Al Muirhead

Join 2016 Juno nominated trumpeter Al Muirhead for the release of his most ambitious CD project to date - ‘Northern Adventures – The Canada Sessions Vol. 1’. The album brings Al together with many of Canada’s jazz greats performing a collection of his favourite jazz standards. For the Calgary CD release, Al will featuring some of his special guests from the recording including long-time friend Tommy Banks on piano, Vancouver jazz giant Campbell Ryga on sax, and award-winning bassist Kodi Hutchinson. Watch out for some other special guests throughout the evening!

A western Canadian jazz icon, who recently came to wider prominence in North America with the release of his debut album ‘It’s About Time’ at the age of 80, Al Muirhead is now making up for lost time with his third release in two years.

Featuring five different small ensembles of both old friends and new, Al harkens back to his youth, calling standards from the Great American Songbook live in the studio. ‘Northern Adventures’ features jazz performed in the way the artform began - with spontaneity and joy, and with a command of the music that only players of the calibre that Al has assembled can.

‘Northern Adventures – The Canada Sessions Vol. 1’ brings together a veritable who’s who of the Canadian jazz scene including award-winning musicians Don Thompson (piano/bass) and Reg Schwager (guitar), Guido Basso (trumpet/flugelhorn) and Tommy Banks (piano), Laila Biali (vocals), Ben Wittman (percussion) and Kodi Hutchinson (double bass), Mike Murley (saxophone) and Chris Andrew (piano), and finally Campbell Ryga (saxophone) and Mike Rud (guitar).

Al Muirhead has long been an iconic figure on the Canadian jazz scene. And the trumpeter, composer, arranger, sideman and recording artist has been making listeners take notice for longer than jazz fans might realize. Born in Regina, by age 12 he was playing in the Regina Symphony and dance bands. In his teens, Muirhead began to take notice of greats such as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Louis Armstrong, Chet Baker, and Charlie Parker. While Muirhead’s playing is infused with the indelible influence of jazz giants, his flowing, melodic sound is his own — and has become influential in its own right.

Muirhead has worked with legends such as Guido Basso, Diana Krall, Paul Anka, Rosemary Clooney, Frank Mills and Dizzy Gillespie. In 2013, he was honoured with the Western Canadian Music Awards’ Heritage Award for his mentorship and industry-building. In 2015, he earned the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival’s Special Recognition Award.

Muirhead unleashes melodies that are incredibly inventive and utterly timeless. Now at 81 years old, he shows no sign of slowing down with the release of his third album ‘Northern Adventures – The Canada Sessions Vol. 1’.