2021-2022
Jazz Events

Ken Page

Masterclass Series

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Fridays: 3:15-4:30


Public Welcome

October 8th 2021 - Luis Deniz

Winner of the Grand Prix de Jazz General Motors 2006 at the Montreal Jazz Festival (David Virelles Quintet) and Galaxie Rising Star 2010 at the Halifax Jazz Festival (Rich Brown & Rinsethealgorithm), Grammy Nominated and Juno Award Winning artist (Hilario Duran Latin Jazz Big Band), alto saxophonist Luis Deniz was born in Camaguey, Cuba on April 21st, 1983. In 1993, Luis started his musical studies at the Escuela Vocacional de Arte Luis Casas Romero in his hometown of Camaguey, where he subsequently continued at

the Escuela Profesional de Musica Jose White. Luis later moved to the Cuban capital, where he gratuated at the prestigious Escuela Nacional de Musica (ENA), the alma mater of several of Cuba's most prominent musicians. After graduating with high honors, he was awarded 1st place at the international jazz competition JOJAZZ, held in Havana (2003). Luis also kept a busy schedule, both teaching saxophone at the National School of Music and playing locally and touring internationally as well, Luis has performed and given workshops all over Cuba, Australia, Japan, USA, Canada, Bermuda, Spain, Germany, France, Belgium, England, Ireland, Scotland, Luxembourg and Switzerland.

Upon his arrival in Toronto in 2004, Deniz has performed/recorded with some of Toronto and International most outstanding musicians, including Mark Turner, Tony Allen (Fela Kuti) Hilario Duran, Luis Mario Ochoa, Paquito D Rivera, Horacio El Negro Hernandez, Reg Schwager, Dafnis Prieto, Francisco Mela, Barry Romberg, Darren Sigesmund, Cubanismo, Rich Brown's Rinsethealgorithm and Rich Brown & The Abeng (currently), Mark Kelso & the jazz Exiles, NOJO, Kirk MacDonald Jazz Orchestra, Roberto Occhipinti, Canadian Idol jazz Orchestra, The Art of Jazz Orchestra, Jane Bunnett, Canada’s Global Orchestra Kune, among others. He has also shared the stage with international figures such as Barry Harris, Howard Johnson, Ray Vega, Steve Turre, Randy Brecker, Donald Harrison, Ingrid Jensen, Mark Feldman, Gary Versace and Hermeto Pascoal. One of the highlights of Luis’s career has been as educator as well, acting as a part time faculty member at Toronto’s Humber College, imparting private saxophone lessons and as a small and large ensemble instructor. With an impressive career as a sideman and saxophonist, Luis keeps on working on his own development.

In 2010 he was awarded a Canada Council for the Arts Grant to study with innovative saxophonist Greg Osby in New York City. With all these achievements, Luis Deniz is definitely a name to look for in the future of jazz. His Debut album as a soloist is set to be released in the spring of 2022. Luis plays exclusively Yamaha Saxophones, Gonzalez reeds and BG France accessories.

Oct 22. - Darcy James Argue

Argue made his mark with his critically acclaimed 2009 debut Infernal Machines. 2013 saw the release of Brooklyn Babylon, which, like Infernal Machines before it, earned the group nominations for both GRAMMY and JUNO Awards. His most recent recording, Real Enemies, released in the fall of 2016, earned a third consecutive GRAMMY nomination and has been praised as “wildly discursive, twitchily allusive, a work of furious ambition… deeply in tune with our present moment” by The New York Times’ Nate Chinen.

Proclaimed “a mind-blowing example of truly great, era-defining jazz composition, and a contender for album of the year” by London Jazz News’ John L. Walters, Real Enemies is a 13-chapter exploration of America’s fascination with conspiracy theories and the politics of paranoia. The album grew out of a multimedia work Argue co-created with writer-director Isaac Butler and filmmaker Peter Nigrini for the 2015 BAM Next Wave Festival, in a uniquely immersive experience that Stereophile’s Fred Kaplan called “a remarkable work, maybe an oddball masterpiece: riveting, head-spinning, at once spooky and witty, abstrusely complex and foot-tappingly propulsive.” The multimedia performance was next staged at the 2016 Holland Festival, a production JazzNu’s Rinus van der Heijden praised as “a visual and auditive spectacle without precedent, which overwhelms, dwarfs, and makes you aware that innovation in music theatre is still possible.” Argue recently collaborated with vocalist Cécile McLorin Salvant, arranging, orchestrating, and conducting her “macabre, majestically relevant” (New York Music Daily) original song cycle Ogresse, which premiered in September 2018 to a standing-room only crowd at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. JazzTimes’ Matthew Kassel calls Ogresse “a daring, and genre-defying, departure… a grand synthesis of jazz, musical theater, mythology, visual art, cooking, fashion, acting, race, sexuality.”

Secret Society maintains a busy touring schedule, with European, Canadian, and South American tours, global festival performances, and four appearances at the Newport Jazz Festival. Secret Society’s performances have been celebrated for their “slashing fury and awesome full-ensemble precision” (The New York City Jazz Record), “brilliant soundscapes” (Globe and Mail) and “gorgeous musical details, maneuvers and transformations” (Ottawa Citizen). Their London Jazz Festival debut was declared “a contender for gig of the year” by The Guardian.

In addition to his work with Secret Society, Argue has toured Australia and New Zealand leading the Jazzgroove Mothership Orchestra and was featured in the Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos’ inaugural international Jazz Composers Forum. He has led performances of his music by the WDR Big Band, the Danish Radio Big Band, the Frankfurt Radio Bigband, the Cologne Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, the Big Band Palácio das Artes, and the West Point Jazz Knights. Argue has composed works for chamber duo and string quartet, art songs for Newspeak, and created arrangements for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted residencies and workshops at the University of North Texas, McGill University, the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, Cornish College, Western Connecticut State University, and with the Western Australian Jazz Youth Orchestra, among others. In 2012, he was composer-in-residence for Missouri State University’s annual Composition Festival.

In 2015, Argue was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Music Composition and a Doris Duke Artist Award. He has received commissions from the Fromm Music Foundation, the Jazz Gallery, the Manhattan New Music Project, the Jerome Foundation, and BAM, as well as ensembles including the Danish Radio Big Band, the Hard Rubber Orchestra, the West Point Jazz Knights, and the Orquestra Jazz de Matosinhos. He is the recipient of grants and fellowships from the New York Foundation for the Arts, New Music USA, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Composers Now, the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the MacDowell Colony.

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Oct 29 - Fabiano Chagas

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Fabiano Chagas is considered one of the most versatile guitar players of the new generation in Brazil. His influences go from Brazilian Popular Music to Jazz, passing through Classical and Regional Folk Music. Since 2008, he has taken part in several shows, concerts and tours around the world, playing at important festivals in Ukraine, Switzerland, Austria, Germany, England, United States, Portugal, and Holland. As an educator, he has given workshops and masterclasses about improvisation, acoustic (nylon) and electric guitar at many Brazilian and foreign universities. Viena Conservatory, University North Texas, Utah State University, Unirio are among the institutions Fabiano Chagas has visited. Master of Music since 2009, Fabiano Chagas is professor of acoustic popular guitar, electric guitar and improvisation at the School of Music and Performing Arts of the Federal University of Goias (EMAC - UFG). Since 2019 he is the conductor of the prestigious Banda Pequi (Brazilian Big Band). His last album called “Tributum” was recorded in EUA, Belgium and Brazil, including special guests - clarinetist Anat Cohen and the American saxophonist Mark Turner.

The Rex 

UofT Jazz students perform every Monday of the school year at the Rex Hotel.

These events are open to the public.

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Set 1: 5:30 – 6:15

Set 2: 6:30 – 7:15

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Sept 6:

5:30pm: Aidan McConnell Quartet

6:30pm: Adrian Russouw Group plays the music of Monk

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Sept 13:

5:30pm: Brenon Parmar Quartet

6:30pm: Jacob Chung Quartet

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Sept 20:

5:30pm: Raquel Skilich Quintet

Playing a variety of standards and compositions. 

Voice: Raquel Skilich

Sax: Jacob Chung

Piano: Henry Lewis

Bass: Max Simpson

Drums: Aidan McConnell 

6:30pm: Max Simpson Group

Max Simpson begins his 4th year at UofT playing jazz standards with a chordless quintet. 

Jacob Chung - Tenor

Lazar Miric - Alto

Charlotte Mcaffee-Brunner - Trombone

Mark Gerlai - Drums

Max Simpson - Bass

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September 27:

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5:30pm: Shannon McDougall Group

6:30pm: Diack/Little/O'Reilly Trio

This new trio performs music that is distinguished by a discerningly open-minded approach to the guitar trio format. Collectively Patrick, Robert and Sam embrace the twists and turns of the improvised moment to find engaging approaches within the compositions they perform.

Patrick O'Reilly - Guitar

Sam Little - Bass

Robert Diack - Drums

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October 4th:

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5:30pm: PT Sandberg band

PT Sandberg – bass

Aiden McConnell – drums

Josh Sparks – guitar

Steven Norona – piano

Lazar Miric - alto sax 

6:30pm: Anthony Kubelka Quintet

Anthony Kubelka: Piano

Brenon Parmar: Alto Sax

Luke Parnell: Tenor Sax

Max Simpson: Bass

Aidan McConnell: Drums

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October 11th:

5:30pm: Lazar Miric band

“Swedish Fish” 

Lazar Miric (Alto Sax)

Fionn Ling (Trumpet)

Steven Norona (Piano)

PT Sandberg (Bass)

Alison Kerfoot (Drums)

6:30pm: Yoshi Maclear-Wall band

Yoshi Maclear-Wall - bass

Steven Noronha - piano

Mattaus Gretzinger- alto

Mark Gerlai - drums​

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October 18th

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5:30pm: Ray Sun Quintet

Dermot O'Halloran -sax

Josh Sparks - guitar

Steven Noronha – piano

PT Sandberg -bass

Aidan McConnell - driums

6:30pm: Sean Irvine
Sean Irvine-woodwinds

Patrick O'Reilly- guitar

Anthony Kubelka- piano 

Sam Little- bass

Robert Diack- drums

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October 25th

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5:30pm: Ambrose Vanhoof Veno

Ambrose Vanhoof Veno - drums

Josh Sparks - gtr

Steven Noronha - piano

Jack Johnston - bass

Lazar Miric - sax

6:30pm: Steven Noronha Trio

Steven Noronha - piano

Keon Narinesingh - bass

Aidan McConnell - drums

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November 1st

5:30pm: Mike Murley “Wayne Shorter Ensemble"

6:30pm: Jim Lewis “Ornette Coleman Ensemble"

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November 8th

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5:30pm: Marcelo De Melo Trio

Marcelo De Melo - guitar

Sam Little – bass

Robert Diack - drums

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6:30:pm: Sam Little Trio

Sam Little – bass

Patrick O’Reilly – guitar

Robert Diack – drums

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November 15th

5:30pm: Andrew Downing “Billy Strayhorn Ensemble"

Kelly Jefferson Ensemble

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November 22nd

5:30pm: Tara Davidson

6:30pm: Will Carn

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November 29th:

5:30pm: Murley Graduate ensemble

6:30pm: David Occhipinti

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December 6th:

 5:30pm: Rich Brown

6:30pm: Waleed Abdulhamid "African Jazz Ensemble"

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Upper Jazz Concerts

 UofT small ensembles perform on Wednesdays in Upper Jazz at 90 Wellesley St. W. 

These concerts are free and open to the general public.

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Set 1: 7:00 – 7:45

Set 2: 8:00 - 8:45


Information coming soon!

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Walter Hall

Jazz at the New Music Festival

U of T Jazz at the Tranzac Club

Information coming soon!