Atlantic Jazz Nights, now in its third season, is an international jazz series presented by the Arts and Culture Centre. The series is hosted and curated by celebrated St. John’s-based pianist Florian Hoefner and bassist, Jim Vivian. Now in its third season the series will include 4 concerts featuring invited guest artists from the United States, the UK, Germany, and Canada who will perform with Hoefner and Vivian.
Atlantic Jazz Nights 3
Featuring Heather Bambrick, Davide DiRenzo, Bill Brennan & Julia Cass
With Florian Hoefner and Jim Vivian
January 18, 2025
Heather Bambrick
Heather Bambrick is a Juno and ECMA award-nominated vocalist that prides herself on being an entertainer through and through. From her audience engagement, humour, and strong storytelling—part of her Newfoundland heritage—she’s been described as “Ella Fitzgerald meets Carol Burnett at a Newfoundland kitchen party!”
Heather is a founding member of vocal ensembles, The Beehive Singers, and Broadsway, and has appeared as a guest performer with numerous Jazz ensembles and artists in a variety of musical genres including Steven Page (Barenaked Ladies), the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra. She has release four solo recordings, each of which have received an East Coast Music Award nomination for Jazz Recording of the Year. Her 2017 release, You’ll Never Know, was also nominated for a Juno award for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year.
As one of Canada’s top Jazz vocalists, Heather has collaborated with internationally acclaimed artists, including Fred Hirsch, Rob McConnell, Gene DiNovi, Guido Basso, Peter Appleyard, Phil Nimmons, Ann Hampton Callaway, Jackie Richardson, Ian Shaw, and many others. Heather is a two-time winner of the National Jazz Awards Broadcaster of the Year, a three-time nominee for NOW Magazine’s Readers’ Choice Awards for Best Radio Personality and was recently named Best On-Air Host (Music Format) at the 2020 Canadian Radio Awards.
Davide DiRenzo
Davide DiRenzo is one of the most versatile and in-demand drummers in Canada, with an equally strong profile in the jazz, rock, pop, and R&B scenes coast-to-coast and beyond. He has performed and recorded extensively around the world with a wide range of artists including jackSoul, Chaka Khan, Tom Jones, Mariah Carey, Holly Cole, Tom Cochrane and Red Rider, Anne Murray, Raine Maida, Chantal Kreviazuk, Feist, and many more. Davide was the house drummer on CTV's Canadian Idol, the most-watched variety show in Canadian history. He has also performed as the house drummer for the popular City TV’s Canada’s Got Talent in 2012. Davide has won six Juno awards to date. He also received a National Jazz Award nomination the same year for Jazz Drummer of the Year. Davide also runs his own home studio (Studio 86) where he provides drum tracks for producers and artists around the world.
Bill Brennan
Bill Brennan’s expertise as a pianist, percussionist, composer and producer can be heard on some 130 albums to date. More than 30 years of relentless experience have garnered Brennan a solid reputation as a performer, composer and arranger of contemporary classical, jazz, folk and world music—always exploring, always open to new ideas, Brennan’s talents resist classification.
Over the past four decades, Brennan has been involved with some of the best-known organizations in Canadian culture. He has performed with the National Ballet and the Canadian Opera Company. He was musical director of CBC’s beloved Vinyl Café (hosted by Stuart MacLean), and a documentary composer for David Suzuki’s The Nature of Things. He has produced countless albums, including recordings for Lady Cove Women’s Choir, Renee Marquis, Brad Jefford and Shelley Neville.
Always in demand as a folk and jazz pianist, Brennan performs regularly with his own projects. He has performed across North America and around the world. Nationally and internationally, his work has been formally recognized through prestigious awards and commissions. His most recent album Kaleidoscope – Music for Mallet Instruments won the 2023 MusicNL Classical Artist of the Year award and nominated for two ECMA awards.
Julia Cass
Born and raised in St. John's, NL, Julia Cass is an emerging trombonist going into her 3rd year of music school at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador, majoring in performance and minoring in jazz studies. Julia has played with the MUN wind ensemble and jazz orchestra, The NL Latin Band, The Jazz Apostles, and Florian Hoefner and Friends. Julia has strong musical interests in Black American Music of all types and Wind Ensemble music, and last month, was a member of the 2023 National Youth Band of Canada.
Atlantic Jazz Nights 4
Featuring Aubrey Johnson, Tomoko Omura & Jay Sawyer
With Florian Hoefner and Jim Vivian
April 25, 2025
Aubrey Johnson
Aubrey Johnson is a New York-based vocalist, composer, and educator. Her debut record, Unraveled, featuring her original music and arrangements and produced by Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny Group), was released on Outside In Music in 2020. Play Favorites, her duo album with the pianist Randy Ingram was released on Sunnyside Records in 2022. Among the 40+ albums Aubrey has appeared on as a sideperson are Bobby McFerrin’s Grammy-nominated release, VOCAbuLaries, Arturo O'Farrill's Grammy Award-winning album Four Questions, and Lyle Mays’ Grammy Award-winning Eberhard. Aubrey holds faculty positions at Montclair State University and Queens College. Most recently, Aubrey completed an artistic residency in composition at the prestigious MacDowell Colony where she composed new music for her next album, coming late 2024.
Tomoko Omura
Tomoko Omura is a composer and violinist, born and raised in Shizuoka, Japan. She was named #1 Rising Star Violinist by Downbeat Magazine’s Critics Poll in 2021. Her fifth album, “Branches Vol. 2” (Outside In Music) was named Bandcamp’s “Best Jazz of 2021”. She has played at internationally renowned venues including the Village Vanguard, Lincoln Center, The Jazz Gallery, Jazz Standard, Smalls, Mezzrow, SF Jazz, Newport Jazz Festival, Blue Note, among others.
In 2004, she relocated to the United States to study at Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA. She has studied with teachers, such as Hal Crook, Ed Tomassi, George Garzone, Jamey Haddad, Rob Thomas, Matt Glaser. After Berklee, she had been core members and toured with The Guy Mendilow Ensemble, the Contemporary Celtic band, RUNA and Carte Blanche. Omura now lives in Brooklyn, NY and is a New York Faculty member of Jazz House kids.
Jay Sawyer
Born in Grand Rapids, MI, Jay Sawyer is one of the most in-demand rising star drummers in New York City. He has shared the stage with artists such as Freddy Cole, John McNeil, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Stefon Harris, Donny McCaslin, Benito Gonzalez, and Shai Maestro among others. Jay is also a first call drummer for many up-and-coming musicians in New York including Itamar Borochov, Caroline Davis, Tomoko Omura, John Raymond and many more. He has toured extensively in the USA and Europe, including performances at the Montreal, Detroit and Chicago Jazz Festivals, Festival Eclats d’Email in Limoges, France and more.
While attending Western Michigan University and the University of Illinois, respectively, Jay studied with some of the most well-respected jazz drummers including Billy Hart, Tim Froncek, Keith Hall and Dana Hall. Each nurtured his passion and skill for the art of jazz drums. As a result, Jay has become a passionate and gifted educator, both as a private lesson teacher as well as in a group setting.
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