Curtis Nowosad, a 20-year-old in his third year in the U of M’s Jazz Studies program, has been playing drums for only about 6 years, but he is already a force to be reckoned with. When I talked with him about his success, I found out that timing is everything!
When he was still a student [...]

Mira Black was born in Winnipeg in 1968, but didn’t stay here very long. She spent much of her childhood in many exotic places—India, Florida, Antigua—but eventually landed back in Winnipeg. At Balmoral Hall, she began to sing in musicals and “because it was an all-girls school and because of my vocal range and my [...]

Ron Paley offers a lot to the city he loves—he’s a busy jazz pianist, composer, arranger, and teacher, and a mentor to a lot of emerging players.
November is a big month for Ron. On November 16, he’ll team up with bassist Dave Young and drummer Terry Clarke, to pay tribute to the late, great Oscar [...]

Sam Chrol is a nineteen-year-old reed player just entering her second year in the Jazz Studies program at the U of M. Already she’s made an impact on the musical world—she was the first Canadian to win an Outstanding Wind Soloist at the Essentially Ellington competition in New York City, and this summer she received [...]