Jazz Trio Ottawa

The Ottawa Jazz Trio Page - Wedding receptions & corporate events - East Side Jazz

I can put you in touch with some excellent musicians that would do a great job for your event

East Side Trio - or the Quartet - are perfect accompaniments for weddings receptions and corporate events.

When you don't want a loud, intrusive band during your wedding cocktails and dinner, our music is perfect. We specialize wedding receptions and corporate events by providing the kind of music that will not intrude on your guests' conversations but will provide great and memorable background music. Our repertoire contains many of the great jazz tunes that people will remember for years to come. In addition we also have many of the great pop tunes from the 1950's to the 1980's that will keep your guests humming along. We play a mainstream jazz style that emphasizes the melody and rhythmic aspects of the tunes.

If space is limited and cost is an issue but you still want to hear a live musician

Additionally, if you want to continue with live dance music all night long, I can provide larger groups up to a full 18-piece jazz dance band - the great sounds of a big band can't be beat for a dance.

The East Side Quartet cd - 'The Original CD' is available. We'll have copies at all our gigs and I'll post tunes from the recording below from time to time. If you would like a copy of the cd, contact me through my email links on this page

The project - 'Celebrating the Music of Gerry Mulligan' - is ready to go and we performed at the 2010 Ottawa Jazz Festival. Click Celebrating the music of Gerry Mulligan to go to my Mulligan page. Lots of info there for you along with some sound clips.

I can also send my Electronic Promotion Kit - EPK - from my Sonicbids site by email to anyone who prefers band information in this format.

We are also getting great airplay from other radio streaming sources as well including tunes recently picked up by mvyradio.com in Martha's Vineyard

And here's another station that has picked up our tunes to air - MusicToGoUSA.com

While most of our bookings are private functions, I post public gigs for all the groups further down on this page.

Comments from our audience - "your music made my evening", "thanks very much, really enjoyed the music", "you guys were great, thanks". "Your trio is exceptional.", "you guys are amazing, thank you". "...thank you for the fine music. Many people expressed their admiration. I will certainly recommend you in the future."

"...thinking of sending you a note thanking you for last night. Everyone loved your music, and had very positive comments. Excellent." L.S.

" Kudos your way...Everyone I spoke to loved your band, and remarked on how you brought something special...a wonderful ambiance. Thank you. If you are available, we would like to book you for next year! I will most definitely recommend you to friends and colleagues...you were fantastic!" J.W.

And, regarding our quartet CD -

Greetings!

The Original CD arrived, and it is inscribed too--how thoughtful of you. I played it within minutes. VERY nice and an excellent quality recording indeed! The electronically processed sax in "Squeaky Beach" caught my attention. It's a puzzle how you did that, and it sure sounds good. The East Side Quartet is a first class act for sure.

Many thanks,

Pete

" No hesitation about booking you and your group(s), you're awesome." - Elliott Smith, Magician, - for a superb magic show that will keep you completely entertained and amazed click here See The Magic to go to Elliott's web site.

I'm based in Ottawa, Ontario and the small group name comes from the fact that I live just about as far east as you can get and still be in the city of Ottawa!

The Ottawa International Jazz Festival, Parliament Hill, Ottawa Congress Centre, National Arts Centre, Chateau Montebello, Chateau Laurier Hotel, Marriott Hotel, Westin Hotel, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Museum of Civilization, War Museum, Metropolitain Restaurant, NAV Centre in Cornwall, Greyhawk Golf Club, Camelot Golf Club, Britannia Yacht Club, Army Officers Mess, Navy Officers Mess, Air Force Officers Mess, Bean Town Ranch, Royal Canadian Mint, LCBO and Restaurant Eighteen as well as at many private venues for events such as birthday celebrations, wedding receptions and corporate functions & parties.

I would be happy to talk to you about booking any of the groupings, please click here to email me or phone me at 613.833.3509 and I'll send along our listing of tunes by email as well.

Upcoming dates: email me for additional information on these dates/locations. 2011 - I only post public bookings here

2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010 were excellent years for 'East Side Jazz'. In addition to the public gigs, some listed here, we played many private functions - from wedding receptions to corporate events. I'd like to take this opportunity to thanks everyone who hired 'East Side Jazz' in one form or another thus contributing to our memorable year. I'm looking forward to an even busier and better 2011.

If your company or group is considering having jazz at your Christmas function, it's never too early to book.

2011... looks like another great year for East Side jazz groups.

A few of our previous public gigs:

In addition to the many private parties and wedding receptions here's a short list of past public gigs. I want to also thank the many corporate, government and individual clients who booked the trio, quartet and dance band for private functions during the year.

March and April 2010 - East Side Quartet performed at Knox Fine Dining in Moose Creek - a bit east of Ottawa, just west of hwy 38 that runs from hwy 417 to Cornwall. An easy drive from Ottawa.

July 2010 - We performed our 'Celebrating the Music of Gerry Mulligan' concert at the Ottawa Jazz Festival. This septet consists of Shinya Sato, piano; Paul Soble, bass; Mike McNeil, drums; Art Katona, trombone, Jean Trudel, trumpet, Rob Joanis, tenor sax and me on baritone sax. This was a great concert performance of a number of Mulligan tunes in a pianoless quartet format as well as in a quintet, sextet and septet grouping. We are developing this concert for other venues and hope to be performing the music of Gerry Mulligan in the Ottawa area and beyond over the next couple of years. Click here to go to the Gerry Mulligan page for more information.

East Side Quartet at Knox Fine Dining in Moose Creek on Dec 5/09. Knox Fine Dining is in Moose Creek, a bit east of Ottawa, just west of hwy 138 which runs from hwy 417 to Cornwall. An easy drive from Ottawa.

November 21/09 - East Side Trio was booked for a return to the "Goode Grapes' fundraiser in Osgoode. A roomful of people having a great time with the wine tasting, auctions and more.

East Side Quartet performed at Greenfields Pub, 900 Greenbank Rd, Barrhaven on Sunday, July/09 , with a full house and it was a great evening.

East Side Quartet performed at the 2009 Ottawa Jazz Festival. We were on the Rendezvous Rideau stage [in the Rideau Centre] on Saturday, June 27 at 2:00pm. This was our fourth year we've played at the festival and we had a great time once again. Dave Jones sat in on guitar for this gig since Garnett was on a trip out of the country.

East Side Quartet at Bass Line Station, Friday March/09, 2557 Baseline, - just east of Greenbank. We played a couple of sets featuring many original tunes along with some not-so-standard jazz tunes. The quartet includes Garnet Picot on guitar, Paul Soble on bass and Mike McNeil on drums.

Acoustic Flight performed at the Cabana Supper Club [formerly the New Bayou], 1077 Bank St at Sunnyside, on January, May and June 2009. This was in our non-jazz format with tunes by Tower Of Power, Average White Band, Blues Bros, Chicago, Blood Sweat & Tears, James Brown, Doobie Bros and...well you get the idea. It was a great night for dancing and for just having a good time for all our fans of this music - see the Acoustic Flight page for set list.

November 29/08 - East Side Trio performed for the "Goode Grapes' fundraiser in Osgoode. A roomful of people having a great time with the wine tasting, auctions and more. Paul O'Connor on piano and Paul Klazek on bass. We'll be back again in 2009 for this event - November 21/09.

November 5/08 - East Side Trio played at the Sun Life Centre in downtown Ottawa. The trio for this booking consisted of Garnett Picot on guitar and Tom Denison on bass along with me on tenor sax.

September 19 and 20/08, East Side Trio at the LCBO main store at King Edward and Rideau St. A special promotion of Ontario wines with local artists displaying works as well as food samples prepared by local chefs.

May 23 and 24/08, Cafe Paradiso: East Side Quartet performed on Friday and Saturday nights May 23 and 24 at the Cafe Paradiso - Ottawa's premier jazz club. Garnett Picot - guitar, Paul Soble - bass, Mike McNeil - drums. The same quartet that played the Ottawa Jazz Festival in June.

East Side Quartet was booked for the 2008 Ottawa International Jazz Festival. We performed on the Rendezvous Rideau stage in the Rideau Centre at 12 noon on June 29. The quartet consisted of Garnett Picot on guitar, Paul Soble on bass and Mike McNeil on drums along with me on tenor and alto.

East Side Trio performed at the World Exchange Plaza for a noon hour concert on Thursday, July 31. Garnett Picot - guitar and Paul Soble - bass, will be joining me for this concert.

East Side Quartet performed for the closing reception of the Languages Canada conference at the National Arts Centre on March 6, 2008.

Acoustic Flight played for the Easter Seals Charity Ball on November 2007 at the Congress Centre.

East Side Quartet at the 2007 Ottawa Jazz Festival. The quartet consisted of: Pierre Vaillancourt - piano, Tom Denison - bass, Paul Wright - drums, and myself on tenor.

Metropolitain Restaurant - the trio had a 2006 summer gig each Wed/Thurs/Fri in the courtyard and it was great.

Eighteen [18 York St.] - East Side Trio performed for dinner/drinks at this fine restaurant in the Byward Market area of Ottawa from September 2005 to July 2006.

Ottawa International Jazz Festival 2006 - East Side Quartet performed at the Ottawa International Jazz Festival on Monday June 26

Recorded material

I hope these tunes provide a flavour of what our mainstream brand of jazz can provide for your function:

The East Side Quartet CD is called 'The Original CD'. It is a demo that contains five of my tunes along with an alternate take of Squeaky Beach, six tracks for about 33 minutes in all. The full cd is available and you can contact me at this email address to get a copy. The cost is $10 to cover costs including mailing. The tunes on the cd were recorded over two evenings in November 2008 and is the result of many people asking for a recording of our music. Garnett, Paul and Mike have done a great job on my tunes and I appreciate their work on this project.

From the cd, this is Eight By Eight. Eight By Eight is a nice gentle tune that moves between Latin and swing styles. And here's another with a very different feel. This tune has a quirky funky/shuffle feel to it and utilizes some electronics in parts. I hope you enjoy Squeaky Beach

NEW - Here is a live recording done during a booking in April 2011 of All of Me. The quartet consists of Albert Kaprielian on piano, Ron Rancourt on drums and Paul Soble on bass.

Here's a sampling of original tunes that I have written over the past few years. These are recordings of the tune and a chorus or two of soloing just to get an idea of the tune. The quartet in these recordings consists of bass, drums and piano instead of guitar. Clients frequently ask what the difference is and this will give you a sense of the difference in sound of the group when I play with either the piano or guitar in the quartet/trio.

Rain And Ten Its A Seasonal Thing Eight By Eight Squeaky Beach

and here's a rough 1st take on a newer tune - In Search

Here's Cape Verdean Blues with me on baritone sax with East Side Five.