trio
May 20, 21, 22, 23 @ 8:00 PM

Brian Charette - Organ
Ted Quinlan - Guitar
Jordan Young - Drums

NYC and LA organist/pianist, Brian Charette, has established himself as a leading  voice in modern jazz. Charette is a Hammond U.S.A, Hammond Europe, I.K  Multimedia, and Casio endorsed, Cellar Live recording artist. Brian is a Critic’s  Poll and Reader’s Poll regular, in 2024, #2 on the 2024 Downbeat Critic’s Poll for  organ and #6 for keyboards. Brian was also the winner of the 2014 Downbeat Critics’ Poll “Rising Star: Organ” award and 2015 Hot House Magazine's “Fan's  Decision Jazz Award for Best Organist”. Charette’s new Cellar Live release,  Jackpot, was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s hallowed studio featuring Bill Stewart  on drums. The album received 4 stars from Downbeat and was on the Jazzweek radio chart for months, peaking at #9 for 6 weeks. Charette is also a prolific  composer of large ensemble music, penning and performing compositions with  The Jazz Dock Orchestra in Prague and The Modern Art Orchestra in Budapest

Matt Endahl Quartet
May 21 @ 5:00 PM

Matt Endahl - Piano
Dan Fortin - Bass
Allison Au - Saxophones
Nick Fraser - Drums

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

From 2013 to 2022 I lived in Nashville, TN where I played in groups led by Rahsaan Barber, Dara Tucker, Chester Thompson, Marcus Finnie, Jeff Coffin, Joel Frahm, and many others. I’ve shared the stage with legendary figures like Jimmy Heath, Henry Grimes, David Liebman, Duffy Jackson, Jane Ira Bloom, Arthur Blythe, Jeff “Tain” Watts, Marcus Belgrave, Roger Humphries, Dave Douglas, Nicolas Bearde, and Karrin Allyson.

From 2003-2013, I lived and worked in Ann Arbor, MI where I was a student of
Geri Allen, Ellen Rowe and Stephen Rush at the University of Michigan. I played with many groups, including the James Hughes/Jimmy Smith Quintet, Liquid Street, the Legendary Wings, and Balkan-jazz band  Ornamatik. I formed my own group, Symbology (2006-2008) and was the leader of Canterbury House band Quartex (2009-2013).

In 2008 I was selected as a Bösendorfer Montreux Jazz Solo Piano Competition semi-finalist. After moving to Nashville, I taught at Belmont University, Middle Tennessee State University, the Nashville Jazz Workshop. I am currently doing doctoral work in Critical Studies in Improvisation at the University of Guelph.

Brian Charette Organ Trio
May 20, 21, 22, 23 @ 8:00 PM

Brian Charette - Organ
Ted Quinlan - Guitar
Jordan Young - Drums

NYC and LA organist/pianist, Brian Charette, has established himself as a leading  voice in modern jazz. Charette is a Hammond U.S.A, Hammond Europe, I.K  Multimedia, and Casio endorsed, Cellar Live recording artist. Brian is a Critic’s  Poll and Reader’s Poll regular, in 2024, #2 on the 2024 Downbeat Critic’s Poll for  organ and #6 for keyboards. Brian was also the winner of the 2014 Downbeat Critics’ Poll “Rising Star: Organ” award and 2015 Hot House Magazine's “Fan's  Decision Jazz Award for Best Organist”. Charette’s new Cellar Live release,  Jackpot, was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s hallowed studio featuring Bill Stewart  on drums. The album received 4 stars from Downbeat and was on the Jazzweek radio chart for months, peaking at #9 for 6 weeks. Charette is also a prolific  composer of large ensemble music, penning and performing compositions with  The Jazz Dock Orchestra in Prague and The Modern Art Orchestra in Budapest

Darren Johnston's Torontosaurus Quartet
May 22 @ 5:00 PM

Darren Johnston - Trumpet - Voice
Nick Fraser - Drums
Michael Davidson - Vibraphone
Dan Fortin - Bass

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Canada-born trumpeter/composer/educator Darren Johnston's interests rotate primarily between performing all styles of jazz, purely improvised music, new music, and various other traditional musics, especially that of the Balkans, Greece, and Macedonia. He is especially drawn to music that tends to defy categorization, and is also generally open to further suggestions.

After twenty one years in the Bay Area, Johnston recently relocated to Brooklyn, NY in 2019. In the time since moving there, he has played and/or recorded withChes Smith, Dayna Stephens, Carmen Staaf, Michael Formanek, Tony Malaby, Michael Attias, Slavic Soul Party!, Raya Brass Band, The Peter Hess Quartet, Michael Vatcher, and many more.

As a composer he has written for ensembles ranging from small jazz groups, to big-bands, brass bands, string quartets, choirs, rock bands, and countless combinations thereof. He has been commissioned to write for dance, dance film, theater, video games, and by museums such as San Francisco's De Young Museum, and other presenting organizations such as the Yerba Buena Garden Festival, and Intersection For The Arts.

He has performed and/or recorded with luminaries such as Marshall Allen, Gerald Cleaver, Fred Frith, ROVA Sax Quartet, Ben Goldberg, Allison Miller, Mark Dresser, Myra Melford, Marcus Shelby, Pete Escovedo, Erik Jekabson's "Electric Squeezebox Orchestra," and many others, across the USA and around the world.

As a bandleader, past projects include The United Brassworkers Front, The Nice Guy Trio, The Darren Johnston Quintet, The Pipes, Broken Shadows Family Band, Trans-Global People's Chorus, and innumerable one-offs. Current projects include the Chicago-based Life In Time, featuring Geof Bradfield, Clark Sommers, and Dana Hall, a NYC-based trio, Breathing Room, featuring Carmen Staaf, and Michael Formanek, and the NYC-based Wild Awake quintet, featuring Dayna Stephens, Jacob Sacks, Sean Conly, and Ches Smith. An all-Canadian collective quartet, temporarily put on hold by the pandemic, is now preparing to pick up where it left off, featuring Anna Webber, Michael Bates, and Toronto-based Nick Fraser.

As an educator Johnston has taught at Stanford Jazz Workshop's summer program and throughout the year in their "Giant Steps" program, Jazz Camp West, The Jazzschool, and as an adjunct at UC Berkeley. As a guest lecturer he has been invited to present master classes on improvisation, "a holistic approach to music theory", and "compositional approaches to daily practice," at institutions such as Sonoma State University, Cal Arts, and others.

Brian Charette Organ Trio
May 20, 21, 22, 23 @ 8:00 PM

Brian Charette - Organ
Ted Quinlan - Guitar
Jordan Young - Drums

NYC and LA organist/pianist, Brian Charette, has established himself as a leading  voice in modern jazz. Charette is a Hammond U.S.A, Hammond Europe, I.K  Multimedia, and Casio endorsed, Cellar Live recording artist. Brian is a Critic’s  Poll and Reader’s Poll regular, in 2024, #2 on the 2024 Downbeat Critic’s Poll for  organ and #6 for keyboards. Brian was also the winner of the 2014 Downbeat Critics’ Poll “Rising Star: Organ” award and 2015 Hot House Magazine's “Fan's  Decision Jazz Award for Best Organist”. Charette’s new Cellar Live release,  Jackpot, was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s hallowed studio featuring Bill Stewart  on drums. The album received 4 stars from Downbeat and was on the Jazzweek radio chart for months, peaking at #9 for 6 weeks. Charette is also a prolific  composer of large ensemble music, penning and performing compositions with  The Jazz Dock Orchestra in Prague and The Modern Art Orchestra in Budapest

Chris Hunt Tentet
May 23 @ 2:00 PM

Rebecca Pellet - Vocals
Chris Roberts - Saxophone
Paul Schofield - Saxophone
John Pittman - Trumpet
Pat Blanchard - Trombone
Tim Shia - Drums
Chris Banks - Bas
Chris Hunt - Trombone

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Chris Hunt is a Toronto-based trombonist, composer and arranger with more than 25 years of experience on Toronto’s vibrant jazz scene.  A graduate of the University of Toronto’s Jazz Performance program, he built lasting musical partnerships there that continue to shape his work today.  Those collaborations form the backbone of his signature ensemble, The Chris Hunt Tentet, where his writing and arranging take center stage.  

Neon Eagle
may 16 , 23, 30 @ 5:00 PM

Led by: Mike Eckert - Pedal Steel

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Bringing entrancing instrumental fusion music featuring the pedal steel.

Come in, sit back, and feel the hypnotic vibes of this incredible group!

Brian Charette Organ Trio
May 20, 21, 22, 23 @ 8:00 PM

Brian Charette - Organ
Ted Quinlan - Guitar
Jordan Young - Drums

NYC and LA organist/pianist, Brian Charette, has established himself as a leading  voice in modern jazz. Charette is a Hammond U.S.A, Hammond Europe, I.K  Multimedia, and Casio endorsed, Cellar Live recording artist. Brian is a Critic’s  Poll and Reader’s Poll regular, in 2024, #2 on the 2024 Downbeat Critic’s Poll for  organ and #6 for keyboards. Brian was also the winner of the 2014 Downbeat Critics’ Poll “Rising Star: Organ” award and 2015 Hot House Magazine's “Fan's  Decision Jazz Award for Best Organist”. Charette’s new Cellar Live release,  Jackpot, was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s hallowed studio featuring Bill Stewart  on drums. The album received 4 stars from Downbeat and was on the Jazzweek radio chart for months, peaking at #9 for 6 weeks. Charette is also a prolific  composer of large ensemble music, penning and performing compositions with  The Jazz Dock Orchestra in Prague and The Modern Art Orchestra in Budapest

La-Nai Gabriel Power Hour
May 23 @ 11:00 PM

La-Nai Gabriel - Piano / Vocals
Band - TBA

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

La-Nai Gabriel is an award winning composer, arranger, producer, and sound designer. She is a graduate of the Music Studies program at Humber College in Toronto, and the Sound and Music Recording program at Recording Arts Canada in Montreal. While performing extensively in Canada and internationally in the United States, Japan, United Kingdom, and Southeast Asia, La-Nai has been featured as a music director and arranger for commercial and artistic musical projects as well as a songwriter and composer for their own work.

La-Nai recently received a 2024 Canadian Screen Award (CSA) for Best Original Music, Documentary for episode one of Black Community Mixtapes (City TV). La-Nai also received a 2022 Canadian Screen Music Award (CASMA) for Best Original Score for Interactive Media with co-composer Janal Bechthold for their work on “No Reason to Apologize: The Resilient Legacy of Viola Desmond”, produced by Teach Media.

She is featured as composer for the 12-part docuseries “Dreams in Vantablack” by director Ian Keteku, which premiered on CBC Gem in September 2022. Her work as a composer will also be featured in episodes of “Thomas and Friends: All Engines Go!”, “Superwish”, and “Gisele’s Mashup Adventures”.

As an active producer, La-Nai has produced and engineered projects for The Electric Storm Collective (Co-produced with Carlie Howell), Brianna Goldberg, and Finest Summer. La-Nai is a featured saxophonist on the latest release by Tanika Charles, “Papillion de Nuit” released April 2022. She has arranged winds, strings, and vocals for Madame Gandhi, Maylee Todd, Claire Davis, Maya Killtron, Bowed Arts String Quintet, Gary Beals, Leah Canali, and Kizis. Her arranging work is featured on three songs on Vivek Shraya’s 2017 Polaris Prize long list nominated album “Part-Time Woman” featuring Queer Songbook Orchestra.

Her production, under the alias laaain, is featured on Leah Canali’s debut EP “Light +Dark” , on “IDFT:The Secret Track” featuring Katya Zamo, and co-written by Tafari Anthony. “Away Mission”, laaain’s first self-produced EP, was released in 2021. In addition to her work as a recording artist, La-Nai co-composed the new musical “burden of proof” alongside Scott Christian and writer Rob Kempson, which was featured as part of the Canadian Musical Theatre Project 2020 season at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario.

TUMAKO
May 24 @ 2:00 PM

Marco Bonatti - Baritone Sax.

Mike Falla - Trumpet

Alex Merrick - Drums

Michael Rolin - Electric guitar

Simon Mayhew - Electric Bass

Robert Bravo - Digital Keyboard

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Tumako is a Toronto-based instrumental Funk, Rock and Soul group. The members combine tight, accomplished musicianship with total commitment to setting a groove that energizes audiences and inspires people to dance. Through its live shows, Tumako has been bringing fun, rhythmically driven music and strong improvisational stylings to Toronto audiences since 2015. 

With three recorded albums, Tumako provides a very colorful musical palette of original music that combines various influences from Rock, Jazz, Soul, Funk, Pop, and a little bit of Afrobeat. Members include founder and bandleader Robert Bravo on keyboard and electric bass, Marco Bonatti on baritone sax, Alex Merrick on drums, Michael Rolin on electric guitar, Simon Mayhew on electric bass, and Mike Falla on trumpet. 

Tumako has played well established venues throughout the city such as Drom Taberna, The Gladstone Hotel, and The HorseShoe Tavern. Highlights include performances at The Brampton World of Jazz Festival, The TD Festival of South Asia, and the inaugural Taste of North York Festival.

Grant Lyle & Brotherhood
May 24 @ 5:00 PM

Grant Lyle - Guitar / Vocals
Scott Brammer - Bass
Al Cross - Drums

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Veteran Canadian Roots & Blues musician, 
Grant Lyle is an esteemed guitarist,
singer and songwriter.

Having performed in top clubs,
festivals and other select venues,
his fresh approach and unique
craft is tastefully displayed on each
of his eight albums to date.

Grant has consistently enthralled
audiences with his ceaseless
dedication and passion for the
music he plays.

Grant's commitment to the quality
of music shines through while
performing live as much as in the studio.

Horace Silver Flutes Group
May 24 @ 8:00 PM

Bill McBirnie / Jeremy Price - Flutes
Mark Eisenman - Piano
Jordan O' Connor - Bass
Richard Brisco - Drums

Toronto's Bill McBirnie and Vancouver's Jeremy Price bring their Two-Flute tribute to Horace Silver, Horace Silver Flutes, to The Rex for a rare performance on Sunday May 24, 2026 at 8 pm.  The flutes are supported by the "first call" rhythm section of Mark Eisenamann on piano, Jordan O'Connor on bass, and Richard Brisco on drums.

Horace Silver was known to incorporate flute on such recordings as The Jody Grind and Silver n Brass, but one is hard pressed in jazz to find two flutes (with rhythm section) recorded in Jazz.  There are two noteable precedents;  the Sam Most-Joe Farrell and Herbie Mann - Bobby Jasper tandems, and, of course, Flutology, the group of Frank Wess, Holly Hoffmann, and Ali Ryerson.

Canada's contribution to this jazz flute tandems celebrates the music of Horace Silver in all its univerally appealing glory !

The Rohaam Keyvani Trio
May 25 @ 5:00 PM

Rohaam Keyvani - Piano
Christopher Parnis - Bass
Petros Anagnostakos - Drums

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

The Rohaam Keyvani Trio plays plethora of songbook tunes from writers like, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and more!

Trombone Charlotte
May 5, 12, 19, 26 @ 5:00 PM

BAND TBA

NO RESERVATIONS

PAY WHAT YOU CAN

A force in the city’s jazz scene since 2016, Charlotte has spent nearly a decade crafting her sound as both a sideman and star. Since stepping into the spotlight in 2021, she’s led high-energy ensembles across Canada’s top stages — Toronto Jazz Festival, Kensington Market Jazz Festival, Port Hope, Mont Tremblant, and a knockout appearance at Massey Hall’s Women’s Blues Revue where she belted out originals that brought the house down.

Classic REx jam
hosted by chris banks
May 5th, 12th, 19th, and 26th @ 8:00pm

NO RESERVATIONS

$10 Cover Charge

Jam with us! Enjoy our house band (a collection of beloved all-stars) spontaneously creating musical goodness just for you!

Hosted by the legendary Chris Banks.

Emmett Hodgins
May 27 @ 5:00 PM

Emmett Hodgins - Piano
Band - TBA

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Emmett Hodgins is a Victoria BC born pianist proficient in classical, jazz, folk and contemporary piano. After completing his RCM 10 and teaching at the VCM in Victoria, Emmett moved to Toronto to pursue Bachelors in Jazz Performance at Humber college. Now graduated with Honours Emmett is regularly active in the Toronto and Victoria music scenes as a pianist, singer, composer, and bandleader of his own groups the “Emmett Hodgins Trio’ and the ‘Emmett Hodgins Coast group” (a septet modern jazz group playing strictly original music). Emmett is now residing in the West End of Toronto in his 7th year of teaching piano. He continues to figure in Toronto's Jazz and greater music scene. Emmett recently released his first album with the Emmett Hodgins Coast Group titled Idyllic. 

Emmett has played with prominent musicians including Joceyln Gould and her Quintet, Daniel Lapp, Shane Cook, Ashley MacIsaac, Mark Holmes, Russell Hall, Michela Lerman, Max Pollak, Heather Cornell, Ethan Ardelli, Dan Fortin, Morgan Childs, Shirantha Beddage, Larnell Lewis, Dhaviat Jani as well as Roshane Wright.

Kaiso Street Collective
May 27, 28, 29, 30 @ 8:00 PM

Andrew Marzotto - Guitar
Ewen Farncombe - Piano
Michael Davidson - Vibraphone,
Roberto Occhipinti - Bass
Anthony Daniel - Bass
Alexander Brown - Trumpet
Kelsey Grant - Trombone
Jeff La Rochelle - Saxophone / Clarinet Jesse Ryan - Music director and performs on alto and soprano saxophones.

Kaiso Street Collective is a new ensemble made up of some of Toronto’s most exciting improvisers and composers, all of whom share deep musical and cultural ties to jazz and Afro-Caribbean traditions. 

Led by Juno-nominated, Trinidadian-born saxophonist Jesse Ryan—grandson of the late calypso icon Clifton Ryan, The Mighty Bomber—the group is dedicated to bringing the golden age of calypso to new audiences through the lens of modern jazz. With bold arrangements and deep respect for tradition, the ensemble reimagines calypso as a living art form rooted in both resistance and joy. 

Each season, the group will spotlight the work of a legendary calypsonian, preserving their legacy while celebrating the global impact of calypso as a force for cultural expression and social change. In its inaugural season, the Collective is premiering the music of The Mighty Bomber and one of his greatest influences, The Mighty Spoiler (Theophilus Philip). 

This season’s lineup features award-winning guitarist Andrew Marzotto, Juno-nominated pianist Ewen Farncombe, vibraphonist Michael Davidson, Juno Award-winning bassist Roberto Occhipinti, drummer Anthony Daniel, Cuban-Canadian trumpeter Alexander Brown, trombonist Kelsey Grant, and saxophonist/clarinetist Jeff La Rochelle. Jesse Ryan serves as music director and performs on alto and soprano saxophones.

Mitzve Tants with Queen Kong
May 28 @ 2:00 PM

Led by Lorie Wolf - Drums / Vocals
Band - TBA

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Queen Kong is an exploration of music inspired by the Radical Jewish Culture movement in New York founded by pioneer John Zorn . Led by Toronto drummer, vocalist and composer, Lorie Wolf, Queen Kong seamlessly blends Ashkenazi Jewish idiom with jazz, free improv, rock and punk to explore new sounds and ideas.

Maureen Kennedy
May 28 @ 5:00PM

Maureen Kennedy - Vocals
Nancy Walker - Piano
Neil Swainson - Bass

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Vocalist Maureen Kennedy developed her love for jazz in her early twenties when she studied for six years with Canadian flugelhorn and trumpet player Fred Stone, renowned for his work with Duke Ellington and Charles Mingus in the 1960s.  The clarity of her tone, her restrained use of vibrato, and unaffected vocal style, developed under his tutelage.  As a young student, Maureen also received a Canada Council grant to participate in the Jazz Workshop at the Banff Centre for the Arts, which, at the time, was under the direction of bassist Dave Holland and pianist Don Thompson.

After Banff, Maureen performed regularly in Toronto.  During this time, she received a number of very positive reviews from Val Clery, regular jazz columnist for The Toronto Star. In 1987 he named her Most Promising Vocalist for that year.

Maureen took time-off from her career to raise a family and seek new experiences, but this break only contributed to her growth as an artist.  It gave her time to research the music she loves and cultivate an extensive repertoire of memorable standards and rediscovered gems that compliment her very personal sound and reflect her musical curiosity.  This is evident in her debut recording This Is Always, which features a selection of classic standards as well as rarely recorded compositions by Billy Strayhorn, Jimmy Van Heusen, Johnny Burke and Alec Wilder.

This Is Always was produced by Kieran Overs and engineered by Juno Award winner Chad Irschick at Inception Sound studio in Toronto.  Accompanying Maureen on the disc are Toronto based musicians Nancy Walker (piano), Kieran Overs (bass) and Anthony Michelli (drums).

Since its Canadian release in 2004, the disc has received airplay on various CBC radio shows including Jazz Beat and After Hours and the new CBC radio jazz program Tonic; Jazz FM 91 in Toronto.  It also reached #6 on the National Jazz Chart in Canada for campus and community radio.  

In 2005, Ted Ono, a respected jazz historian who runs a Canadian-based jazz label with American distribution called Baldwin Street Music, heard Maureen sing at the Toronto jazz club The Montreal Bistro.  He approached Maureen with a request to add the recording to his label and it was released in the U.S. in January 2006.  Mr. Ono has described Maureen’s vocal approach as “straightforward, understated, and sincere.” 

Since it’s American release it has been played on a variety of NPR jazz shows, the New Orleans Jazz station WWOZ, and the nationally syndicated, Public Radio International program, Jazz After Hours. 

In April 2013, Maureen released her second CD, Out of the Shadows.   It was recorded with the assistance of CBC recording engineer Ron Searles and producer Ted Ono.  The CD features Reg Schwager (guitar); Steve Wallace (bass); Mike Murley (saxophone); and Andrew Millar (drums.)  The recording continues to be played on Toronto’s Jazz FM 91.1 .  It has also been played on the CBC radio program Tonic and is on regular rotation on the website CBC Music.  

Baldwin Street Music released the recording in the United States in April, 2014. The album reached 110 on the JAZZWEEK jazz chart and was on regular rotation on the syndicated PRI program Jazz After Hours and the New Orleans jazz station WWOZ. Her recording received several notable reviews including one in the jazz publication JAZZIZ. 

Maureen’s vast musical knowledge was put to great use in her work as a Media Librarian and visual researcher for the CBC in Toronto.   In her job she catalogued archival arts, music and entertainment programming on television and radio, which enabled her to expand her knowledge of Canadian jazz history.

Kaiso Street Collective
May 27, 28, 29, 30 @ 8:00 PM

Andrew Marzotto - Guitar
Ewen Farncombe - Piano
Michael Davidson - Vibraphone,
Roberto Occhipinti - Bass
Anthony Daniel - Bass
Alexander Brown - Trumpet
Kelsey Grant - Trombone
Jeff La Rochelle - Saxophone / Clarinet Jesse Ryan - Music director and performs on alto and soprano saxophones.

Kaiso Street Collective is a new ensemble made up of some of Toronto’s most exciting improvisers and composers, all of whom share deep musical and cultural ties to jazz and Afro-Caribbean traditions. 

Led by Juno-nominated, Trinidadian-born saxophonist Jesse Ryan—grandson of the late calypso icon Clifton Ryan, The Mighty Bomber—the group is dedicated to bringing the golden age of calypso to new audiences through the lens of modern jazz. With bold arrangements and deep respect for tradition, the ensemble reimagines calypso as a living art form rooted in both resistance and joy. 

Each season, the group will spotlight the work of a legendary calypsonian, preserving their legacy while celebrating the global impact of calypso as a force for cultural expression and social change. In its inaugural season, the Collective is premiering the music of The Mighty Bomber and one of his greatest influences, The Mighty Spoiler (Theophilus Philip). 

This season’s lineup features award-winning guitarist Andrew Marzotto, Juno-nominated pianist Ewen Farncombe, vibraphonist Michael Davidson, Juno Award-winning bassist Roberto Occhipinti, drummer Anthony Daniel, Cuban-Canadian trumpeter Alexander Brown, trombonist Kelsey Grant, and saxophonist/clarinetist Jeff La Rochelle. Jesse Ryan serves as music director and performs on alto and soprano saxophones.

Sean McCarthy's Tap Room Gang
May 29 @ 5:00 PM

Led by Sean McCarthy
Band - TBA

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Sean McCarthy is a Canadian saxophonist, composer, and bandleader based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is a member of several bands including The Cecil Street Syncopators, Isaak Bonk & The Roast Chicken Ramblers, Combo Royale, and Musette. He also leads various bands and has appeared as a sideman notable groups such as  The Happy Pals, Nathan Beja's Vipers Cloud, The New Orleans Connection All-Stars. 

Though he specializes in the soprano saxophone he has also performed on saxophones (Alto, Tenor, & Baritone), clarinets (Bb & Bass Clarinet), and flutes.

Kaiso Street Collective
May 27, 28, 29, 30 @ 8:00 PM

Andrew Marzotto - Guitar
Ewen Farncombe - Piano
Michael Davidson - Vibraphone,
Roberto Occhipinti - Bass
Anthony Daniel - Bass
Alexander Brown - Trumpet
Kelsey Grant - Trombone
Jeff La Rochelle - Saxophone / Clarinet Jesse Ryan - Music director and performs on alto and soprano saxophones.

Kaiso Street Collective is a new ensemble made up of some of Toronto’s most exciting improvisers and composers, all of whom share deep musical and cultural ties to jazz and Afro-Caribbean traditions. 

Led by Juno-nominated, Trinidadian-born saxophonist Jesse Ryan—grandson of the late calypso icon Clifton Ryan, The Mighty Bomber—the group is dedicated to bringing the golden age of calypso to new audiences through the lens of modern jazz. With bold arrangements and deep respect for tradition, the ensemble reimagines calypso as a living art form rooted in both resistance and joy. 

Each season, the group will spotlight the work of a legendary calypsonian, preserving their legacy while celebrating the global impact of calypso as a force for cultural expression and social change. In its inaugural season, the Collective is premiering the music of The Mighty Bomber and one of his greatest influences, The Mighty Spoiler (Theophilus Philip). 

This season’s lineup features award-winning guitarist Andrew Marzotto, Juno-nominated pianist Ewen Farncombe, vibraphonist Michael Davidson, Juno Award-winning bassist Roberto Occhipinti, drummer Anthony Daniel, Cuban-Canadian trumpeter Alexander Brown, trombonist Kelsey Grant, and saxophonist/clarinetist Jeff La Rochelle. Jesse Ryan serves as music director and performs on alto and soprano saxophones.

Neon Eagle
may 16 , 23, 30 @ 5:00 PM

Led by: Mike Eckert - Pedal Steel

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Bringing entrancing instrumental fusion music featuring the pedal steel.

Come in, sit back, and feel the hypnotic vibes of this incredible group!

Kaiso Street Collective
May 27, 28, 29, 30 @ 8:00 PM

Andrew Marzotto - Guitar
Ewen Farncombe - Piano
Michael Davidson - Vibraphone,
Roberto Occhipinti - Bass
Anthony Daniel - Bass
Alexander Brown - Trumpet
Kelsey Grant - Trombone
Jeff La Rochelle - Saxophone / Clarinet Jesse Ryan - Music director and performs on alto and soprano saxophones.

Kaiso Street Collective is a new ensemble made up of some of Toronto’s most exciting improvisers and composers, all of whom share deep musical and cultural ties to jazz and Afro-Caribbean traditions. 

Led by Juno-nominated, Trinidadian-born saxophonist Jesse Ryan—grandson of the late calypso icon Clifton Ryan, The Mighty Bomber—the group is dedicated to bringing the golden age of calypso to new audiences through the lens of modern jazz. With bold arrangements and deep respect for tradition, the ensemble reimagines calypso as a living art form rooted in both resistance and joy. 

Each season, the group will spotlight the work of a legendary calypsonian, preserving their legacy while celebrating the global impact of calypso as a force for cultural expression and social change. In its inaugural season, the Collective is premiering the music of The Mighty Bomber and one of his greatest influences, The Mighty Spoiler (Theophilus Philip). 

This season’s lineup features award-winning guitarist Andrew Marzotto, Juno-nominated pianist Ewen Farncombe, vibraphonist Michael Davidson, Juno Award-winning bassist Roberto Occhipinti, drummer Anthony Daniel, Cuban-Canadian trumpeter Alexander Brown, trombonist Kelsey Grant, and saxophonist/clarinetist Jeff La Rochelle. Jesse Ryan serves as music director and performs on alto and soprano saxophones.

Ori Dagan Masterclass Solo Guitar with Nathan Hiltz
May 31 @ 11:30 am

$10 Cover (Free for students)

No Reservations

Laura hubert Band
May 3, 17, 31 @ 5:00 PM

Led by : Laura Hubert - Vocals

No Reservations
Pay What You Can

Canadian vocal treasure, born and raised in Toronto, Laura Hubert has remained a steady force on the city’s music scene over the past 25 years. Although she retired from rock and roll back per se when JUNO-winning indie-rock group Leslie Spit Treeo split up late last millennium, for several decades now she has been singing her soulful interpretations of vintage blues, jazz and Western swing all over the Greater Toronto Area. “I want to participate in the joy of the world, try to keep it light,” says Hubert.  “Just trying to have some fun. Sing some songs. Make some music. Give some joy.”

Over the years she recorded 3 solo albums with her band, led by pianist Peter Hill and featuring some of Toronto’s finest including Chris Whiteley, Brandi Disterheft, Victor Bateman, William Sperandei: “Girlish Days” (2000), “Live at the Rex” (2001) and “Half Bridled” (2004).

In the years since these recordings, Hubert and her fans enjoyed residencies at venerable venues such as Grossman’s Tavern, The Cameron House and The Rex Hotel. Singing many of the same old classic songs over the years, like the finest of wine Hubert’s art has aged in the best way, her bluesy growl deeper and more powerful than ever.

“One Night in Kensington” is an initiative spearheaded by Order of Canada member, singer-songwriter and long-time friend of Hubert, is the new recording fans have long been waiting for. “Hubert’s unique and soulful vocal delivery can make any old song sound brand new,” says Molly Johnson.

Produced by Johnson and her Kensington Market Jazz Festival team, the new album live at Poetry Jazz Café find Hubert in the happy company of four very fine players: Eric St-Laurent on guitar, Davide DiRenzo on drums, Steve Wallace on bass and long-time musical partner Peter Hill on piano.  

Philippe Lemm Trio
May 31 & June 1 @ 8:00 PM

Philippe Lemm - Drums
Sharik Hasan - Piano
Jeff Koch - Bass

"Winner of the International B-Jazz Competition and Winner of Best Solist Prize. The Philippe Lemm Trio is continually proving to be one of the most exciting and electrifying jazz trio's around today. Led at the helm by drummer Philippe Lemm, the group met in New York in 2011, and after one session together, realized that their undeniable chemistry was one that needed to be taken and shared with the world.

Comprised of three musicians with exceptional command of their instruments, the group's repertoire draws heavily from re-imaginations of jazz standards in a way that both defies genre and corresponds to any modern jazz fan.
The group uses their trust and understanding of one another's musical tendencies to create passionate musical soundscapes, which range from traditional jazz to the progressive rock/classical-influenced music.
Hearing the trio is a special and unforgettable experience, and you will be captivated after listening to one piece."

Their TV appearance on the TV-show Vrije Geluiden led to sold out concerts throughout The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany on the first half of their European CD release tour.

The trio has performed on stages like: North Sea Jazz Festival, Blue Note Note NYC, Kennedy Center, Ronnie Scotts, Pori Jazz Festival and Concertgebouw

Philippe Lemm Trio
May 31 & June 1 @ 8:00 PM

Philippe Lemm - Drums
Sharik Hasan - Piano
Jeff Koch - Bass

"Winner of the International B-Jazz Competition and Winner of Best Solist Prize. The Philippe Lemm Trio is continually proving to be one of the most exciting and electrifying jazz trio's around today. Led at the helm by drummer Philippe Lemm, the group met in New York in 2011, and after one session together, realized that their undeniable chemistry was one that needed to be taken and shared with the world.

Comprised of three musicians with exceptional command of their instruments, the group's repertoire draws heavily from re-imaginations of jazz standards in a way that both defies genre and corresponds to any modern jazz fan.
The group uses their trust and understanding of one another's musical tendencies to create passionate musical soundscapes, which range from traditional jazz to the progressive rock/classical-influenced music.
Hearing the trio is a special and unforgettable experience, and you will be captivated after listening to one piece."

Their TV appearance on the TV-show Vrije Geluiden led to sold out concerts throughout The Netherlands, Belgium and Germany on the first half of their European CD release tour.

The trio has performed on stages like: North Sea Jazz Festival, Blue Note Note NYC, Kennedy Center, Ronnie Scotts, Pori Jazz Festival and Concertgebouw