All Members – Past and Present
In Alphabetical Order:
Rob McConnell Born in London, Ontario, McConnell took up the valve trombone in high school and began his performing career in the early 50’s performing with saxophonist Don Thompson Edmonton, Bobby Gimby and fellow Canadian Maynard Ferguson. He also studied arranging and composition with Gordon Delamont. In 1968, Rob formed The Boss Brass, a big band that would become his primary performing and recording unit through the 1970’s and 80’s. A unique musical voice, cutting wit and meticulous leadership on the bandstand...
read moreBorn in London, Ontario, McConnell took up the valve trombone in high school and began his performing career in the early 50’s, performing with saxophonist Don Thompson in Edmonton, Bobby Gimby and fellow Canadian Maynard Ferguson.He also studied arranging and composition with Gordon Delamont. In 1968, Rob formed the Boss Brass, a big band that would become his primary performing and recording unit through the 1970’s and 80’s. A unique musical voice, cutting wit and meticulous leadership on the bandstand were just a few of...
read moreEugene Amaro (tenor saxophone, alto saxophone, flutist) born September 25, 1926, was a popular Canadian jazz musician and leader of his own Eugene Amaro Quartet, and long-time member of Rob McConnell and The Boss Brass. He also co-led the Sam Noto/Eugene Amaro Quintet and performed with the Ron Rully Sextet and Ian Mcdougall’s Dectet in the Sound of Toronto Jazz Concerts. His name is synonymous with the golden age of big band jazz in Canada. Eugene Amaro passed away in his 73rd year on March 23, 2010. When the news hit the airwaves,...
read moreGuido Basso (trumpet, flugelhorn, harmonica, conductor, arranger and composer) was born in Montreal in 1937. Guido was only nine years old when he began playing the trumpet, becoming recognized as a prodigy while studying at Montreal’s Conservatoire de musique du Quebec. He was just a teenager when he was already becoming prominent on the Montreal club scene, where singer Vic Damone first heard him and took him on an international tour with him for two years. In 1958 he joined singer Pearl Bailey and her bandleader husband, famed...
read moreBrian Barlow (drummer, percussionist, guitarist, producer) was born in 1952 in Bellville, Ontario, Canada. He has spent mosst of his career in the Toronto recording studios and is one of Canada’s most recorded musicians. His work in the studio and on the concert stage with a widely diverse group of artists including, Ringo Starr, Alanis Morrisette, Bob Seger, K.d. Lang, Randy Bachman, Charlie Watts, Shania Twain, Ella Fitzgerald, Harry Connick Jr., Tony Bennett, Mel Torme, Joe Williams, Bobby McFerrin, The Pointer Sisters, Gino...
read moreEd Bickert (guitarist) was born in 1932, in Hochfeld, Manitoba, and raised in the farming and fruit-growing community around Vernon, British Columbia. Universally regarded as a guitar genius, Bickert was largely self-taught, developing an intereest in jazz harmony by studying Stan Kenton recordings. In his early teens he gained experience playing onstage with his mother at the piano and his fiddle-playing father. He moved to Toronto in 1952, and it was only there he took some formal music training, becoming a regular club performer by 1955...
read moreDave Caldwell (tenor and alto saxophones, flute, clarinet) was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. At the age of 18, after playing and recording with Halifax’s finest bands, Caldwell left his home town to study formally with Joe Viola at the Berklee School of Music in Boston. Completing his studies and work in the Boston area, he moved to Montreal where he began a long association as a studio musician with the Canadian Broadcasting corporation, and enjoyed a full career as a featured soloist with the Vic Vogel and Denny Vaughan...
read moreBruce Cassidy (trumpeter, EVI player, composer, arranger, producer) was born in Fredricton, N.B., schooled in Nova Scotia and Dalhousie University. Bruce first started playing trumpet in Montreal in the 1950;s with Joe Sealy snd Hubie Basso. After studying at Berklee College in Boston, he moved to Toronto where he became a fixture on the Toronto jazz scene, both in clubs and studios recording 7 albums with Rob McConnell and The Boss Brass. He has recorded, played and toured with Doug Riley’s Dr. Music, Lighthouse, Duke Ellington, Quincy...
read moreArnie Chycoski (trumpet) was born May 7, 1936 in New Westminister, British Columbia. Called by celebrated band-leader Rob McConnell, “One of the top three lead trumpet players on the planet”. Arnie passed away Sept. 10, 2008 near Olympia Washington. In the 1950’s Arnie was appearing at a jazz club in Victoria called The Scene. At that time Arnie was an ambitious young trumpet player who was much more interested in improvising than being a lead trumpet player. He idolized Clifford Brown. Soon after that Arnie made his way to...
read moreTerry Clarke (drummer) was born in 1944, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He began displaying rhythmic aptitude at a very early age, and was just 12 years old when he began studying formally with noted drum teache and author, Jim Blackley, Blackley was, and remains, a primary figure in Clarke’s continuing development as a musician. In 1965, Clarke moved to San Francisco to work with the legendary saxophonist, John Handy III. He performed with Handy for the next two and a half years, during which time the Grammy nominated...
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