All Members – Past and Present
In Alphabetical Order:
Al Stanwyck ( trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, piccolo trumpet) was born in 1939, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He went to school in Barrie, Ontario where he was taught by W.A. Fisher continuing his studies later in Toronto. Stanwyck was just 18 when he went on the road with the great Lionel Hampton. He followed that with stints with The Glenn Miller Band (led by Ray McKinley) and Ralph Marterie before returning to Toronto to lead his own “Band With Impact” in concert and several radio and TV appearances. He became one of the busiest...
read moreGeorge Stimpson (french horn) was born in Mobile, Alabama October 4, 1948; I grew up in rural Alabama developing a feel for nature. Having 2 sisters and a brother close in age, we could always play ball or build a fort in the woods by the house. We swam in Mobile Bay and the Gulf of Mexico to escape the oppressive Southern heat. “Even after hearing my sister play piano for a year, my mother had to drag me off for lessons at age 9. After playing for a couple of months I got hooked. At 11, I started playing my mother’s trumpet, left...
read moreReg Schwager (guitarist) was born in 1962, Leiden, The Netherlands. He is today, and has been for many years, one of Canada’s leading jazz guitarists. When he was three years old, his family moved from Holland to New Zealand where he studied Suzuki violin. when he was six, his family moved again, this time to Sudbury, Ontario, Canada. There he took music lessons in recorder, flute and piano before settling on the guitar as his main instrument. By the age of 15, he was playing jazz gigs in big band and small group settings and in duet...
read moreDon Thompson (bass, piano, vibraphone, composer, arranger, producer, educator) was born in 1940, in Powell River, British Columbia, Canada. After taking piano lessons as a young child, he took up the string bass and vibraphone in his teens, all instruments on which he is basically self-taught. He moved to Vancouver in 1960 and began his career as a professional musician, working with the likes of Dave Robbins and Fraser McPherson. In 1965 he moved to San Francisco to join the Legendary John Handy Quintet for a two year stint. While there he...
read moreJerry Toth (saxophonist, clarinet, flute, composer, arranger) was born on Nov. 15, 1928 in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. Heo passed away on March 31, 1999 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was from a well-known musical family including brothers Rudy, a prominent bandleader/composer, and Tony, a saxophonist. Celebrated as a member of Rob McConnell’s “The Boss Brass” for 20 years, Jerry Toth originally studied saxophone with frank Hiron in toronto and clarinet with Herbert Pye in toronto, later studying woodwinds with Dale Eisenhuth...
read moreErich Traugott (trumpeter) was born in 1928, in Poland, but was brought to Canada (North Battleford, Saskatchewan) when he was just nine months old. He started playing the cornet when he was three years old, on an old horn his father owned, and with the encouragement of both parents, and born with perfect pitch, he was soon playing at levels far beyond his years. Traugott was still a young boy when the family again relocated to Kitchener, Ontario, where Erich began playing cornet in The Kitchener Boys Band, and got his first paying job...
read moreKevin Turcotte (trumpet, flugelhorn) was born in 1964 in Ottawa, Ontario,Canada, but raised in Sudbury, Ontario. He recognized as one of Canada’s major trumpet talents with an impressive list of recording and touring credentials as a prominent player with the elite of Canadian jazz ensembles including time Warp, The Mike Murley Quartet, Rob McConnell and The Boss Brass, The Dave McMurdo Orchestra, Hemispheres New Music Ensemble, The Barry Elmes quintet, the Jazz Report All-Stars, The Kieran Overs Quintet, Andrew Downing’s...
read moreJim Vivian (bassist) was born in 1961. One of the most in demand bassists in Canada, Jim has performed and recorded with numerous Canadian jazz artists including Don Thompson, Sonny Greenwich, Jon Ballantyne, David Occhipinti, Pat LaBarbara, Oliver Jones The Maritime Jazz Orchestra, Mike Murley, Brian Dickinson, Jeff Johnston, and Rob McConnell and The Boss Brass. On the international scene, Jim has performed and recorded with jazz greats, Dave Liebman, Kenny Wheeler, Jerry Bergonzi, George Garzone, Mel Torme, Ira Sullivan, John Abercrombie,...
read moreSteve Wallace (bassist) was born in 1956, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and is today regarded by many as the most powerful bass player that Canada has produced. He is almost cetainly the most experienced, having begun working with visiting jazz greats in Toronto clubs such as Bourbon street, Lytes, and George’s Spaghetti House while he was still in his twenties, backing some of the music’s most famous names including Clark Terry, Harry “sweets” Edison, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, George Coleman, Zoot Sims, and...
read moreBrad Warnaar (french horn) was principal horn player with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra. He attended the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. He was principal horn player in the Eastman Wind Ensemble and at 19 became a member of the Rochester Philharmonic. He was a former member of the Rochester Brass Quintet and the Toronto Symphony. Brad Warnaar also played with Rob McConnell and The Boss Brass on many occasions and recorded , “Present Perfect” (1981) and “Live In Digital” in 1992.
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