Happy Hour - Howard Rees Trio

Howard Rees: Belleville Jazz Festival Founder & Artistic Director. Howard Rees will be leading a trio at the Belleville Club from 4.30 to 6pm on July 28, 29 & 30. Howard has performed with some of the greats in jazz including; Jaki Byard, Ray Drummond, Slim Galliard, Barry Harris, Earl May, Charles McPherson, Akira Tana and Leroy Williams. Howard is also a well-known teacher of jazz, and will be giving master classes in improvisation and harmony for all instruments at the Belleville Club on July 30th. His teaching is based on the methodology of Barry Harris with whom he apprenticed from 1978 to 2021, many of those years in New York City. Aside from his Toronto based jazz workshop now in its 39th year, Howard has been invited to teach in many schools around the world including Shobi University, Japan; University of Leeds, UK; and Stanford University, USA.

Artie Roth: Toronto-born jazz bassist Artie Roth is a composer, bandleader, performer and educator who has been active nationally and internationally for over 20 years. Commensurate with completing his undergraduate (1992 with the Oscar Peterson Scholarship) and masters degree in musical composition (2015) at York University, Artie enriched his education with two Canada Council sponsored study tenures in New York City in 1993 and 1997. He has resided in Toronto for over 20 years establishing himself as one of the busiest, full-time composer/performers in Toronto and is recorded on over 60 full length recordings, including Rich Underhill’s 2003 JUNO award winning “Tales From The Blue Lounge” and 2007 JUNO nominated “Kensington Suite”, Sophie Milman’s JUNO nominated debut CD and Rockit 88’s 2004 JUNO nominated “Too Much Fun”. As a bandleader, bassist and composer, Artie has three recordings “Parallels”(2005), “Currently Experiencing” (2013) and “Discern” (2015). As well as leading his own group, Artie is also an active member of, and contributing composer for Tunetown, The Rich Underhill Group, The Bob Brough Quartet and Kollage. His contributions have been acknowledged through a National Jazz Award Bassist of the Year nomination and featured artist of the week on Jazz FM 91.1’s website and programming. In tandem with his active composer/band-leading and freelance career, Artie currently holds the position of Bass Instructor and ensemble coach at York University and Centennial College.

Harry Ellis: Harry Ellis has had a long and varied career playing and travelling with such artists as Helen Reddy, Gary Lewis & the Playboys, Maria Muldaur, Tanya Tucker, Michelle Wright and Carol Baker. He has performed in jazz festivals in Europe and Asia with Milt Hinton, Buddy Tate, Warren Vache, Danny Moss and Roy Williamson, and in Canada with Peter Appleyard, Norm Amadio, Frank Wright, Michael Stewart, Bobby Fenton, George Koller, Hilario Duran, Luis Mario Ochoa and Bill McBirnie to name a few. Harry now resides in Prince Edward County and performs regularly with a wide assortment of players and vocalists in the area.