OTTAWA’S RODDY ELLIAS TRIO
nOVEMBER 27, 28 @ 8:30

Roddy Ellias - Guitar
Andrew Downing - Bass
Nick Fraser - Drums

Guitarist and composer Roddy Ellias combines a deep relationship with both classical music and jazz in his compositions, improvisations and interpretations of jazz standards. He’s performed and/or recorded with numerous jazz giants including Lee Konitz, Tom Harrel, Joel Frahm, and David Liebman, and has toured with his own projects throughout Canada and the United States. 

His latest CD, Not This Room, features nine original songs about the experience of the pandemic, sung by Juno award-winning vocalist Kellyee Evans. A stirring testament to the power of creativity in the face of isolation, Not This Room combines uniquely beautiful melodies with a jazz-infused message of hope and renewal. Roddy’s other CDs, Sticks and Stones and Monday’s Dream, have both received glowing reviews from Downbeat Magazine, Just Jazz Guitar, All About Jazz, Sound/Stage Xperience, the CBC, and The Ottawa Citizen. Roddy also wrote a chamber opera, which was performed to sold-out crowds at the Music and Beyond Festival in Ottawa. Sleeping Rough is now available on DVD.  

In 2013, Roddy was the only Canadian recipient of the Jazz Journalists of America Jazz Hero Award.