November 27, 2024
Doors: 7:00 PM / Concert: 7:30 PM

Jazz at the Centre : PIANO TRIPLE BILL with

Anthony D’Alessandro, Ewen Farncombe & Jesse Whiteley 

Ticket price:
General Admission. $15 Advance / $20 at the door
CMC Members and Arts Workers. $12 Advance / $15 at the door
Students. $10 anytime

Venue:
Canadian Music Centre
20 St. Joseph Street
Toronto, ON
M4Y 1J9
416-961-6601 x202

Supported by:

 

 

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Anthony D’Alessandro

Anthony D’Alessandro is a pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader based in Toronto, Canada. Hailed by the WholeNote Magazine as a pianist with a “natural feeling for swing and groove” and “scintillating technique”, he has performed in many notable clubs, concert halls and jazz festivals around the world including the Montreal International Jazz Festival, the Teatro Nescafé de las Artes in Santiago Chile, Smalls Jazz Club in New York City, and Koerner Hall in Toronto. He regularly performs alongside a “who’s who” of Canada’s top jazz musicians including Caity Gyorgy, Neil Swainson, Terry Clarke, Pat LaBarbara, and Ernesto Cervini, and has performed or toured with many notable NYC based musicians including Benny Benack III, Summer Camargo, Alexander Claffy, and Joe Farnsworth.

D’Alessandro’s debut full length album Searchin’ (2024), featuring NYC based trumpeter and vocal star Benny Benack III, debuted to critical acclaim, being called an “uplifting and feel-good jazz record” by the Paris Move, and a “gem of an album” by Jersey Jazz Magazine. His composition Tune for Monty was selected for CBC Music’s prestigious “Songs You Need to Hear” list.

D’Alessandro’s music has taken him throughout Canada, the United States and Europe. He has performed at many of Canada’s most prestigious jazz festivals and concert venues including Koerner Hall in Toronto, the Ottawa Jazz Festival, and the Vancouver Jazz Festival, among others. He has also performed at the International Glenn Miller Festival in Clarinda, Iowa, the Snowbirds Extravaganza Festival in Lakeland, Florida, and presented his compositions at the Casalmaggiore International Music Festival in Casalmaggiore, Italy.

D’Alessandro frequently works as the pianist for two-time JUNO award winning vocalist Caity Gyorgy, and has toured Canada from coast to coast as part of Gyorgy’s acclaimed quartet. This group made their Koerner Hall debut in April 2024 and has performed at every major jazz festival in the country. His playing can be heard on Gyorgy’s latest release “Hello, How Are You?” D’Alessandro has spent time living and studying in New York City under master pianist/organist Mike LeDonne, and holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Toronto where he studied under award winning pianists David Braid, Mark Eisenman and David Restivo.

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Ewen Farncombe

Ewen Farncombe is a Juno nominated pianist and composer based out of Toronto and has been a professional on the scene there for nearly a decade. Having played on various recordings and with numerous bands, he has earned his reputation as a highly skilled musician.

While he was attending Humber College for a degree in music performance, he received several prestigious awards, including the Hnatyshyn Foundation Oscar Peterson award. While jazz is Ewen’s passion, he is a versatile player and is known to play many genres of music.

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Jesse Whiteley 

Jesse Whiteley is a passionate and multi-talented pianist/keyboardist, singer, composer, arranger, and bandleader. Throughout his diverse musical life, Jesse has performed the gamut of musical genres from blues, jazz, swing, boogie woogie, rhythm and blues, to roots, and country.  

Born and raised in Toronto, Jesse began working professionally at age 17 with the Toronto All-Star Big Band. Throughout his years with the Big Band, he has worked as both a pianist and conductor and has shared the stage with such luminaries from the blues and jazz world as Clark Terry, Jackie Richardson, Oliver Jones, Cleo Laine and John Dankworth, and Doc Severinsen. Jesse conducted the band full-time from 2018 to 2022.  

Another one of Jesse’s projects is the jazz duo Blue Standard, featuring the vocal stylings of Maple Blues Award winner and acclaimed actor Raoul Bhaneja, accompanied by Jesse on piano. Their debut album “A Good Thing” was released worldwide in January of 2019. 

From 2014 to 2017, Jesse toured and recorded as a member of The 24th Street Wailers, playing across Canada and The United States. He has also recorded and toured throughout Canada, The United States, and Europe with Ottawa’s JW-Jones. He has appeared on recordings with legendary blues musicians Curley Bridges, Little Charlie Baty, Hubert Sumlin, Charlie Musselwhite, dad Chris Whiteley and uncle Ken Whiteley.

Jesse can be seen performing under his own name and accompanying many different artists and groups around the Toronto music scene, and anywhere else the music takes him.