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Adrean Farrugia
Adrean has performed and recorded with some of jazz’s greatest and most diverse artists including: Ernie Watts, Adam Nussbaum, Larry Carlton, Curtis Fuller, Tom Scott, Bob Brookmeyer, Randy Brecker, Eric Alexander Cyrille Aimee, Molly JOhnson, Jane Bunnett, Ron Blake, Joel Frahm, Matt Penman, Dafnis Prieto, Kinan Azmeh, Brad Goode, Kenny Wheeler, Darcy James Argue, Don Thompson, Lorne Lofsky, Kevin Turcotte, and Pat LaBarbera.
As a leader, Adrean has released three albums. His second, Ricochet was nominated for a 2011 JUNO award for best contemporary jazz recording. As a composer, he has penned more than 30 works to date. Most recently his compositions appear on the 2018 release Adrean Farrugia/Joel Frahm: Blued Dharma - duos recorded over one session at Tedesco Studios in August of 2017.
As an educator, Adrean is currently on the faculty of Mohawk College where he teaches contemporary piano, ensembles and improvisation. He has also served on the faculties of York University and Humber College. He has been a clinician and workshop leader at the University of Colorado, University of Toronto, the University of Western Ontario, The Banff Centre fot eh arts, The Sydney and Brisbane Conservatories, and in Warsaw Poland as part of the Polish Jazz Society’s 35th annual Summer Jazz Workshop. He is a four-time panelist and performer at the Conference on World Affairs in Boulder Colorado, and a contributing writer to piano guru Larry Fine’s publication “The Piano Book”.
Adrean Farrugia is a Shigeru Kawai artist.
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Ernesto Cervini's Turboprop: A Canadian Songbook
by Dan McClenaghan
Toronto-based drummer, Ernesto Cervini has a “T" theme going with the groups he leads. There is the funky, forward-thinking Tetrahedron. Then we have the terrific trio (bass, drums and saxophone) TuneTown. And the third: Turboprop, presenting their fourth album, A Canadian Songbook, which digs into the musical soul of their home turf. Turboprop is a sextet with a powerhouse three-horn front line, featuring three of Canada's finest, Tara Davidson on alto saxophone, Joel Frahm on tenor saxophone, and ...
read morePeter Campbell: Old Flames Never Die
by Dan Bilawsky
There's a “square peg, round hole" problem holding vocalist Peter Campbell back in the renown department. He doesn't fall into the resounding soul-stirrer category, à la Gregory Porter, the bop poet-philosopher niche, ruled by Kurt Elling, the pure experimentalist's camp, typified by Theo Bleckmann, the neo-soul realm, occupied by José James, the group-minded singer-songwriter space(s), elevated by artists like New York Voices' Peter Eldridge, or any number of other fairly clear-cut categories. The world of male vocalists is, perhaps, the ...
read moreErnesto Cervini's Turboprop: Abundance
by Dan McClenaghan
Delve into Toronto-based drummer Ernesto Cervini's discography and you find an artist who seems to be trying to be a force for good in the world. His CD releases feature his Ernesto Cervini Quartet, MEM3, Myraid3, and Turboprop (and others, for he is prolific). His is a sound that brims with buoyancy, whether it's a trio outing or a sextet. Abundance is the Turboprop sextet's third outing. The group could be considered Cervini's nod to the Art Blakey ...
read moreAdrean Farrugia: Blued Dharma
by Franz A. Matzner
The duet outing Blued Dharma by pianist Adrean Farrugia and tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm is a nuanced affair suitable as background to a quiet evening but also worthy of closer reading. The title track epitomizes the whole. Contemplative, balanced, subtly blended, tonally stolid, inviting, consequential. Throughout the following seven pieces, the pattern of ruminative exchange continues. Farrugia and Frahm exhibit patient thematic development and fluid, comfortable interaction. Far from a cutting contest, the music reverberates with a common ...
read moreAdrean Farrugia / Joel Frahm: Blued Dharma
by Anya Wassenberg
Long time collaborators and bandmates Adrean Farrugia and Joel Frahm explore the musical possibilities of jazz piano and saxophone on Blued Dharma with a playful and melodic take. The release offers an intriguing variety of expression and approaches. In “Blued Dharma," the title track, the two instruments wind in and around each other in melodic abandon. Frahm is a gifted player who can wring an endless melodic variety out of any chord progression. The songs, all written by ...
read moreAdrean Farrugia/Joel Frahm: Blued Dharma
by Dan McClenaghan
Blued Dharma, a duet outing by pianist Adrean Farrugia and tenor and soprano saxophonist Joel Frahm, opens with the title tune, a simpatico, lighter-than-air composition. The instrumentalists banter and extemporize, bat ideas back and forth and explore melodic main roads and sideroads. So it is for the full album of inspired interplay. Having played together for nearly a decade in Toronto-based drummer Ernesto Cervini's various bands, the duo has formed a symbiotic camaraderie, a smooth as velvet give ...
read moreErnesto Cervini's Turboprop: Rev
by Dan McClenaghan
The Toronto-based septet Turboprop serves, in part, as an arrangement-expanding vehicle for drummer/leader Ernesto Cervini. With his work in two ongoing, outstanding trio's—MEM3 and Myriad3—Cervini helps shape modernist jazz in the piano trio mode. Turboprop, with its three horn front line—two saxophones and a trombone—gets the chance to stretch his arranging chops, with Rev, the group's sophomore effort. Cervini is a guy who wears his joy on his sleeve. His approach—with Turboprop especially—is busy, orchestral. It is not ...
read more"Pianist Adrean Farrugia is in superb form..." - Downbeat Magazine, January 2010
"Pianist Adrean Farrugia's disc reflects an epxansive musical vision and the talent and craft to combine elements from a range of influences" - Peter Hum, The Ottawa Citizen.
"A gifted pianist. His approach is an intelligent synthesis of styles." - Harvey Pekar
"... Farrugia is a young veteran, a first call sideman who's performed on numerous albums. His excellent CD debut as leader features a forceful, percussive style, fast developing ideas and a wide-ranging composer's imgination" - Geoff Chapman, Toronto Star.
Photos
Music
Skeletons
From: A Canadian SongbookBy Adrean Farrugia
Stars
From: Old Flames Never DieBy Adrean Farrugia
Gordian Knot
From: Play On WordsBy Adrean Farrugia
Not With A Wimp But A Banker
From: Play On WordsBy Adrean Farrugia
My Shining Hour
From: AbundanceBy Adrean Farrugia
Half Moon (For Sophia)
From: Blued DharmaBy Adrean Farrugia
Granada Bus
From: RevBy Adrean Farrugia
The Windup
From: TurbopropBy Adrean Farrugia
