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.