CONCERT AT THE BARN

The Music Of Joni Mitchell

Brian Barlow’s Big Band

The Band: John Johnson, Jake Koffman, Alex Dean, Perry White, Conrad Gluch (saxophones)

Jason Logue, Alexander Brown, Blair Yarranton, Brad Eaton

Jessie Brooks (French horn)

Russ Little, Kelsley Grant, Zack Smith (trombones)

Gordon Shear (piano), Mike Francis (guitar), Scott Alexander (bass), Brian Barlow (drums)

And, of course, the lovely and talented Laila Biali.

Brian is one of Canada’s most recorded musicians and has performed on over 500 recordings with a very diverse group of Canadian and international artists.

For seventeen years he was the percussionist with the internationally renowned jazz ensemble, Rob McConnell and The Boss Brass, during which time the band was nominated for six Grammy Awards, winning that prestigious honour in 1995. His concert performances have included work with: Herbie Hancock, Branford Marsalis, Diana Krall, Tony Bennett, Aretha Franklin, Harry Connick Jr., Charlie Watts and The Toronto Symphony Orchestra. For 20 years Brian was the Creative Director of the Prince Edward County Jazz Festival and has been the Artistic Director of the Jazz Vespers series at Christ Church Deer Park in Toronto since 1999. While best known as a drummer and percussionist Brian is also a busy arranger and producer.

Kris+Dee are Kris Abbott (The Pursuit of Happiness) and Dee McNeil (The Strap-Ons). Performing from a whisper to a roar songs from 4 albums, they are known widely as Kingston’s married philoso-folk duo.

“Quiet revolutionaries," “devastation in a pretty package” and “the super folk duo of our riot grrrl dreams” are descriptions as diverse as one would expect for two women from the fiddle-rich Ottawa Valley who came of age in the 70’s and 80’s and cut their musical teeth in pop-rock and punk bands. Hitting 1 million plays on Starbucks’ Worldwide Playlist, appearing on CBC Music’s Top Pick List, topping the Ontario and Maritime college and community radio charts, Kris+Dee have earned their way to main stage Canadian festival performances.

Called “one of Canada’s most compelling duos of the last decade” they are known for their honest, powerful and poetic songs, equally personal and universal, and for their Springsteen-esque reign within the Canadian musical landscape: trusted voices for the working class and academics, Millennials and Boomers, gendered and genderless, and everyone in between