ABOUT
Guitarist and composer born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia in 1980, Nathan began studying guitar at age 12 with a family friend and then later with Ross Anderson, a disciple of George Benson, at the Halifax Folklore Centre. At 15 he met alto saxophonist and Dalhousie music professor Don Palmer and was introduced to the jazz of Lee Konitz, Lennie Tristano, and John Coltrane. After listening to Lenny Breau, he started to hear other great Canadian jazz guitarists like Sonny Grenwich, Ed Bickert, and Lorne Lofsky. Soon after moving to Toronto at age 18 he began performing with drummer Norman Marshall Villeneuve and pianist / hammond organist Bernie Senensky. He has since been recognized as an important voice on the Canadian guitar. Nathan studied with Canadian jazz icons like Don Thomposon, Alex Dean, and Rob McConnell of the Boss Brass. In 2014 Nathan was honoured to perform posthumously with McConnell’s Mighty Boss Brass at Koerner Hall in Toronto.
Nathan is a skilled performer having held residencies with his groups at The Rex Hotel, The Senator Restaurant, The Jazz Bistro, and in Toronto’s thriving theater district at Joe Mama’s for over 9 years. His groups feature music from the classic jazz guitar tradition, the great American songbook, and the great Hammond B3 organ trios and quartets. Nathan is also an accomplished solo guitarist, holding a residency at Motel in Toronto’s Parkdale strip for over 5 years. In this capacity Nathan has explored the solo work of master jazz guitarists like Lenny Breau, Joe Pass, and pianist Bill Evans alongside great South American guitarists like Luiz Bonfa, Garoto, and Augustin Barrios. Nathan is on a constant search for freedom within a wide range of forms and feelings. He injects improvisation into every performance and above all he seeks to dissolve the barriers across genres that are separated by time, place, and style.
Nathan has played at Canadian jazz festivals including Halifax, St John’s Wreckhouse, Montreal, Toronto, The Beaches, Kensington Market, Markham, Uptown Waterloo, Huronia Arts Fest, Barrie Drumfest, Niagara, Edmonton, Victoria, Medicine Hat, Port Hope, Calgary, Regina, Jazz on the Wing in Whitehorse, Yukon, and the Ottawa Folk Festival. Internationally Nathan has performed at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, The Northern Lights Festival in Ajicjic, Mexico and the Leopolis Jazz Festival in Lviv, Ukraine. Nathan has toured nationally with artists Terra Hazelton, GHT, Melissa Lauren, and Jill Barber.
So far Nathan has appeared on over 30 albums. They include guitar trio, organ trio, organ quartet with saxophone, and quartet with saxophone. He has also composed and arranged jazz music for voice including The Bright Lunch Trio featuring Whitney Ross Barris and his Mass for Guitar and Singers, the latter recorded with SATB and subsequently performed by the Grace Church on the Hill choir. Most recently his genre bending folk jazz group ‘Samways’ received a grant from the Toronto Arts Council to record stunning vocal interpretations of early Canadian poetry in a female vocal trio featuring jazz singer virtuosos Shannon Butcher, Melissa Lauren, and Jessica Lalonde.
Nathan has performed with large ensembles including The Toronto Jazz Orchestra, The Toronto Concert Orchestra, The Mike Herriot Big Band, The Boss Brass, and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Nathan has performed alongside such artists as Jill Barber, Allana Bridgewater, Drew Jurecka, Alex Dean, Bernie Senensky, Jake Wilkinson, Don Thompson, The Canadian Jazz Quartet, Phil Dwyer, Morgan Childs, Pat Collins, The Hogtown Syncopators, Ori Dagan, Heather Bambrick, Patrick Boyle, Brandi Disterheft, Ranee Lee, Micahel Herring, Rebecca Hennesy, Norman Marshall Villeneueve, Richard Underhill, Manteca, Jessica Lalonde, Monica Chapman, Tim Shia, Craig Stickland, Del Dako, Bernie Senensky, Archie Alleyne, Jake Koffman, Johnny Griffith, Beverly Taft, Alexander Brown, Chris Gayle, Victor Bateman, Murray McGlaughlin, Erin Cooper Gay, Rob Carli, and Steven Taetz.
Concert bookings :
416-934-1719
List of awards, prizes
Toronto Arts Council Grant Full Length Recording 2019
American Songwriting Awards Best Song w/ Ori Dagan 2018
Best Album Silver Medal –Global Music Awards 2017
Canada Council for the Arts Travel Grant 2010,2011,2015
Canada Council for the Arts Festival Grant 2011
Arthur Plettner Graduate Fellowship, U of T 2008,2009
Montreal Jazz Festival Grand Prix Nomination 2009
Juno Award for Brandi Disterheft’s ‘Debut’ 2008
Ontario Arts Council Recording Grant 2008
Duke Ellington Award, Humber College 2003
Peter Harris Award, Humber College 2001
Mission
To play lots of guitar every day, to cook lots of delicious food, and most of all have fun with my 5 year old!
Vision
If i could get my freestroke faster than my pick in this life time I could die happy!
Values
- Swing!
- Melody is king
- Music is best enjoyed rather than discussed (Ellington)
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