meet the Band

Ian "Bucky" Schwartz - sax

I was classically trained at the Conservatoire de musique de Montréal, but ever since I was a teenager, I had other ideas. My entree to the world of jazz was through the fusion bands of the '70s. I wore out the grooves on Return to Forever's Where Have I Known You Before. Weather Report, Pat Metheny and Keith Jarret were in constant play on my turntable. I took a couple of decades off from music to spend time being a father, but got the jazz bug again when my kids became more independent. I've been playing standards around the city with various ensembles and loving my personal jazz renaissance.

David Constant - keys

I was classically trained on piano and clarinet, doing solo performances and orchestra work, and premiering new works by Canadian composers. Then I was bitten by the jazz bug, listening to Chick Corea, Oscar Peterson, Sara Vaughan, Mel Torme, Dave Brubeck, the Winter Consort, Oregon.... Now I love the dynamics and possibilities of playing in a jazz quartet.

Ron Ferguson - trumpet/flugelhorn

Ron brings years of experience playing in the Ottawa area, including touring with the Holly Laroque and The Mark Ferguson Orchestra. The interplay between Schwartz's sax and Ferguson's trumpet has been compared to Horace Silver's various ensembles over the years.

Etienne Renard- bass

My musical journey began in Paris with classical piano as a child and my teenage years brought me to guitar. As an adult I finally moved to the south of France and to the electric bass, as I love the place of this instrument in the band. New styles of music have always attracted me far from my original pop/rock background. I enjoy playing funk, afrobeat, balkan music, reggae, folk and Latin music. I spent two years in New York, digging into jazz at the prestigious New York Jazz Academy and its big band. It was a great experience, but the freedom of a jazz quintet is delightful.

Valeriy Nehovora - drums

I've been playing drums since I was 13 years old. I studied classical percussion at a university-level Odessa Academy of Music , but was working on the side as a jazz drummer and in a symphony. I also taught for five years at the premier Ten-year music school for children in Ukraine. I've done a lot of work on cruise ships, going pretty much everywhere in the world with various artists since 2003. I've had the pleasure of playing with people like Ray Brown Jr., Kevin Mahogany, and Karl Frierson.

While I've worked a lot in symphony orchestras, what I love about jazz is the freedom of expression that it allows me. All the other forms I play (Latin, salsa, rock, classical) are great, but they have more rules! In jazz I can really create something much more expressive.