Brent Mason
Long acknowledged as Nashville's #1 guitarist, Brent Mason is a 12-time winner of the Academy of Country Music "Guitarist of the Year" award and a 2-time winner of the Country Music Association's "Musician of the Year" award. His awards also include a Grammy for "Best Country Instrumental Performance.
Turn on the radio, and you're more than likely to hear Brent Mason playing his guitar! He is one of the most recorded guitar players ever, appearing on thousands of recordings with top Country and Pop artists plus movie soundtracks, TV shows, and commercials.
Alan Matheson
Trumpeter Alan Matheson is also a pianist, composer, and arranger with a degree in music performance from Northwestern University. He lives in Vancouver, BC where he leads his own big band, nonet, and septet as well as performing with top local orchestras like the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and the CBC Vancouver Orchestra. He has directed the CBC Jazz Orchestra and the Festival Vancouver Big Band, conducting for Clark Terry, Phil Woods, and Bud Shank. As a sideman, Alan has played for Mel Torme, Cleo Laine, Louis Bellson, and Doc Cheatham. His discography includes recording of his own compositions and arrangements in sessions for the CBC, his own Alan Matheson Nonet, the Matheson/Roper/Mollerup Trio, Fifth AVenue, Lloyd Arntzen & The Rhythm Kings, Peters Drury Trio, and many other leading artists of the Vancouver jazz scene. He has toured Sweden and Finland with the Helsinki City Jazz Orchestra, and has appeared at jazz festivals in Vancouver, Montreal, and Paris.
Andy Leftwich
Andy's fiddle playing can be found on discs by the Chieftains, Trick Pony, Pam Tillis, Bering Strait, Travis Tritt, Steve Warine and the Nashville Chamber Orchestra, and it has been featured on several television shows -- including PBS' The Three Pickers on which Leftwich joined legends Skaggs, Earl Scruggs, and Doc Watson for an evening of electrifying bluegrass. His first solo all-acoustic album, Ride, on Skaggs Family Records, showcased Andy's versatile tastes & musical influences including Bluegrass, Celtic, and Jazz. Ride features 11 tunes, 9 of which are original, and mixes traditional sounds with progressive musical styles. .
Audley Freed
Guitarist and songwriter Audley Freed first gained recognition when he formed the band Cry Of Love, which was signed to Columbia Records and released the debut album Brother. The album spawned two No. 1 and two Top Ten AOR hits, including "Peace Pipe", named by Billboard as one of the "top 50 AOR songs of all time." Following a second Columbia release, the band called it quits and Freed joined The Black Crowes on lead guitar.
Blair Masters
Session keyboard player Blair Masters has been a fixture of the Nashville studio scene for the past 20 years. He is an all-round keyboard artist on piano, organ, electric piano, and synthesizers who is also in demand for in sampling, programming, and arranging for synths, drums, bass, strings and whatever else music technology can deliver.
Brad Muirhead
Classically trained trombonist Brad Muirhead made the switch to Jazz as an original member of Hugh Fraser's Vancouver Ensemble of Jazz Improvisation (VEJI). In the years since, he has become a fixture of the Vancouver Jazz community on bass trombone, tuba, and euphonium. Brad is a versatile performer who can play it all - traditional, modern, fusion, New Orleans marching band, and Dixieland. He was also an original member of John Korsrud's Hard Rubber Orchestra and he has performed with Claude Ranger's Jade Orchestra, Francois Houle Etc., Tribal Dynamics, the Miles Black Sextet, The Hugh Fraser Quintet, Lunar Adventures, and the RazzMaJazz Ensemble as well as Ray Anderson, George Lewis, Vinny Golia and Konrad Bauer.
Brad Turner
Brad Turner's talents as a trumpeter, pianist, drummer, and composer make him one of Canada's most in-demand musicians.
Winner of National Jazz Awards for Jazz Trumpeter of the Year (1999) and Jazz Composer of the Year (2000 and 2002), Brad was awarded Musician of the Year for 2005.
As a sideman, Brad Turner has performed with a number of innovative and creative ensembles based in the Vancouver area, compiling a large discography in the process. Brad has performed and/or recorded with such artists as Joe Lovano, Kenny Wheeler, Michael Moore, Reneé Rosnes, Achim Kaufmann, John Scofield, Ingrid Jensen, Dylan van der Schyff, Mike Murley, Mark Helias, Charles McPherson and Gary Bartz. Brad's groups have opened for McCoy Tyner, Roy Haynes, Wayne Shorter, Clarke Terry, and Diana Krall.
Byron House
Multi-instrumentalist Byron House (banjo, guitar, dulcimer, trumpet, bassoon, percussion, piano) became a convert to the bass at age 17 after hearing Jaco Pastorius on Weather Report's "Heavy Weather." Byron says, "I went home and did some woodshedding for a year, playing his records over and over."
In the mid-1980s, Byron packed his bass and left his hometown of Bowling Green, Ky., to relocate in Nashville. He has never looked back, becoming a first-call player working with Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Emmylou Harris, Jorma Kaukonen, Mark O'Connor, and Dolly Parton. In addition, he has performed or recorded with The Dixie Chicks, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, Al Kooper, Jim Lauderdale, Shelby Lynne, Buddy and Julie Miller, Nickel Creek, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Linda Ronstadt, and Clay Walker to name a few. In 2005, Bryon was recognized with a Grammy nomination for his work on Mark O'Connor's "Thirty-Year Retrospective."
Carlos Eduardo
Venezuelan guitarist Carlos Eduardo Arellano studied music theory, Classical guitar and piano enroute to graduating as a Music Education Major from the Escuela Normal Valecillos. While still in school he began composing film scores and theatre music, winning the Best Film Score award at the Agua Linda, Brazil, International Film Festival for his music for the film "Las Novias Del Mendigo" by Romulo Gallegos. His keen interest in electronic music and audio recording led him to a position as Composer-in-Residence for TRT television. At the same time, he was playing in a jazz trio with Venezuelan pianist Virgilio Armas.
Chris Nole
Platinum and Grammy-winning Nashville pianist and producer Chris Nole has performed across the United States and around the world, touring and recording with top recording stars including John Denver, Faith Hill, Shelby Lynne, and Travis Tritt.
A few highlights of Nole's performance credits include:
- Carnegie Hall
- The Today Show
- John Denver's A&E television special and platinum selling live record,
The Wildlife Concert. John Denver's Grammy-winning record All Aboard.
- Travis Tritt's ‘Burning Thunder' Tour and CMT All Access television special.
- Faith Hill's Grand Ole Opry debut performance as well as The Late Show with David Letterman and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno.
- The CBS television movie special The John Denver Story.
- The PBS television documentary special Nature: Let There Be A Voice
- 2001 Holland/Belgium Chris Nole solo tour
Craig Young
Originally from Modesto, California, Rock/Country bass player Craig Young has been a session musician since 1997. He now lives with his wife and family in Nashville where, in addition to a busy schedule of session work, he is a writer, producer and engineer who has worked with artists such as Jewel, Elton John, The Wreckers, Peter Frampton, Citizen Cope, Earth Wind & Fire, Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, Megadeth, Jessica Simpson, The Indigo Girls, Wynona Judd, and The Cardigans amongst others.
Darin Favorite
Busy Nashville session man and performer Darin Favorite loves Jazz, but that hasn't kept him from establishing a solid career in Country music with artists like Abby Burke, Tracy Lawrence, Shania Twain, Patty Loveless, and as band leader for Pam Tillis.
A graduate of Blackwell Music Institute, Darin is equally at home on electric and acoustic guitars. He cites as his influences, "Pat Metheny, Lee Ritenour, Larry Carlton, Robbin Ford, My Brother Donnie, Bill Evans, Eric Johnson, Heidi Basgall, Jon Herrington, John Coltrane, Freddy Hubbard, Howard Leese, Mitch Holder, Miles Davis, Joe Pass, Hank Garland, Lenny Breau, Sid Jacobs, Tommy Emmanuel... and everyone I've played with in the last 25 years."
Dave Cleveland
Dave Cleveland has established himself as one of the Nashville's premier guitarists, having recorded and toured with a “Who's Who” of top artists. He has played every style of guitar music from bluegrass to rock, but is best known for his acoustic style on the McPherson guitar, mandolin, dobro, banjo, and 12-string guitar.
Dave's career has mainly focused on Christian and Worship music. He has been the band director for Twila Paris, played live with Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, the Katinas, and David Baroni, and has hundreds of recording credits over the past 20 years with top artists like Steven Curtis Chapman, Point of Grace, 4 Him, Crystal Lewis, Michael O'Brien, Cindy Morgan, Anointed, Russ Taff, Steve Green, Wes King and Out Of The Grey, and many more. He has been part of major soundtracks for the films “The Apostle” and "Hannah Montana 2: Meet Miley Cyrus," and also such acclaimed projects as Steven Curtis Chapman's Grammy award winning “The Live Adventure,” Avalon's music special for the PAX network, “Live At Woodlands” featuring Crystal Lewis, and even "The White House Salutes Gospel Music" event. Dave has also composed numerous themes which have aired on networks including A&E, HDTV, and WGN.
Dave Francis
Veteran bass player Dave Francis is a regular in the Nashville studio scene as an all-round electric and upright bass player who is also an accomplished vocalist and acoustic guitar player. He is best known for his work with LeRoy Parnell, but is often busy making recordings and demos with emerging independent artists like Eldon Hunt, Rachel Rodriguez, Ty England, Shawna Russell, Tyler Stock, Charis Thorsell, Dianna McNolty, Ywain (Trison Stevens), Tim Gurshin, Frankie Moreno, David James, Jenny Yates, Candace Asher, The Lost Trailers, Stephanie Walker, Jefferson Pepper, Joni Harms, Marc Kuchner, Steve Conn, Will Smith (Producer), Bo Riddle, and many more. Dave's versatility is demonstrated in the variety of his credits with projects like Susan Anders' "Singing With Style" (Jazz), Reggae for Kitara Psalm Sixty-Eight, Rock, Pop, and Hip Hop with producer Will Smith's studio band, or Traditional Folk and Irish Folk for The Folkscene Collection and Maura O'Connell.
Dennis Esson
Versatile Vancouver trombonist Dennis Esson is best-known as a Jazz musician and instructor, but his credits include Pop and Rock groups such as Stephen Fearing, The Paperboys, Buddy Miles, The Salteens, and Veda Hille.
As a first-call player, Dennis has played for countless jingles, movie and cartoon soundtracks, and live theatre shows. He is a frequent soloist on CBC radio, and the lead trombone with the Vancouver Ensemble of Improvisation (VEJI), Orquesta Goma Dura, Jill Townsend Big Band, Hard Rubber Orchestra, the Fred Stride Jazz Orchestra, and the RazzMaJazz Dixieland band. Other performance credits include appearances with The Lionel Hampton Jazz Orchestra, Tommy Banks Orchestra, Kenny Wheeler, Slide Hampton, Steve Lawrence and Edie Gorme, Ray Charles, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, Jack Jones, Natalie Cole, Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick, Mitzi Gaynor, The Temptations, Harry Connick Jr., Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra, Barry Manilow, Henry Cuesta and the Lawrence Welk Orchestra, Maynard Ferguson, Muhal Richard Abrams, Marvin Stamm, Brass Roots, Clark Terry, Bill Watrous, Phil Woods, Bud Shank, Eddie Daniels, and David Foster.
Don Clark
Don Clark has enjoyed a long career as one of Canada's leading trumpet and flugelhorn players. As a player, arranger, and composer on the West Coast since the early 1960's, he has been leader of the Donnie Clark Quartet and Quintet and the Don Clark Ragtime Band as well as a member of leading Jazz ensembles such as the Bobby Hales Orchestra, the West Coast Jazz Orchestra, and a regular on CBC radio and television. He was a founding member of the legendary Vancouver all-star Jazz sextet Pacific Salt, touring throughout North America and Europe in the 1970s.
The list of artists that Don Clark has performed and recorded with includes Bob Hales, Dave Robbins, Pacific Salt, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Lance Harrison, Fraser McPherson, Doug Parker, New Orleans Connection, and the Chicago Six. His most recent CD release with the Donnie Clark Quintet, To Swing or not To Swing, features nine original compositions and classic Jazz ballads.
Dow Tomlin
Dow Tomlin is an in-demand Nashville electric bass, upright bass, and guitar player who has worked with Brooks and Dunn, Nelson, Levon Helm and Garth Hudson of The Band, Tammy Cochran, Chris Graves, David Lykins, Kevin Maines, Jonathan Sherrill, Cookie Pedersen, Walt Wilkins, David Carn, Bob Baker and a host of others enroute to compiling a discography of 50 or more releases. A musician's musician, Dow can also be found playing live in a variety of Nashville venues where the top Music City talent gathers.
Stay Tunned More to Come
To Be Continued. . . .