Bassist, composer, arranger, leader and music educator AL HENDERSON, (MFA Musicology, 1983) formed various groups under his own name as a way to perform and record his numerous original jazz compositions with nearly ninety of his compositions being on commercially available recordings. Geoff Chapman wrote “…a formidable bandleader…and composer…” (Whole Note May 27, 2010). In 1995 he was recognized both as the Jazz Report Composer of the Year and winner of the prestigious SOCAN Award for Original Jazz Composition for the large work “Ellingtonia”. His compositions have appeared on recordings by the Al Henderson Septet, Sextet, Quintet, and Quartet, Time Warp, Barry Romberg’s Random Access, Richard Whiteman, Alex Dean, Don Pullen & Jane Bunnett, and Shox Johnson & the Jive Bombers.
Al’s fifth and most recent recording, Taiga (CRST 138), features his regular quintet with Alex Dean (saxes, bass clarinet), Pat LaBarbera (saxes, narration), pianist Richard Whiteman and drummer Barry Romberg. Baritone saxophonist David Mott appears as a guest artist on three tracks while noted cellists Matt Brubeck and Mark Chambers, first heard with the group on Regeneration (CRST CD132) which received a Juno nomination in 2010 for Traditional Jazz Album of the Year return for three others.
Al has performed as a sideman over the years with many jazz artists and is also the co-leader of the influential group Time Warp, one of Canada’s longest running jazz ensembles with multiple Juno nominations and awards to their credit. The group has released nine recordings, played across Canada as well as in the US and Venezuela.
An Associate Professor of music at York University in Toronto, Al has served as Graduate Program Director (Interim), Jazz Area Coordinator and Director of the York University Jazz Orchestra and teaches at both the graduate and undergraduate levels. As co-owner of Cornerstone Records Inc. since 1993, the label has released forty-eight jazz recordings with several more soon to be released.
ALEX DEAN one of Canada’s foremost jazz saxophonists, has been a mainstay of the Canadian music scene for many years. He has played and recorded with Gil Evans, Kenny Wheeler, Aretha Franklin, Natalie Cole, Harry Connick Jr., Phil Nimmons, the Dave McMurdo Jazz Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.
Alex held the tenor saxophone chair with Rob McConnell’s Grammy award winning Boss Brass and, the Juno award winning Rob McConnell Tentet. He has collaborated extensively on C.D’s as side man with Canadian and American Jazz Artists. The Alex Dean Quartet/Quintet recordings include the newly released At this Point (November 2010), Dreamsville, Both Feet, and Kaitlyn’s Waltz. Kaitlyn’s Waltz was voted Best Jazz CD of 1994 by The Jazz Report and one of the Top Ten Jazz CD releases by New York’s Village Voice. He was also voted Jazz Musician of the Year by the Toronto Star.
The Alex Dean Quintet in the last couple of years is a relatively new group of highly regarded Canadian jazz artists assembled to record and play original music by Alex – Brian Dickenson, Lorne Lofsky, Kieran Overs and Ted Warren. The Quintet’s latest recording opened to standing room only crowds at Toronto’s Rex Jazz Club in November and will be playing/promoting their newest C.D. at various Jazz Festivals this summer including a feature date at The Toronto Jazz Festival.
PAT LaBARBERA is one of Canada’s most respected jazz musicians. Before moving to Canada from the U.S. in 1974, Pat LaBarbera toured and recorded with the Buddy Rich Big Band, of which he was a member from 1967 to 1974. During that time he played in every major city in the U.S., Europe and Japan. He has performed on television shows such as Johnny Carson, Ed Sullivan, and Mike Douglas, and with many show business personalities such as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Dizzy Gillespie, and Ella Fitzgerald. Pat has performed and recorded consistently with Elvin Jones since 1975, playing major jazz festivals around the world. He has performed with other jazz artists such as Chick Corea, Woody Shaw, and McCoy Tyner.
He was the recipient of the 2000 Juno Award for his recording Deep in a Dream.
MATT BRUBECK is a composer/performer specializing in improvisation on the cello. Classically trained, with a Master’s in cello performance from Yale, Matt is at ease in multiple genres and has taken his cello improvisation skills into diverse musical territories. He also plays piano and bass.
Presently residing near Toronto, Matt performs with an array of jazz and improvising artists. Projects include Stretch Orchestra, a trio with guitarist Kevin Breit and percussionist Jesse Stewart. Stretch Orchestra’s eponymous CD won the 2012 JUNO Award for Best Instrumental Album of the Year. Matt is also a member of Ugly Beauties (a trio with pianist Marilyn Lerner and drummer Nick Fraser). Their critically acclaimed CD Ugly Beauties was released on the Ambience Magnetique label in May 2009. The trio performed at jazz festivals across Canada that summer. Additionally, Matt performs with with jazz pianist David Braid as the duo Brubeck Braid, Their 2007 CD, twotet/deuxtet was nominated for both a JUNO award and a National Jazz award in 2008. Brubeck Braid has toured Australia, China, Ontario, and Quebec.
MARK CHAMBERS is a conductor, cellist and early music specialist. He studied cello with Martha Gerschefski, Lubomir Georgiev and David Miller, and has performed extensively in the United States and Ontario as both a chamber musician and orchestral player.
At York, Dr. Chambers directs the York University Symphony Orchestra and the Baroque Ensemble. He performs in a piano trio with his faculty colleague Christina Petrowska Quilico and his wife Heather Chambers, and is also very active as a clinician and adjudicator throughout southern Ontario.
A former Theodore Presser Foundation Fellow, Dr. Chambers’ research interests include Baroque music, period instrument performance practice, the ‘Tartini Tone’, and scordatura, altered tunings for strings. He has authored several articles for the American String Teachers Journal and is a contributor to the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
Prior to his appointment at York, Dr. Chambers taught for nine years at Eastern Kentucky University, where he performed as a member of the Faculty Piano Trio and the Faculty String Quartet. He joined York’s Department of Music in 2005.
Toronto native RICHARD WHITEMAN is an extremely versatile player, fluent in styles ranging from the stride masters of the twenties, through Bud Powell and Bill Evans, to modern giants like Keith Jarrett and Herbie Hancock. As a leader, he has released five CDs (with a sixth on the way), and has received raves from as far away as Japan, where his “GROOVEYARD” disc was rated one of the Top 500 Jazz Piano Trio records of all time.
For over twenty years, Richard has performed at major Toronto jazz venues, and has also played with orchestras (The Canada Pops Orchestra) and big bands (including The Dave McMurdo Jazz Orchestra), in new music concerts (Hemispheres Music Projects), classical crossover groups (The Galaxy Trio) and musical theatre (“Forever Plaid”), and at countless “casual” engagements with Canada’s finest jazz musicians. He has also toured Canada with his trio and performed in Brazil, Egypt and San Antonio, Texas.
Some of the stellar musicians Richard has worked with are Don Thompson, Kenny Wheeler, Marcus Belgrave, Pat LaBarbera, Ken Peplowski, Nick Brignola, Ed Bickert, Jane Bunnett and Dutch Django-style star, Tim Kliphuis. As well as leading his own groups, Richard is a member of the The Al Henderson Quintet and is much in demand by vocalists, including John Alcorn, Jackie Richardson, Dee Daniels, Bonnie Brett and Heather Bambrick.
In addition to his busy club, corporate and touring schedule, Richard is also an educator, teaching jazz piano and leading ensembles at both Humber College and York University in Toronto.
After 36 years at the drums, BARRY ROMBERG has established himself as one of Canada’s most unique drumset stylists. Since leaving York University’s music program (and studying drumset w/ Stan Perry and Pete Magadini) Barry has gone on to work with some of Canada’s finest musicians, lead his own bands, accompany international artists, and has been featured on sixty recordings, including 13 CDs as a leader/co-leader. The Barry Romberg Group won the Alcan Jazz Competition (central region) in 1990; Barry won a Juno Award in 1991 for his participation in Brian Dickinson’s “In Transition” as well as five Juno nominations; in 2001 with Micheal Occhipinti’s Creation Dream project “Songs of Bruce Cockburn”, in 2002 with Chris Tarry’s “Of Battles Unknown Mysteries” and with Nojo’s “Highwire” in 2003, Nojo’s City Of Neighborhoods” in 2004 and David Buchbinders Shurum Burum Jazz Circus in 2005… THE MRC TRIO a collective group that Barry co-led was nominated for Best Electric Band at the National Jazz Awards in 2003 and Barry Romberg’s Random Access was nominated in 2005, 2006 and 2007 at the NJA for Best Electric Group. Barry was also nominated for Drummer of the Year for the 2006/2007 NJA. Over the years Barry has worked with the likes of; Gil Evans, Hank Jones, Joe Henderson, Don Pullen, Kenny Wheeler, Ritchie Bierach, Don Byron, Sam Rivers, George Garzone, Joanne Brackeen, Sonny Greenwich, Bill Mays, Metalwood, Rick Margitza, Mark Turner, Ray Anderson, Kenny Drew Jr, Roswell Rudd, Mark Murphy, Mark Whitfield, Eric Alexander, NOJO, Jane Bunnett, Holly Cole, Kirk McDonald, Dave Young, Don Thompson, Phil Dwyer, Moe Koffman, Bernie Senensky, Mike Murley, Lorne Lofsky, Peter Appleyard, Molly Johnson, Carol Wellsman, Guido Basso, Rob McConnell, Jeff Johnston, Hemispheres and The Shuffle Demons.
Latest News
Mary HendersonTime Warp – June 24, 2023 Toronto Jazz FestJune 21, 2023 - 3:43 pm
Time Warp – April 30, 2023April 28, 2023 - 4:41 pm
Faculty Concert Series: Al Henderson QuintetFebruary 8, 2023 - 4:37 pm
1990 Album – TIME WARP “Live at George’s Jazz Room”March 23, 2021 - 9:05 am
Al Henderson Quintet August 31, 2019April 29, 2019 - 5:55 pm
Latest CDs
TaigaMarch 16, 2017 - 10:31 am
RegenerationApril 3, 2017 - 5:23 pm
Fathers and SonsApril 3, 2017 - 5:44 pm
Urban LandscapeApril 4, 2017 - 6:34 am
