John Roney on piano
JOHN RONEY obtained his Bachelor’s Degree in jazz piano, classical piano, and
composition from the University of Toronto in 2000. He relocated to Montreal in 2001 to
complete his Masters Degree at McGill University, but returned to Toronto to lead his
John Roney Trio (with Artie Roth on bass and Kevin Coady on drums) in a “Sound of
Toronto Jazz” Concert at the Ontario Science Centre on March 4, 2002.
Since he settled in Montreal, he has performed frequently with local and international
artists the local jazz scene. His musical collaborations with Chet Doxas, Remi Bolduc,
Effendi JazzLab, Bernard Primeau, and Jean Christophe Beney have led to tours
throughout Canada, Europe, and The Middle East, and several recordings for CBC/Radio
Canada, Global Television, JustinTime Records, Effendi Records, and Swingin’ Time
Productions, as well as live performances across Canada and Europe.
His work with classical soprano Natalie Choquette has comprised performances all over
the world including Canada, Japan, China, Europe, and Western Africa. Roney has
performed and/or recorded with legendary international artists including drummers Peter
Erskine and Steve Houghton; bassists Christian McBride and Alain Caron; composers
Johnny Mandel, Gary Kulesha , and Alf Clausen; Belgian guitarist Phillipe Catherine;
and saxophonists Seamus Blake, Nick Brignola, Francois Theberge, Michael Blake, Jerry
Bergonzi, and Donny McCaslin.
In 1999, he began hosting the late-night jam sessions at the du Maurier Downtown Jazz
Festival in Toronto, and has led jam sessions at the Montreal International Jazz Festival
since 2006. In September of 2005, he was chosen to host the week-long 10th anniversary
celebration at the Upstairs Jazz Club in Montreal, leading his trio in performances
featuring special guest artists including Oliver Jones, Charles Ellison, and vocalist Sheila
Jordan.
John Roney has served on the faculty at SUNY Potsdam in New York, and is currently a
member of the faculty at both McGill University and CEGEP Marie Victorin in
Montreal.
Rémi-Jean Leblanc on bass:
As a member of a trio, a quartet or an ensemble, double bass player Remi-Jean Leblanc
holds a special place in the Montreal music community. He’s also taken his passion for
music on the road, with performances in the Carribean, England, Azerbaidjan and China.
In 2008, Leblanc played at the Festival acadien de Caraquet with John Roney on piano
and Samuel Joly on drums. In the same year, he performed alongside Emilie-Claire
Barlow in Sackville, New Brunswick.
Phil Melanson on drums:
Originally from New Brunswick, Philippe Melanson developed a taste for jazz early on
thanks to his father, an accomplished bass player. After high school, he moved to
Montreal to study drums with André White and Chris McCann at McGill University. The
year 2007 was an important one for Philippe; he performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival
with Yannick Rieu and Adrian Vedady, worked on François Bourassa's most recent
album Rasstones and travelled to China on two occasions, once with Bourassa and once
with Rieu. He has since then accompanied Bourassa on a European tour of 6 countries
and to India in the fall of 2008. Philippe is currently collaborating with several different
artists, including Yannick Rieu, Jeff Johnston, Marianne Trudel and Bryan McNamara.
He also plays in various ensembles, including the François Bourassa, Malcolm Sailor,
Anna Webber and Jake Henry quartets, Indigone Trio as well as the experimental groups
Ka Noo and Marathon.
Jake Henry on trumpet:
Jake Henry obtained his B. Mus. from McGill University in 2008, having been accepted
on scholarship to study jazz guitar and trumpet. He is an alumnus of the Banff Centre for
the Performing Arts, and has studied with Lorne Lofsky, Bill Mahar, Remi Bolduc, Chris
McCann, Erik Hove, and Dave Douglas.
For the past few years, Henry has focused on trumpet, freelancing in Montreal for
numerous corporate, studio and public performance engagements. He’s performed in
ensembles under the direction of Greg Osby, Marcus Strickland, Ron DiLauro and Vic
Vogel, among others, and performed and recorded alongside artists such as Erik Hove,
Chet Doxas, Dave Liebman, Arcade Fire and “TV on the Radio”. Jake's has performed
across Canada, and in Germany, Switzerland and France.