Born: December 5, 1973 Primary Instrument: Sax, alto
Cory Weeds pretty much covers every role on the Vancouver jazz scene - musician, record producer, radio host, agent, record label owner and jazz club owner. Weeds was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia by a musical family and attended both Capilano College and the University of North Texas before returning home to persue his career as a professional musician. In 2000 Weeds took a leap of faith and bought the Cellar Jazz Club and turned it into Vancouver's only full time jazz club. The club has showcased the best Canadian and international talent but Weeds is most proud of providing a place for local musicians to play. Being a musician himself, Weeds has earned the respect of local musicians and the audience and has turned the Cellar Jazz Club and Restaurant into one of the city's favourite and hippest live music venues.
In 2001, after listening to night after night of inspiring, Weeds released a compilation of live performances at the club. Inspired by rave reviews from this release, Weeds intended to release more compilations but instead turned to released full albums recorded live at the club. His record label, Cellar Live, was born and to date has released 15 albums. Weeds' experience as a jazz working jazz musician in his own groups as well as a sideman have helped him hone his skills for producing, innovative, exciting and influential jazz records. His talents as a producer were recognized with a nomination for Producer of the Year in 2002, 2003, and 2004 at the National Jazz Awards.
The label features jazz legends Charles MacPherson, David 'Fathead' Newman and Lonnie Smith however its biggest accomplishment has been show casing the local talent. Vancouver stalwarts Oliver Gannon, Bruno Hubert, Sharon Minemoto, Chad Makela, and James Danderfer have all their debut recordings on this label.
As a musician Weeds co-leads local funksters Crash and the hard bop jazz ensemble the Weeds/Minemoto Quartet. He has also performed with Hugh Fraser, The Jill Townsend Big Band and groups lead by Chris Gestrin, Bill Coon and Denzal Sinclaire.
