Part of the residency Nick Fraser Presents
Southern Cross
"1st set: Kae Murphy solo (trumpet and electronics) Kae Murphy (they/him) is a Grammy-nominated trumpet player and multi-instrumentalist originally from Owen Sound, ON. Now based in Toronto, they have been touring worldwide with groups such as BADBADNOTGOOD, Whitney, and the Generations Unit, playing venues such as the Blue Note NY, Newport Jazz Festival, and Coachella Valley Music Festival.
2nd set: Nick Fraser's Special Topics Nick Fraser, Kae Murphy, Max Stover, Josh Cole.
Nick Fraser (drums) has been an active and engaging presence in the Toronto new jazz and improvised music community since he moved there from Ottawa in 1995. ""Fraser not so much plays the drums as hurls himself whole body and soul against skin and metal... truly talented."" -Bill Stunt, CBC Radio.
Maxwell Stover is a saxophonist. He also plays flute. He is living in Toronto. And he usually is making music about things he thinks are beautiful or terrible. For example, plastic. Or else maybe fruit. Oh! —usually Maxwell speaks out of the traditions of jazz. Or outsider music. Usually with others he is grateful to be sharing space with.
Since moving to Toronto in 2010 Josh Cole (bass) has worked with Colin Fisher, Brodie West, Nick Fraser, Ryan Driver, Robin Dann (Bernice), Thom Gill and Prince Nifty amongst others. “Cole can be coolly lyrical, he can write a controlled “classical” counterpoint, he can drop in some funk, and he can also let the improvisers loose in the stratosphere.” -Popmatters.com"
NICK FRASER PRESENTS (JAZZ, IMPROVISED MUSIC): Nick Fraser has been an active and engaging presence in the Toronto new jazz and improvised music community since he moved there from Ottawa in 1995. He works with and presents with a veritable “who’s who” of Canadian jazz and improvised music.
Downbeat Magazine: “Drummer Nick Fraser is a long-time staple of the Toronto jazz scene— and for good reason. Not only is he a tremendously creative player, equally at home with free-form improvisation and standard bop-style jazz, he’s also a remarkably attentive listener. -JD Considine
Wholenote Magazine: “In his 20 years in Toronto, Nick Fraser has become first-choice drummer for numerous bandleaders ranging from the post-bop mainstream to free improvisation. He’s done it with aggressive musicality and consistently inventive drumming, combining drive and subtlety.” -Stuart Broomer
JAZZIZ Magazine: An Ottawa native, Fraser lives in Toronto, where he has established himself as a leading voice in that city’s improvised music community. A subtle, highly collaborative and original percussionist, Fraser deserves a much larger audience. His compositions are as diverse as his playing, filled with motivic cells that overlap and merge, studded with rhythmic devices. -James Hale