For our 2014 South Delta Jazz Festival we welcome Canadian Jazz Icon Hugh Fraser.
Hugh Fraser – well known trombonist and pianist has been a fixture on the Vancouver Jazz Scene since the 1980’s.
The Hugh Fraser Quintet won the 1987 Concorde de jazz de Montreal creating national and international acclaim through touring and many award winning recordings which led to two Juno Awards.
While residing in New York, Hugh contributed to legendary jazz ensembles such as Maynard Ferguson, Clifford Jordan and Slide Hampton’s World of Trombone’s latest recording where Hugh contributed as the only Canadian participant as a trombonist, pianist and composer.
Hugh spent over a decade in London, England where he studied, performed and recorded with fellow Canadian, Kenny Wheeler, including the seminal ECM record Music for Large and Small Ensembles with Peter Erskine, Dave Holland, John Abercrombie, Evan Parker and many of England’s leading instrumental artists.
As an educator, he was proud of his evolution from student, faculty member, and ultimately head of the jazz program at the Banff Centre of Fine Arts. Here he founded the Hugh Fraser International Jazz Orchestra Workshop which he presented in Ireland, England, the United States and most cities across Canada. In London, England, Hugh designed and delivered the composition component at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music for over a decade.
Hugh has been voted Canadian Trombonist of the Year many times and as the only Canadian participant in Orlando “Maraca” Valle’s 2011 DVD release of the Latin Jazz All Stars, he is included in the top six albums in all genres by Downbeat Magazine. He also performs regularly with his dear friend Chucho Valdes where one of Hugh’s additions to this iconical pianist’s composition has been standard performance and educational fare in Cuba.
