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One of the premier exponents of Latin Jazz, and winner of the Louis Applebaum Composer's Award, Cuban-born HILARIO DURAN grew up in Havana into a musical family. He began working as a professional musician in Cuba’s Los Papa Cun-Cun Ensemble.  In the ’70s, Duran was Chucho Valdés’ chosen successor in Cuba's most modern big band, ‘Orquesta Cubana de Música Moderna’.  Later on, as part of the Arturo Sandoval band, Hilario toured worldwide and had the opportunity of performing with the…

Canadian trumpeter Bruce Cassidy is a former musical director of Blood Sweat and Tears (BS&T) and for David Clayton-Thomas. He has recorded extensively with Rob McConnell and the Boss Brass, Doctor Music, and the rock band Lighthouse. Cassidy is one of the foremost proponents of the expressive Electronic Valve Instrument, playing it since its invention in 1979. In 1980, after a world tour with BS&T, he moved to South Africa where he worked as a multimedia composer and explored African…

HANNAH BARSTOW is an up-and-coming pianist, vocalist and composer in the Toronto music scene. At just 25 years of age, she is firmly rooted in the tradition of jazz, and is strongly influenced by the classic trios and quartets of Shirley Horn, Ahmad Jamal and Blossom Dearie. As a composer, her jazz, classical, pop, and Bossa Nova influences come through. She composes and arranges for groups as small as her trio to large women’s choirs and big bands. Hanna’s trio…

DAVID BUCHBINDER is an award-winning trumpeter, composer and cultural inventor. He leads numerous music groups, composes for concert, theatre, film and television, presents large-scale performance projects and has toured extensively in North & South America and Europe. He works in musical worlds of many cultures, much of it informed by the lessons of the jazz tradition. His Shurum Burum Jazz Circus project and recording and his Odessa/Havana project and trio of recordings were released around the world to critical and…

Legendary Pianist, Spellbinding Vocalist, and Generation-Spanning Raconteur GENE DiNOVI presides first-Tuesdays-of-the-month in the up-close-and-personal intimacy of the Home Smith Bar at the Old Mill Toronto.  Born in Brooklyn, New York, it was after his first visit to Toronto as an accompanist to Carmen McRae in 1971 that DiNovi decided to make the Canadian jazz scene his permanent place of residence. Gene DiNovi’s love for, and understanding of the popular song became strongly evident during the 1950s. His playing during these years attracted…