bandleader bio - andrew downing

Andrew's most recent musical project is a seven member chamber ensemble in which Andrew's cello is joined by Aleksandar Gajic (violin), Joe Phillips (double bass), Kevin Turcotte (trumpet), William Carn (trombone), Peter Lutek (bassoon and clarinet) and David Occhipinti (guitar). The group will be releasing a CD in April of 2010 called Silents which features music written to accompany the silent films The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Impossible Voyage. The group has performed the score to Caligari recently as a part of the NUMUS concert series in Waterloo, and will be performing at The Tranzac in Toronto in April to officially release the recording.

His former group, Great Uncles of the Revolution, won him two West Coast Music Awards, The Grand Prix de Jazz from the Montreal Jazz Festival and a Juno Award for their second album 'Blow The House Down'. That group featured West Coasters Jesse Zubot and Steve Dawson on violin and slide guitar, Toronto's Kevin Turcotte on trumpet and Andrew on double bass. The group toured extensively througout Canada and abroad between 2000 and 2005.

Andrew's first two albums feature his group Attention Span, a jazz/rock ensemble featuring Kevin Turcotte, Kenny Kirkwood, Justin Haynes and Anthony Michelli. They released two albums, 'Campfiresongs' and 'Beard of Bees' in 1998 and 2000 respectively.