BORJONER: MEET THE BAND
I have the pleasure of playing with the most wonderful humans on a regular basis, and I thought it might be nice to share a little more about them.
ROBIN TUFTS is a drummer, percussionist, improviser and dance accompanist. Robin is very active in the Calgary jazz community, playing and recording with his own Trio Velocity, The Lorna MacLachlan Group, The Northern Lights Jazz Quartet, MAPL, Andrea Petrity, and Mark DeJong. Other performing and accompanying credits include, the Celtic group Seanachie, the klezmer band Klezmerovitz, flamenco guitarist Peter Knight, poet Sheri-d Wilson, Lynn Miles, Bob Day, Guido Basso, Alberta Ballet, Decidedly Jazz Dance, Dancers Studio West and Stage West. For over 20 years, Robin has been the group leader of accompanists for the Program of Dance at the University of Calgary. In the past five years, Robin has begun a re-exploration of his life-long passion for spontaneous improvisation. This has led to “Music for Soup”, a series of house concerts featuring performances of spontaneous duets with musical guests Keith Smith, Simon Fisk, Raulito Tabera, Peter Clark, Mark DeJong, Bill Horist, Austin Tufts and Jeremy Brown to date. The Music for Soup project has resulted in the release of seven self-produced limited edition CDs.
SIMON FISK is a bassist, mad scientist and coffee lover. He is a Calgary, Alberta musician whose recording credentials have been extensive over the past 30 years, including work with Jerry Granelli, Chris Gestrin, Mark DeJong, Robin Tufts, Sheldon Zandboer and many more. Fisk had a long run as bassist with acclaimed Canadian pianist Michael Kaeshammer, performing with Kaeshammer, as well as his own trio, all over the world. He is also a regular feature with famed drummer Jerry Granelli, collaborating on 4 albums. His debut outing Trainwrecks (2002) and his fifth outing You and Yours (2007) were both nominated as the outstanding jazz recording for the WCMA awards in their respective years. Most recently, he has developed a highly sought after business creating in-ear monitors for musicians all over the world, known as Plunge Audio, which has recently expanded to a new space off Memorial Dr and Edmonton Trail NE.
www.simonfisk.com and www.plungeaudio.com
SHELDON ZANDBOER is piano man, educator, author and mentor. Specializing in jazz piano, he has worked behind the scenes on many recordings, theatre projects, songwriting projects, jazz concerts, sound design, and film soundtracks. Sheldon has also performed globally since 1975 which makes him out to be one of the most sought after keyboard player/pianists across the music community. Sheldon has performed before Queen Elizabeth, as well as the other members of the British Royal Family, international dignitaries and Heads of State on 4 continents. When well-known acts come through Calgary, Sheldon is consistently called upon to perform with them. He has played with jazz artists such as Holly Cole, Sam Noto, Guido Basso, PJ Perry, Campbell Ryga, Kirk McDonald, Del Dako, Bobby Shew, Lee Konitz, Vern Dorge, Madeleine Eastman, and Phil Nimmons. He has also performed with pop artists such as Michael Burgess (Le Miserables, Phantom of the Opera), the Canadian Tenors, and served as Music Director for Bob Newhart show at the Jubilee Auditorium. You can usually find him collaborating with Calgary vocalist, Johanna Silaanpa as well as other local musicians, however, he has recently released a long-awaited solo album of original material titled Tipping Velvet on Chronograph Records, which has been nominated for YYCMA Jazz Recording of the year for 2019. www.sheldonzandboer.com