The Andrew Greenwood Quintet and Quartet
The Andrew Greenwood Quintet is a straight-ahead jazz ensemble that plays original compositions written by each member of the band. It also performs the music of Herbie Hancock, the Jazz Messengers, Dexter Gordon, Wayne Shorter, Roy Hargrove, and other jazz greats. The members of the group are:
Andrew Greenwood - saxophone
Miguelito Valdes or Phil Hamelin - trumpet
John Lee or Kelby MacNayr - drums
Louis Rudner, Ross Macdonald, or Sean Drabitt - bass
Tony Genge or Brent Jarvis - piano
To listen to some of Andrew's original quintet compositions click on the link below.
Andrew also leads a quartet that features the same pianists, bassists, and drummers.
Miguelito Valdes
Trumpet
Described as one of Cuba’s most highly regarded trumpet players of his generation, Miguelito Valdes carries a rich history of performing with many of Cuba’s top performers, including the Cabaret Tropicana Orquesta, Pablo Milanes, Isaac Delgado, Mayito Rivera, Klimax, Chucho Valdes, and has participated in award-winning recordings such as “La Rumba Soy Yo”, which won a Latin Grammy in 2001.
In 2000, he began playing with Omara Portuondo (Buena Vista Social Club singer) with whom he traveled around the world for 6 years. He has also played with important jazz musicians abroad, including Michael Brecker, Herbie Hancock, John Patitucci, Danilo Perez, Wayne Shorter, and many others.
Miguelito was part of the renowned Afro Cuban All Stars from 2009 until he joined the Canadian forces as part of the Naden Band in 2012.
Since making Victoria his home, he has become very involved in the local music scene.
Phil Hamelin
Trumpet
Phil Hamelin is a trumpet/flugelhorn player and composer based in Victoria, BC. He is a member of Current Swell, Dope Soda, Downtown Mischief, and Galactic Mantis.
Brent Jarvis
Piano
Jarvis has given more than 1,000 performances and released 3 CDs to critical acclaim. He has taught Jazz Piano Ensemble and Jazz Musicianship at the Victoria Conservatory of Music and Camosun College, and is the founder of the Brent Jarvis Academy of Music that brings together some of Canada’s elite musicians and educators.
Louis Rudner
Bass
Louis Rudner has been laying diverse musical foundations for over a decade. A native of southeast Michigan, He took up the violin at the age of 8 and began studying classical music as well as American traditional music. Inspired by the energy of the music from the 1960’s beginning with Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and Santana, Louis took up the electric bass to experiment with and explore a different sound palette. He went on to study the Double Bass under Rodney Whitaker, earning a Bachelors and Masters degree in Jazz Performance at Michigan State University.
Louis has moved to Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. He is performing, teaching, and developing several creative projects at this time.
Sean Drabitt
Bass
Born in Vancouver and raised in Victoria, Sean Drabitt has earned a reputation as a world class jazz bass player. Spending most of the ’90’s in the vibrant jazz scenes of New York and New Orleans, he was able to work with many of the top names in jazz, including Mark Turner, Kurt Rosenwinkel, all the Marsalis family, Betty Carter, Mike Stern, Greg Tardy, Aaron Goldberg, Eric Harland and many others. He’s also performed on records with Jason Marsalis and Nicholas Payton. Sean’s played in over 40 countries and spent a year teaching bass at two colleges in Seoul, Korea. His most recent projects include his Jaco Pastorius tribute band and Vancouver’s Hip-hop fusion funksters Namedropper.
Kelby MacNayr
Drums
Drummer / composer / band-leader Kelby MacNayr performs groundbreaking original music, soulful swinging jazz, reaching contemporary music and traditional music from around the world. A dynamic and creative musician MacNayr performs in Canada and abroad with leading musicians from New York, Seattle, Portland, Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto & Europe. A faculty member of the renowned Jazz Port Townsend Festival under director John Clayton, staff at the Lionel Hampton International Jazz Festival, Kelby is continually reinventing himself as a performer, composer and educator. In November 2013 the Kelby MacNayr Quintet released the much-anticipated album The Measure of Light featuring Phil Dwyer, Dan Lapp, Miles Black & Tom Wakeling. Recent concert highlights include performances with Larry Fuller, John Clayton, George Colligan, Geoffrey Keezer and more!
John Lee
Drums
Raised in Nanaimo BC, John Lee is one of the most respected and acclaimed young jazz musicians nationwide. After showing great interest in music at a young age, Lee developed into a virtuoso by his late teens and by the time Lee completed his high school studies he had received a remarkable amount of recognition by prominent jazz musicians in Canada and earned an impressive array of awards, scholarships and honors from Envision Jazz Festival, MusicFest Canada and Lionel Hampton Jazz Festival. Through the recommendation of Ingrid Jensen (Terri Lyne Carrington, Maria Schneider Orchestra) and Christian Fabian (Lionel Hampton Big Band, Jason Marsalis), Lee applied to the prestigious Berklee College of Music and received a full tuition and housing scholarship. Lee completed his undergraduate studies in May 2016 and received a Bachelor of Music in Performance. In addition to his academic training in Boston, Lee was mentored by world-renowned jazz educators Dave Santoro, Terri Lyne Carrington, Ralph Peterson Jr., and John Clayton. After relocating back to Canada and residing in Victoria BC, Lee has become an in-demand musician for accompanying visiting artists and has had opportunities to perform with artists such as Buster Williams, Rudy Royston, George Colligan and Misha Piatigorsky.John Lee has shared the stage with international jazz artists such as Cyrus Chestnut, Larry Fuller, Seamus Blake, Terell Stafford, Ingrid Jensen as well as prominent Canadian jazz artists and educators Phil Dwyer, Christine Jensen, Ryan Oliver, Brad Turner, Neil Swainson and David Restivo.
