Ian Toms
I've known Ian since hearing about "this awesome guitar player" in the Colonel Grey jazz band when I was in my first year of University.
"Yeah...sure...whatever... " I thought as I strolled into the gymnasium for the annual Colonel Grey Christmas concert... to do what previous Jazz Band Alumni always did... stand at the back of the room with other former Jazz band alumni, fold our arms, and pretend like we're analyzing everything these young pups are doing....
Yeah..well... the whole band was better than any Colonel Grey Jazz Band I had ever been in... and hearing Ian solo for the first time I thought... ok.. "this awesome guitar player" is quite an accurate description.
Ian of course went on to do Bachelor's and Master's degree in Jazz performance at McGill university.
Ian has released two CDs which you can find on his website below. Most recently he released Playbook which is a wonderful display of Jazz guitar in a trio format with longtime fellow musicians Ross MacDonald and Rich Knox - recorded by Jon Matthews.
I've had some great opportunities playing with Ian over the year, primarily in background music for hire format, but over the fall getting to play with Ian on his own tunes and arrangements was a wonderful experience. It was really challenging for me since I had been somewhat ( mostly.. ok completely.. ) out of shape on playing jazz and jazz bass solos on upright bass.
After a few gigs you couldn't shut me up! :P
The Recordings...
The Members...
The Linkage...