Join us for our kick-off Jazz & Reflection concert of the season on Saturday, Sept. 30 at 4:30pm featuring an incredible duo, Ben Bishop and Jonathan Meyer on jazz guitar and bass. Beach United’s warm, inviting hall serves as the perfect backdrop for this concert – donations are welcomed, and proceeds support the Beach United Church food programs.
Jazz Guitarist Ben Bishop favours a freewheeling, bop-based guitar style, most reminiscent of the classic guitarists of the 1950s and 1960s. Players including Kenny Burrell, Wes Montgomery, and Grant Green are major inspirations to his sound and musical approach. He currently resides in Toronto, Canada, where he regularly performs with many of the city’s finest jazz musicians. After a number of years living in New York, during which he earned a DMA in Jazz Studies from the prestigious Eastman School of Music, he is also active as an educator at Toronto’s Humber College.
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Jonathan Meyer, born and raised in Toronto, has performed professionally for over fifteen years with internationally renowned and award-winning artists such as Peter Appleyard, Allison Au, Tony “Oulabula” Bazley (Wes Montgomery, Leroy Vinnegar), Ned Goold (Harry Connick Jr.), Pat Labarbera, Michael Kaeshammer, Bill Murray, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Norman Marshall Villeneuve, and David Virelles to name just a few. He has played on numerous film and television soundtracks including the Chet Baker biopic “Born to be Blue” and has toured extensively throughout North America and Europe. He has recorded over twenty albums with artists encompassing a diverse range of styles, including jazz, rock, pop, folk, avant-garde electronic, and everything in between.