Binazoo

These great musicians combine their talent to offer original pieces that are sometimes ambient, sometimes groovy. Through the catchy melodies of keyboards and guitar, the recordings will put forward the musician’s virtuosity in long solos and a sound recording and mixing allowing each one to be upfront instead of being low profile behind a performer.

When Morgan Moore (The Barr Brothers, Martha Wainwright) presented Tommy Crane (Aaron Parks, The Mingus Big Band) to Ian Kelly, Ian knew right away, after smelling Tommy’s butt for a second, that the music would be good.

Morgan, the kangaroo and Tommy the koala, needed a lazy melodist, to slow down their extra caffeinated funky jams. Ian knew the perfect sloth, that would lay down some sweet melodic primal organ (and piano) on top of it. Jonathan Cayer (Faits divers, Jacques Kuba Séguin) came out of hibernation when the wild pack met at Sunset Hill Studio in the winter of 2021 for their first musical gathering. You could really smell the musk of Jazz and funk, mixed in with the tamed, fruity perfume of François Jalbert’s (Little Misty, John Jacob Majistery) syrupy guitars.

Ian is just making sure that all the animals are happy, well fed and don’t play only to themselves. The paunchy harmless bear is formatting the quartet as they're jamming, to ensure that the music isn't only fun to play but also pleasant to listen to.

The raccoon, the sloth, the koala and the kangaroo, with their cans on, want to invite you for a stroll on a somewhat happy trail, were notes meet feelings and tears are sometime shed to remind ourselves that life is a zoo and that if we weren’t miserable from time to time, we couldn't tell when we’re happy, we need a rainy day in the forest so we don’t take the sun for granted. And wow, look at all those beautiful and amazingly appealing mushrooms that popped up, at the root of the trees after the storm!

MORGAN MOORE
Juno Award-winning musician and producer, Morgan Moore is currently touring and recording with Martha Wainwright, Taurey Butler, The Barr Brothers, Triplettes de Belleville, James Gelfand, as well as many other notable bands and musicians, taking him to every corner of the world (Europe, Asia, South Pacific, Middle East and USA). He has performed on “Late Show” with David Letterman, CBS’s “This Morning” and countless live radio spots including a regular voice gig on CBC Radio-Canada’s, “C'est le Plus Beau Jour de ma Vie” with Marc Labrèche and Anne Dorval. He broke the ice in his silver screen career by landing a role in United States vs. Billie Holiday; a Lee Daniels film in which Morgan learned how to act and improvise on camera during 2 months of shooting and landed scenes with Trevante Rhodes, Andra Day, Da'Vine Joy Randolph, James Tyler Williams, Miss Lawrence and others. A song he co-created is featured on the film.
https://www.analekta.com/en/artists/morgan-moore/

FRANÇOIS JALBERT
Modeled after the great Django Reinhardt, François Jalbert made his own name by taking first place in the Montreal Guitar Grand Prix in 2006 and 2008 in the jazz category. The young Québécois musician and composer returns to the Jazz Room with his trio and compositions from Sens unique, his first album as a bandleader. Francois has been nominated for the TD Grand Jazz Award and the Galaxie Rising Star Award, both at the Montreal Jazz Festival. He is an incredible player, very reminiscent of Joe Pass, but with a strong Gypsy flavor.

TOMMY CRANE
Tommy Crane is a NYC and Montreal based musician. Crane has recorded and performed with Ambrose Akinmusire, Melissa Aldana, Briars of North America, The Mingus Big Band, Linda Oh, Thus Owls, Aaron Parks, Richard Reed Parry, Logan Richardson, Bing and Ruth, Becca Stevens, Half Waif, Port St Willow, and Wood River. In 2017, Crane was commissioned by the Lincoln Center, NY, to create a multimedia piece titled "Preservation" in collaboration with filmmaker Tracy Maurice. Crane's composition was performed live and released as a full-length album in 2019. In addition to Crane, the recording features performances by Colin Killalea (Albert Hammond Jr.), Eliot Krimsky (Here we go magic), and Greg Chudzik (Steve Reich). In 2017/2018, Crane toured extensively with Melissa Aldana and recorded the Grammy Nominated album "Visions" with the band. Crane is also a core member of Aaron Parks's "Little Big" (whom he met and befriended at a jazz camp in NYC when they were both 15 years old). They've recorded two albums together. Crane also taught improvisational ensembles at the Accademia Nazionale del Jazz - Siena Jazz in Italy (2019-2020). He contributes original compositions to various WNYC and NPR podcasts and is also a Sunhouse artist.
http://www.doubleberg.com/

JONATHAN CAYER
After extensive studies at the McGill University in jazz piano, Jonathan Cayer has been a pianist and keyboardist for many notorious artists, such as Ian Kelly, Coral Egan, Patrick Watson and the Jean- Nicolas Trottier Big Band. He has also composed and produced for Beyries, Ian Kelly and many soundtracks of several McCord Museum expositions, TV shows and short films. Jonathan Cayer has received many awards from the International Jazz Festival of Montreal and the Gemeaux.
https://www.jonathancayer.net/