September 6, 13, 20, 27 @5:30pm

Led by Jeff McLeod

eff McLeod is a Toronto-based jazz organist and pianist. He holds Doctorate and Masters degrees from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester NY where he studied with noted jazz pianists and educators Harold Danko and Bill Dobbins and worked as a course instructor for four years. It was during his time at Eastman that he took up the serious study of the Hammond Organ, and established the presence of jazz organ at Eastman, which remains to this day. The focus of his doctoral research was the life and music of noted jazz organist Don Patterson. The research culminated in a lecture recital presented in conjunction with Eastman’s department of Organ, Sacred Music, and Historical Keyboards, with department chair David Higgs serving as advisor along with professors Danko and Dobbins. He is an active live and studio performer on the Canadian music scene and has released two albums under his own name. His first release, Double Entendre, is a double CD set with one of the discs devoted entirely to the Hammond organ. It was nominated for Jazz Album of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards. He has played organ and piano with many well-known performers including Serena Ryder, Bo Diddley, Jason Plumb (The Waltons), and the Drifters, as well as many top jazz artists from Canada and the US. He is a regular member of many Hammond organ centred groups including Donnybrook trio (with Ben Bishop and Morgan Childs), Hector Quartet (with Chris Gale, Ted Quinlan and Chris Wallace), Stubblejumpers (with Ted Warren and Kelly Jefferson), and Tenor Madness and The Travelling Wallbaris let by Alex Dean. Jeff also plays organ in the bands of singer/songwriters Greg Cockerill and Mike Plume. He recently worked for three years as the collaborative pianist with wellknown Canadian vocal group The Nathaniel Dett Chorale. His playing can be heard on the Junonominated, BAFTA award-winning soundtrack for the 2017 video game Cuphead, which recently hit #1 on the Billboard Jazz Charts, and most recently playing organ and piano on Alison Young’s Junonominated record So Here We Are, Chris Gale’s Hector Quartet record Uncharted, Donnybrook Organ Trio’s Live at the Bassment, as well as vocalist Dione Taylor’s most recent album Spirits in the Water, which nominated for a 2021 Juno in the Blues Album of the Year Category. He currently serves as Director of Music at St John the Baptist Dixie Anglican Church in Mississauga, Ontario.