Award-winning Canadian saxophonist PHIL DWYER joins forces with his son BEN DWYER and East Coast Drummer MARK ADAM to form their new group the BPM TRIO to release their debut live album
“Audi Alteram Partem” is the legal principle whereby all sides be heard and accorded a fair right to reply. It is most certainly an apt principal central to great jazz, but here also references where Canadian music icon Phil Dwyer was in the fall of 2016.
Dwyer, the perennial award-winner and member of the Order of Canada, was embarking on a distinct career shift. He was in the midst of his law studies in Fredericton, NB and was somehow fitting in concerts here and there on Canada’s East Coast. He brought together this trio of himself on saxophone and piano, his son Ben Dwyer on bass and Mark Adam on drums, for a series of four concerts in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. Mark had an inkling that it might be good to bring a small recording rig along so each night, after he got his drums set up, he managed to put up some mics. You know, just in case!
And so here we are, with the evidence of these wonderful concerts – one in Moncton, NB and one in Sackville, NB. Hosted by legendary Canadian trumpeter Roland Bourgeois, the trio played a blend of intimate, fearless, tender, on the edge music. The audience was perfect, encouraging the artists to keep saying what they needed to say. It was a great chance for old friends and new to share some road time and music together. This is the story of three Western Canadian musicians and an amazing home away from home.
1. Summer Night (9:21) - Harry Warren, Al Dubin
2. Bright Mississippi (6:42) - Thelonious Monk
3. Just Open Your Heart (7:12) - Barry Harris
4. Airegin (7:00) - Sonny Rollins, arranged by Phil Dwyer
5. Misty (10:41) - Erroll Garner, arranged by Phil Dwyer
6. My Melancholy Baby (6:35) - Ernie Burnett, George Norton
7. Narcolypso (7:43) - Phil Dwyer
PHIL DWYER (saxophone/piano) Appointed as a Member of the Order Of Canada and a Royal Conservatory of Music Honorary Fellow, Phil Dwyer has appeared on ten JUNO Award-winning recordings, and over thirty nominated recordings.
A practicing lawyer with his own fi rm in Nanaimo, B.C. Phil remains active as a performer, teacher, recording artist, curates “Phil Dwyer’s Jazz Canada” for CBC Radio Music, and is a partner in SeaWind Musical Instruments.
BEN DWYER (bass) is a young bass and saxophone phenom who grew up in a musical household on Vancouver Island. The son of Phil Dwyer, Ben has recently moved to Toronto from Montreal. Though very much rooted in jazz, Ben is a versatile bassist with a strong sense of feel, melody, and sound production. This has led him to perform around the world with some great artists of different genres.
MARK ADAM (drums) is a drummer and percussionist who performs, produces/ records, composes and teaches from his home base in Wolfville, Nova Scotia. He is an Associate Professor of Improvisation, Percussion and Contemporary Music at Acadia University who has worked with Canadian jazz icons such as Mike Murley, David Restivo, David Braid and Laila Biali.
