NATHAN HILTZ is an outstanding jazz guitarist who moved to Toronto from his native Halifax in 1999. Since then he has recorded with a lengthy line-up of leading artists, and consistently performs on more than 200 gigs each year.
Hiltz received a Bachelor of Music degree from Humber College in 2005 and a Master of Music from University of Toronto in 2011 and has studied jazz guitar with greats including Reg Schwager, Jim Hall, and Adam Rogers. In addition to maintaining an intensive performing career, he currently teaches at Humber College. He released his debut solo album,Your Love Is A Plane Crash, in 2007, and after a decade spent touring and working on the recording projects of others, he returned to the studio in 2015 to record his second CD, Songs Poetics, original arrangements of classic tunes.
Critical comment is consistently effusive, with praise such as “Hiltz makes each musical moment count. He creates multi-dimensional improvisations and offers every audience his very natural, organic, melodic instincts.”
JAKE KOFFMAN was born into Canadian music royalty 29 years ago, the grandson of two of this country’s most important musicians. On his mother’s side is violinist Victor Feldbrill, who conducted the Toronto and Winnipeg Symphony Orchestras. On his father’s side is one of the most prominent voices in Canadian jazz history, reedman and flutist Moe Koffman, whose work with Rob McConnell and Dizzy Gillespie, as well as the hit song “Swingin’ Shepherd Blues”, helped put Canadian jazz on the world map.
Starting on the alto saxophone, flute, and clarinet at the age of 13, Jake Koffman began playing club gigs almost immediately in a wide range of jazz groups both big and small, quickly adding the tenor and soprano saxophones to his arsenal of instruments. After graduating from high school, he attended the respected Humber College jazz program graduating in 2009, since embarking on a successful freelance career as both a band leader and a sideman.
This evening’s all-star KOFFMAN / HILTZ QUARTETfeatures jazz masters JAKE KOFFMANon saxophone, NATHAN HILTZon guitar, MARK GODFREYon bass, and MORGAN CHILDSon drums, entertaining in the up-close-and-personal ambience of The Home Smith Bar.