JazzWorks Mentor Bios
Steve Boudreau
Steve Boudreau is an Ottawa-based jazz pianist and vocal accompanist. He returned to Ottawa after completing a Masters' degree in 2010 from the New England Conservatory in Boston. Since then he has toured North America with musical theatre productions and taught a great deal, including giving a talk on working with pianists for singers at a summer program in Kiefersfelden, Germany in 2012. He has also given lectures on subjects including Wayne Shorter and piano technique for jazz musicians at various jazz camps in the Ottawa area. In working with groups, Steve likes to take a "macroscopic" approach, encouraging musicians to find their place in the big picture and keep the song as a whole in mind. 
Mike Tremblay
A native of Ottawa, Mike has more than 20 years experience in the music industry as a saxophonist and educator. Mike holds a BA MUS from Carleton University, where he now teaches saxophone. His teachers include Kirk MacDonald, Alex Dean, and George Garzone. Mike adjudicates for Musicfest Canada ( jazz ensembles), and the Kiwanis Music Festival (concert bands, jazz ensembles, and woodwinds). Mike is the co-founder of the Carleton University Jazz Camp. This annual camp combines emerging high school students with some of Canada’s elite jazz educators. 
Ed Lister
Edward Lister is a U.K born trumpeter, composer & educator who has been playing professionally since the age of 15. Edward Lister has been based out of Ottawa, Canada since 2011 and currently runs 7 of his own bands as well as performing in a further 15. To date, Edward has recorded on 30 albums in Ottawa. Edward also owns and operates an Entertainment agency called 'London Gentleman Records' which represents and works with local Ottawa talent. Edward's musical career has taken him across the globe performing with some of the top talent. 
Mike Essoudry
Mike Essoudry is known as a sensitive yet active and responsive drummer, with strong musical intuition. He received a Master of Music degree (Jazz Drumset Performance) from McGill University in 2003. Mike is a busy performer and composer on the Ottawa music scene playing with many projects in the funk, jazz, and improvised music scene such as Rakestar, Atlantis Jazz Ensemble, Weddings and Funerals, and Don Cummings Organ Sextet as well as leading his own groups like the Bank Street Bonbons and the Mike Essoudry Sextet. Mike is also an active drumset teacher and has been a dance accompanist/composer with Ottawa's Propeller Dance for the past 10 years. |
Garry Elliot
Guitarist, Garry Elliott performs regularly with Ottawa's finest jazz musicians in a variety of settings and has been doing so for over thirty five years. He has recorded a CD entitled Pre-Dawn Skies with Ottawa pianist Stephen Boudreau featuring their own original tunes. He also teaches jazz and classical guitar at Carleton University and privately. Garry has also been on the faculty of JazzWorks Jazz camp as a vocal accompanist for the last 5 years. In a coaching session areas he likes to work on are encouraging group members to listen to each other as much as possible through focusing on the groove and respecting the style whether it be swing, ballad or latin; creating a concept for a tune as a group; discussing accompaniment and improv approaches and having fun! 
Mark Ferguson
Mark Ferguson is an Ottawa based pianist, trombonist, composer, arranger, producer, and music educator. He has performed with many of the world’s great artists including Ella Fitzgerald, Tony Bennett, Gil Evans, Nelson Riddle, Dionne Warwick, Natalie Cole, Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdink, Rosemary Clooney, Carol Channing, Rob McConnell & the Boss Brass, Holly Cole, Manteca, The Funk Brothers and the National Arts Centre Orchestra. Mark is a professor at Carleton University’s department of music and directs the Carleton Jazz Ensemble. He has served as a jazz clinician at high schools and universities across Canada. 
Petr Cancura
Born in Eastern Europe, brought up in the wilderness of the Great White North, and later thrusting into the urban Jungle of New York City, it is no surprise that Petr Cancura’s musical pallet is as wide as it is. A saxophonist with a vast knowledge of Jazz, Balkan, African and American folk traditions, Petr performs on banjo and mandolin as well as on the medium format black & white camera… all of which influences each other into a Roots Song & Improvising music machine with a visual sensibility. Petr Cancura has performed with Grammy-nominated Danilo Perez, Grammy-nominated Julian Lage, Bob Moses, Joe Morris, Jacek Kochan, Kathleen Edwards, Kenny Wollesen, Joe Maneri, Cecil McBee and the Juno award-winning Mighty Popo. He is currently performing as part of the Ghost Train Orchestra, The Richie Barshay RB3, The Forro Brass Band amongst others. Petr’s source of expression is most focused on his blend of Americana roots music and jazz in his groups Big Sky and Down Home. The adventure continues with Petr Cancura’s position as the Programming Director of the Ottawa International Jazz Festival, crafting together a world class festival with hundreds of shows annually. You may also find Cancura in the classroom giving workshops all across the US and Canada. |