Clinicians
Mike Downes
Bassist, composer, author and educator Mike Downes has earned a reputation as one of Canada's finest jazz artists. His bass playing has delighted audiences worldwide, including tours through western and eastern Europe, Iceland, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, Mexico, the United States and throughout Canada.
In addition to leading his own groups, Mike has performed with virtually all of Canada's top jazz musicians, including Oliver Jones, Diana Krall, PJ Perry, Renee Rosnes, Don Thompson, Kirk MacDonald, Terry Clarke, Guido Basso and Pat LaBarbera. He is regularly in demand to perform and record with visiting jazz artists such as Chris Potter, Michael Brecker, John Abercrombie, Peter Erskine, Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, Paquito D'Rivera, Dave Liebman, Billy Hart, Phil Woods and many others.
Mike performed and arranged music on Molly Johnson's 2009 Juno award-winning CD Lucky. He has performed, arranged and composed music on numerous other recordings, many of which were nominated for Juno awards. Mike's recordings as a leader include Forces, Then and The Winds of Change. Forces and Then feature Phil Dwyer on saxophones and The Winds of Change features the intimacy and spontaneity of his trio with David Restivo on piano and Ted Warren on drums.
Mike is the Bass Department Head at prestigious Humber College in Toronto, where he has been recognized with international awards for his ability to inspire young musicians. As a Yamaha artist he is active as a clinician throughout Canada. He has also been featured as a clinician at the Paechke Institute in Seoul, South Korea and at the infamous Paris Conservatory.
Mike is the author of The Jazz Bass Line Book (Advance Music), which is receiving world-wide acclaim as one of the most informative books available on creating jazz bass lines. He is also co-author of Jazz and Contemporary Music Theory. More information can be found on his website www.mikedownes.com.
Mike Downes is a Yamaha artist. He not only plays the Yamaha SLB200 Silent Bass but contributed significantly to its design concepts while on tour in Japan.
