Thursday, April 28, 2016

Nathan Hiltz - Songs Poetic (2016)


                          Label:
Source: Cdbaby


Nathan Hiltz (B.Mus, M.Mus) is a jazz guitarist who was born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Based in Toronto since 1999, he attended Humber College and The University of Toronto. He studied jazz guitar with Reg Schwager, Jim Hall, Adam Rogers and many others. Over the course of his professional career he has played on over 25 albums and toured extensively across Canada. Nathan is a mentor to many aspiring guitarists from his home teaching studio and as a part time faculty member at Humber College.

ABOUT SONGS POETIC

It’s been ten years since jazz guitarist Nathan Hiltz released his first and only solo album Your Love Is A Plane Crash. He’s spent that decade touring Canada several times in addition to lending his immense talent to a wide variety of recording projects and song-writing collaborations including The Griffith Hiltz Trio, Melissa Lauren, Beverly Taft, Whitney Ross Barris, Hawksley Workman and Jill Barber.

At long last, Hiltz finally hit the studio to record his second solo project Songs Poetic. The setting is an intimate guitar trio, the songs are choice standards, and most importantly this live-off-the-floor session is swinging.

Songs Poetic, recorded in August 2015 in Toronto, is a collection of songs that represent the real Nathan Hiltz: an open-eared guitarist steeped in the bop tradition. Hiltz makes each musical moment count. He offers every audience his very natural, organic melodic instincts. In tandem with bassist Pat Collins and drummer Morgan Childs, Songs Poetic, Hiltz and company create multi-dimensional improvisations are multi-dimensional lines support the immediacy of the moment.

To a jazz musician, being ready for everything in the moment is everything. There is no big break. There’s the being at the right place at the right time, where preparation meets opportunity.

On a Saturday afternoon in 2014, Nathan was about to go on stage in downtown Toronto when he got an urgent phone call asking him if he’d be able to play the guitar chair that night at Koerner Hall with the legendary Boss Brass: Ted Quinlan couldn’t make it at the last minute. Nathan managed to sub out his gig for later that night, finish his afternoon gig, and get a cab home to retrieve his concert blacks and then back to Koerner Hall 30 minutes before downbeat. Playing Ed Bickert’s parts on Rob McConnell’s masterful arrangements to a sold out audience was an inspiring and transformative experience for Hiltz.  Read more...


 1. Tea for Two
2. Full House
3. Spartacus Love Theme
4. Baubles, Bangles & Beads
5. Tempus Fugit
6. I'll Be Around
7. Rita Hayworth
8. Jacqui
9. You're the Top


Nathan Hiltz – Guitar
Pat Collins – Bass
Morgan Childs – Drums