Tonight Ingrid Jensen (NYC) + Gray Matter 9:30: Friday, March 14th, 2014 Ingrid Jensen (trumpet), Justin Gray (bass/bass veena), Derek Gray (drums/percussion), Todd Pentney (piano), Eli Bennett (saxophone) ––––––––– Gray Matter – the contemporary jazz group co-led by brothers Justin and Derek Gray – is set for a Southern Ontario Concert Series. The bass/drum duo of Justin and Derek Gray were born and raised in Torontos east end. They will share the stage with Grammy award-winning trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, Vancouvers rising star tenor saxophonist/film composer Eli Bennett and Toronto-based pianist Todd Pentney. The band will be playing two-nights at Torontos Rex Hotel, a Saturday feature performance at The Jazz Room in Waterloo, and holding workshops at Humber College and the University of Toronto – aiming to connect with all generations of Canadian music lovers. ### Gray Matter Gray Matter is a Canadian contemporary jazz ensemble. Performing original music, the group expresses their collective language with emphasis on groove and improvisation. Brothers Justin and Derek Gray - born and raised in Toronto - have both been composing creative music throughout their careers; together, they bring forward a unique blend of modern jazz and groove-based music. In March 2014, Gray Matter will present a very special concert series in Southern Ontario. Bringing together up-and-coming Toronto artists with a renowned Canadian jazz icon, the group will feature Ingrid Jensen (trumpet) and Eli Bennett (tenor sax), as well as Todd Pentney (piano) and the Gray brothers. Gray Matter brings a unique blend of modern jazz and groove-based music, with influences ranging from John Coltrane to James Brown. ### Justin Gray Justin Gray is an Acoustic and Electric Bass Player, Composer and Band Leader in the International music scene. His main influences include Jazz, North Indian Classical and Contemporary Music. Justin has played with and worked with a number of internationally renowned artists including; Dave Liebman, Dave Douglas, Kurt Elling, Mike Stern, Cutis Fuller, Ingrid Jensen, Seamus Blake, Dan Weiss, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Greg Osby, Shantanu Bhattacharrya, Subankar Banerjee, Bikram Ghosh, Tejendra Mejendar, Henry Hey, John Riley, Quinsin Nachoff, Ravi Naimpally, George Koller and Chitraveena Ravikiran. Justin has traveled to India since 2005 to study with his Guru and work with musicians in a traditional classical setting. He is learning vocally and instrumentally from his Guru, Shantanu Bhattacharyya, and is emerging as the first artists to perform traditional North Indian Classical music on the bass. In 2010, Justin designed the Bass Veena, which is a fretless bass made specifically for Raga music. Justin regularly performs Raga music on the Bass Veena in concerts across Canada and India. Justin graduated from Humber College in 2008 with an Honours Bachelor Degree in Jazz Performance, for which he received a national scholarship from The Garfield Weston Merit Scholarship Fund. Justin is also very grateful to have received awards for composition and studies in North Indian Classical Music from the Toronto Arts Council, Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts and The Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute. Justin is currently the bandleader for three well-established groups in the international music scene. Monsoon is a group co-led by Jonathan Kay, Andrew Kay and Justin Gray. Monsoon is a contemporary Indo-Jazz ensemble that features original compositions that blend aspects of North Indian Classical Music with Contemporary Jazz. Justin also composes and performs with Rubix, where the repertoire is influenced by modern groove/electronic and contemporary jazz music. Both of these groups feature Justin’s original compositions and have been featured in many Jazz Festivals and feature concerts across Canada and India. ### Derek Gray At 22 years-old, Derek Gray has established himself as an up-and-coming drummer and percussionist on the Canadian music scene. In the spring of 2011, Derek completed a Bachelor of Contemporary Music Degree at Humber College where he studied with Mark Kelso. In addition, Derek played drums in the school’s flagship ensemble, the Humber Studio Jazz Ensemble, directed by Denny Christianson. As a member of this ensemble, Derek performed with legendary bassist Dave Holland in March 2011. In Toronto, Derek works extensively as a bandleader, composer, and sideman performing regularly with a variety of projects, including Tesseract, Gray Matter (a quintet that he co-leads with his brother, bass player Justin Gray), and Monsoon (an Indo-Jazz ensemble). In 2008, Derek founded the Hand Drumming in the Schools program in which he voluntarily travels to schools in the greater Toronto area and facilitates hand-drumming workshops for students of all ages. He also works as a drum circle facilitator with Soul Drums. In the summer of 2009, Derek travelled to Ghana to study traditional West African hand drumming, and over the course of two months, completed an Ethnomusicology course at University of Ghana. He also studied West African percussion with master drummers Kwasi Dunyo and Ledzi Agudzemegah in Dagbamete, a village in the Volta Region. Over the past few years, Derek has received a number of awards, including Humber Colleges Presidents Medal for leadership, the Garfield Weston National Level Scholarship for leadership, the SABIAN Cymbals Award + Scholarship, the George McCrae Award for musical excellence, and the Principal’s Award for Student Leadership. In the spring of 2011, Derek was selected to participate in the Betty Carter Jazz Ahead residency in Washington, DC. Working alongside talented young musicians/composers from around the world, this two-week long program culminated in performances on the Millenium Stage at the Kennedy Centre. Derek has studied privately with Steve Mancuso, Doug Sole, Dan Weiss, Jonathan Blake, Nate Smith and Larnell Lewis. He has had the opportunity to play in ensembles lead by Pat Labarbera, Brian Dickenson, Alex Dean, Ravi Naimpally, Waleed Abdulhamid, and Luis Mario Ochoa. ––––––––– #jazz #musicTO #toronto #jazzTO
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 15:21:01 +0000
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