Connor Stewart & The Rhythm Thieves at The Vault

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Thursday, August 18th, 2016
9:00 PM to 11:30 PM

“a remarkable player… he’s going to be pretty scary” (Gordon Goodwin - Grammy winning LA Big Phat Band director)                                         
“He’s incredible… going to be our next great saxophonist” (Larry Hale - BC saxophonist)       
“the best young saxophonist in Canada” (Miles Black - Vancouver jazz pianist)
“plays the sax like very few I’ve ever heard play..."  (Dennis Chang - Montreal Gypsy Jazz guitarist)
“his wunderkind prowess has people dreaming of what he might do next” (New Orleans Jazz Festival)
“I was at Newport in’56 and heard the Duke, Dizzy, Mingus, all those guys, and man, he’s got it” (West Coast Django fan)

Back at the Vault once more after receiving 2 standing ovations there in July, and appearances at Vancouver International Jazz Festival, Portland Waterfront Blues Festival, Kaslo Jazz Festival, as Guest Artist/Clinician at CYMC Island Jazz workshop, and with an upcoming September performance at DjangoFest Northwest, CONNOR STEWART has taken a hiatus from New Orleans summer weather to play with an eclectic variety of trad jazz, hard bop, blues, funk, and gypsy jazz bands in BC, Alberta, Washington, & Oregon before returning to the Crescent City. (For full bio scroll down to end of the band biographies.)

Comox Valley bassist JOHN HYDE began his career in Edmonton as a youthful working musician on electric bass. His interest eventually turned to double bass and led him to studies at McGill University in Montreal. He returned home to teach at Grant MacEwan College, then 30 years in the Jazz Studies program at Mt. Royal College in Calgary. Known for his “perfectly centered pitch with beautiful tone and phrasing,” he has played and recorded with performers including Tommy Banks, PJ Perry, Mark Murphy, Pepper Adams, Marion McPartland, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Pat LaBarbera, Bob Mintzer, Phil Dwyer, Oliver Jones, Brad Turner, Don Thompson, Julian Priester, Hugh Fraser, Chase Sanborn, Bobby Shew, Muhal Richard Abrams, Bill Coon, and David Vest. He has toured across Canada, performed in Panama, Ireland, Mexico, and the US, and at festivals in Mongolia and India.

Versatile Vancouver Island jazz drummer JAMES McRAE, bandleader, session musician, and songwriter, is an audience favourite having performed and toured since the early 80’s with jazz, Latin, Caribbean, New Orleans, funk, pop, country, and rock bands. He has played with a number of outstanding musicians including Ross Taggart, David Vest, Hugh Fraser, Tony Wilson, Ron Samworth, Paul Plimley, Jennifer Scott, Mike Allen, Phil Dwyer, Ken Lister, Marc Atkinson, Scott White, Dan Lapp, Roy Styffe, Colin James, and more. He also enjoys playing in musical theatre productions including Chemainus Theatre’s record shattering “Twist and Shout,” and the Arts Club Theatre’s “A Closer Walk with Patsy Cline,” has produced well-received tributes to Horace Silver, Carlos Jobim, Jimmy McHugh, and Jimmy Smith, and has been a mentor to a number of outstanding young island musicians who have gone on to full-time musical careers.

Taking up piano at the age of 6, keyboardist JAMES DARLING completed the Vancouver Island University Jazz Diploma program, where he studied with Bob Murphy and Phil Dwyer. He led the James Darling Trio, played with Summer and the Sinners, then took his talents around the world for a decade refining his chops and entertaining on cruise ships. Returning to the island, he has been busy teaching, completing a Bachelors degree in music at VIU, and has kept a demanding playing schedule with a variety of island bands including the NMA Big Band, Johnny Inappropriate, Graham Shonwise Soul Jazz, La Familia latin band, and Wunderbread. He was an original member of the Triadically Hip Trio with Connor Stewart and James McRae, performing on their 2014 EP, and looks forward to reuniting with them once again in a quartet format for this event.

CONNOR STEWART, Vancouver Island born 19-year-old woodwind sensation and active multi-instrumentalist (tenor/alto/soprano/baritone saxes, clarinet, flute, trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, keys, vocals), turned professional full-time at 16, and made his musical home in New Orleans at 17. He has played or toured in Bop/Hard bop, New Orleans Jazz, Gypsy Jazz, and Blues bands at top venues and music festivals across Canada, the US, and Europe with an eclectic variety of musicians including 3 time Maple Blues Award pianist David Vest and American Blues Award drummer Jimi Bott (Fabulous Thunderbirds); Montreal Gypsy Jazz guitarist Denis Chang; NEA Jazzmaster drummer/ vibraphonist Jason Marsalis; California big band leaders Gordon Goodwin and George Stone; New Orleans “King of the Treme” drummer Shannon Powell (Harry Connick Jr., Wynton Marsalis); Cuban trumpeter Miguelito Valdes (Beuna Vista Social Club, Afro Cuban All stars); Saxophonist Reggie Houston (Fats Domino); Celtic Roots guitarist/fiddler Quinn Bachand; Balkan brass band trumpeter Demiran Cerimovic; New Orleans vocalist Topsy Chapman; Lars Edegran, Lucien Barbourin, Ashlin Parker, Steve Glenn, Kevin Louis, Roland Guerin, Kyle Roussel, Max Moran, Shea Pierre, Haruka Kikuchi, Miles Black, Phil Dwyer, Ken Lister, Marc Atkinson, Rene Worst, Patrick Boyle, Scott White, and others.