Boss Tenors "Unsafe Sax" 2014 Island Tour: at Jazz at Crofton

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Sunday, March 30th, 2014
2:00 PM

�Wonderful playing...�
- Joe Lovano (Legendary N.Y. jazz saxophonist/Berklee College of Music instructor)

�A remarkable player�. He's going to be pretty scary....�
- Gordon Goodwin (Multiple Grammy award winning L.A. composer/big band director)

�I don�t think I�ve heard anyone master that horn that well at his age.�
- Brad Turner (Canadian jazz trumpeter & pianist/university music educator)

Vancouver Island woodwind prodigy, bandleader/ composer, and multi-instrumentalist Conn Stewart (tenor/alto/soprano/bari saxes, clarinet, flute, cornet, keys, vocals) tears it up with veteran Qualicum jazz musician Dan Craven on Tenor saxophones at Jazz at Crofton, where his early musical experiences included third set jams and sitting in with featured bands, and eventual appearances leading the Conn Stewart Quintet with special guest Nick LaRivierre, and the NJaM Quartet.

This time out he leads the white hot bop/hard bop Boss Tenors quintet on the 4th stop of their 2014 �Unsafe Sax� Island Tour, a 5 city project showcasing some of the great acts and battles of the dual tenor sax repertoire, playing selections from the works of Gene Ammons & Sonny Stitt, Eddie Lockjaw Davis & Johnny Griffin, Dexter Gordon & Wardell Gray, Coleman Hawkins & Ben Webster, John Coltrane & Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz & John Coltrane, and Sonny Rollins & Sonny Stitt.

If you love the sound of two tenor saxophones in spirited battle or creatively beautiful harmony, backed by a killing rhythm section, and a highly entertaining, first class act that keeps an audience swinging, you won�t want to miss this!

Known for his outstanding improvisational solo work and energetic stage presence, Stewart began performing professionally at 15, winning accolades from Courtenay to Victoria, Vancouver to Portland, Boston to New York, and appearing at major B.C. jazz venues including Hermann�s Jazz Club (Victoria), the Cellar Jazz Club (Vancouver), the Georgia Strait Jazz Society series (Courtenay), Blue Frog Studios (White Rock), Jazz Vespers at Sylvan United (Mill Bay), and the Sunday Jazz at Crofton series.

He recently appeared in sets with Brishen, Chris Sartisohn, the Dennis Chang Band, the Capitol City Syncopaters, and Daniel Lapp at the 2014 Victoria Django Festival, will lead The Jazz Apostles quartet at the 2014 TD Victoria International JazzFest this June, and makes his first appearance at DjangoFest Northwest in Washington this September with Quinn Bachand and Brishen.

The other featured �Boss Tenor� is veteran Qualicum jazz musician Dan Craven, music educator (Prime Minister�s Award for Teaching Excellence) and 2014 CYMC Island Jazz director, who has toured western Canada, shared stages with jazz luminaries Phil Dwyer, Arnie Chycoski, Ian McDougall, P.J. Perry, Don Thompson, John McDermott, Campbell Ryga, and Mike Herriot, was a 2007 member of the Phil Dwyer Sax Summit series, performs with the Jeff Drummond Band and the Dave Stewart Quintet, and has held the first tenor chair as a featured soloist in Arrowsmith Big Band for a number of years.

A top rhythm section, all of whom have entertained audiences previously at Crofton, includes fan favourite Nanaimo professional drummer/songwriter James McRae, who has appeared with Miles Black, Ken Lister, Jennifer Scott, Rene Worst, Ian McDougall, Mike Allen, and Ross Taggart, leads, or has played in, a number of B.C. jazz, latin, funk, country, and rock bands, and has produced well-received tributes to Horace Silver, Carlos Jobim, Jimmy McHugh, and Jimmy Smith; keyboardist Patrick Courtin, a VIU jazz program graduate who has played extensively in musical theatre productions, jazz combos, funk bands, the NMA Big Band, and recently toured with Victoria singer Ken LaVigne, and Romanza; and Andrew Janusson, VIU jazz guitarist who is fast becoming a go-to island sideman for his elegant stylings and chordal/harmonic knowledge, and has played in the NMA Big Band, the Jimmy Smith tribute band, the Sean Drabitt Quintet, and leads a Wes Montgomery tribute trio.

In addition to Boss Tenors, Stewart has led the Jazz Apostles, NJaM, the Hot Six Vintage Jazz Band, the Stewart/Lee/Dwyer Trio, the Conn Stewart Quintet/Quartet/Trio, the 5th Street Jazz Ensemble, the Stewart/Gorenko Duo, and the Stewart/Janusson Duo. He plays Lead alto in NMA Big Band (Nanaimo), 2nd alto in Arrowsmith Big Band (Oceanside), was featured woodwind soloist in the B.C. All Star Big Band (Vancouver), and has played as a sideman in Victoria�s Brishen jazz manouche quartet (clarinet/saxes), Vancouver�s Mingus Amongus septet (baritone/alto/tenor saxes), the Adrian Michael quintet (tenor/alto saxes), and the Rossi Gang (saxes/clarinet/cornet/vocals), and Nanaimo�s John Lee Trio (tenor/soprano saxes/cornet), and Andrew Cullen Quartet (tenor sax).

Personally singled out at 16 for �wonderful playing� by tenor sax legend Joe Lovano after jamming with Berklee College 4th Year Global Jazz students in Boston, Stewart was the only pre-university provincial finalist selected for the 2013 Fraser McPherson competition, and sole under-30 musician invited to the 2013 Centrum Big Band Intensive with world renowned L.A. composer/director Gordon Goodwin.