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Dan Fortin
Dan Fortin was born and raised in Peterborough, Ontario. His eclectic tastes and stylistic flexibility have led to work with a wide variety of artists in the jazz, rock and pop worlds, including Bernice, The Allison Au Quartet, Queer Songbook Orchestra, Emilie-Claire Barlow, Aline’s étoile magique, John Southworth, Serena Ryder, July Talk, Devon Sproule, Mike O’Neill, Laila Biali, Bryn Roberts, Mike Murley, Nicky Schrire, David Occhipinti, Tara Davidson, Harley Card, Michael Davidson, Alex Goodman, Zoon, and many others. He’s been lucky enough to play at a number of great venues, including Cafe Oto, 55 Bar, Smalls, SFJAZZ Center, the Monterey Jazz Festival, Sunset/Sunside, JazzDock, Jamboree, Jimmy Glass, Koerner Hall, and the Tranzac.
Dan is a co-leader of the trio MYRIAD3, along with pianist Chris Donnelly and drummer Ernesto Cervini. Together, they’ve released five albums for Alma Records: Tell (2012), The Where (2014 – Juno nominee), Tell((Chip)) (2015 – Donnelly’s electronic reimagining of their debut record), Moons, (2016), and Vera (2018.) They have undertaken several tours of Canada, the USA, Europe, and Japan, including performances at the Tokyo Jazz Festival and Ronnie Scott’s International Piano Trio Festival (London, UK.)
In 2015, Dan released BRINKS, his debut album as a leader on Fresh Sound/New Talent Records. The critically acclaimed record features his long time collaborators David French, Michael Davidson, and Fabio Ragnelli, and includes 10 of his songs.
His most recent release is The Latest Tech, an album of music for solo double bass, released on Elastic Recordings, the imprint he started with vibraphonist Michael Davidson.
Dan is on faculty at the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Music, where he teaches bass in the Jazz Studies department.
In 2001, Dan scored 996,000 points in a single trick combo in Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 (Sony Playstation, no cheat codes.)
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Aline Homzy: éclipse
by Pierre Giroux
An adage goes: “Patience Is A Virtue." That saying may be perfectly exemplified with the release of violin virtuoso Aline Homzy's recording Éclipse, which has been ten years in the making. This Canadian-American artist's long-awaited debut combines the jazz violin tradition into the contemporary world with improvisation and subtle composition. Joining Homzy under the rubric of “Aline's étoile magique" are vibraphonist Michael Davidson, guitarist Thom Gil, bassist Dan Fortin and Marito Marques on drums. Special guests are João Frade on ...
read moreAline’s étoile magique: éclipse
by Mike Jurkovic
Whether 23andMe.com, MyHeritage.com, or ancestry.com can positively divine gypsy blood in award-winning, Canadian violinist Aline Homzy is conceptually and musically neither here nor there. What is important is that she jumps from the gate on her robust debut recording with a zesty momentum which she mightily sustains throughout. Homzy, who has no problem mixing it up with any of Canada's musical vanguard, (guitarist & composer David Occhipinti, creative bassist Andrew Downing, the folky Weather Station, or pianist Amanda ...
read moreNicky Schrire: Nowhere Girl
by Dan Bilawsky
The search for identity is a sine qua non of any artist's experience and development. But for a musician like Nicky Schrire, it goes much deeper than most. Born in London, raised in South Africa, studying and entering the professional ranks in New York and working back through her initial points of origin before relocating to Toronto in 2020, this noted vocalist-composer has established herself as a globetrotter of the first order. Stylistically, as with geography, Schrire hits multiple points ...
read moreDan McCarthy: Songs of the Doomed: Some Jaded, Atavistic Freakout
by Dan Bilawsky
Songs of the Doomed is, in essence, the love child of self-stylized journalism and outré composition methodologies. Drawing inspiration from the work of Hunter S. Thompson, vibraphonist Dan McCarthy created the gonzo cypher to help translate some of the maverick's writer's lines into tone rows. The rules of serialism then cemented certain things in place while setting the leader and his bandmates on a course to another universe. Working with a two-guitar quintet, à la mallet great ...
read moreKarl Silveira: A Porta Aperta
by Dan McClenaghan
Toronto-based trombonist Karl Silveira opens his debut recording, A Porta Aperta, with no ego at all. The disc spins into life with “Nymark Plaza," featuring an arrangement which allows the rhythm section—pianist Chris Pruden, bassist Dan Fortin, with Nico Dann on drums—a good deal of room to stretch out after a brief beginning of understated harmony from the leader, and alto saxophonist Allison Au. The piano, bass and drums ease into an off-center, Andrew Hill-like rumination before the leader re-enters ...
read moreDaniel Fortin: Brinks
by Dave Wayne
Toronto-based bassist Daniel Fortin is best known for his work in MYRIAD3, a dynamic, forward-looking piano trio whose work superficially resembles that of The Bad Plus and the Esbjörn Svensson Trio in that they're young guys in a piano trio who don't play jazz the way most piano trios play jazz. Fortin's solo debut, Brinks is just as forward-looking as MYRIAD3, though his musical persona seems a quite a bit more introspective. Sort of in the ECM mold, but not ...
read moreDan Fornero: Not So Old School
by Nicholas F. Mondello
Fornax--now there's a word you probably haven't heard since sophomore Latin class--if ever. It translates as “oven"-- words such as “furnace," al forno and--use your imagination for another example--are derivatives. Whether or not his surname emanates from ancient lingo, one thing is certain: trumpeter Dan Fornero's Not So Old School is indeed both contemporary and burnt-tongue delicious. Well-known by way of his globe-trotting work with Phil Collins, the Brian Setzer Orchestra, Neil Diamond and present status as ...
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Music
Bientot, We Will Collide
From: éclipseBy Dan Fortin
Traveler
From: Nowhere GirlBy Dan Fortin
Love Is For The Birds
From: Nowhere GirlBy Dan Fortin
Hell's Angels
From: Songs of the Doomed: Some...By Dan Fortin
Rye & Lilacs
From: A Porta ApertaBy Dan Fortin
