April 27 2010

There's been a lot happening since I last updated the site!

The Gordon Grdina Trio had a great trip to Europe in November playing the Nordausen Festival In Germany, Jazz Club Rura in Wroclaw, and in Italy with Mauro Ottolini... in September we played some great gigs in Chicago with Kent Kessler and Jeb Bishop and In New York with Mark Helias!! It was a real fun fall. In March I went to SXSW with Dan Mangan, Josh Martinez and the Pissed Off Wild, and Ora Cogan... Kenton Loewen and I then went on to play three shows in New Orleans 2 as a duo and one with the fantastic Helen Gillet on Cello. We then toured Texas with Ingebrigt Haker-Flaten! This was kind of a big thing for Kenton and I as we've dug Ingebrigt's playing for a long time!

The Trio has also finally decided to use the great Portland artist Jesse Reno's painting "The Henchmen" for the cover of the upcoming GG3 plus Mats Gustafsson CD that is coming out on Drip Audio this summer...

The Gordon Grdina Trio has some gigs at the libra room may 15th and june 5th and is starting a Thursday night residency at Nuba on Hastings and Cambie starting in May! we won't be hitting the road until the fall where we're planning a Europe trip and an extensive tour of the states!

Box Cutter is going to be hitting the road playing at the Yardbird Suite in Edmonton on June 11th and in Canmore at the Communitea lounge on the 12th...We're looking for a show in the Kelowna area for June 10th so If you know of a great place or double bill hook me up!.....after that we're playing at the Victoria Jazz fest on June 30th before heading out East from July 1-5th...

Haram is going to be recording our first CD for Songlines records!! We've added Jesse Zubot to the group as well making it a full 10-piece!! We're going to be recording near the end of the summer...

The East Van Strings are also looking to tour the east in Mid September....I'll keep you posted as the dates come in!

I'm also playing a few shows on the Island with Dan Mangan May 6th and 7th and a sold out show at the Vogue May 8th! they're going to release another 100 or so tickets at the door so if you're down....

Then we're off to California May 21 and 22...

...so far 2010 has been full of great music and great times so I'm hoping to keep it up!!

see you soon!!

May 25 2009

The Gordon Grdina Trio is currently in Amsterdam having just come back from a great hour and a half set at the Nattjazz Festival in Bergen, Norway. We had a fantastic time with everyone from Nattjazz and would especially like to thank Tom and Inge for making the experience so enjoyable. Rainbow from Coastal jazz was also there sharing the good times. We play Zaal100 tomorrow and the church the 27th with Felicity Provan/Michael Vatcher/Achim Kaufman/Raoul Van Der Weide there is more info on the concerts page. Then we spend some time in Poland playing some new venues for us and are in Breda on the 29th playing for Beaux jazz.

July 10-15th the trio is going to be taking part in Jazz East and Jerry Granelli's Spontaneous Combustion Festival in Halifax which should be killing!! we will be playing as a trio and in different configurations with Simon Fisk, Jerry Granelli, J.A. Granelli, David Tronzo, and some great Halifax musicians. We are also going to be playing in Chicago at the Hideout Sept 2nd then New York and Philly the rest of the weekend before going to Montreal, Toronto, and Western Canada we will be updating the calendar soon . We will then be recording a new trio CD in Vancouver.

The East Van Strings are releasing "The Breathing of Statues" on Songlines Records in Sept as well. This CD has taken a while to come out but I'm very happy wih the music and Jordan Bent did a fantastic job on the art work. This group features Jesse Zubot, Peggy Lee and Eyvind Kang we are planning some shows in the fall and are just waiting for the stars to align!


October 2008

The Gordon Grdina Trio is currently on the road in Europe supporting the brand new Plunge records release …If Accident Will. We had some hair-raising adventures getting to Unterfahrt in Munich just in time to play. The venue was fantastic and the people very warm and inviting. We then spent 4 days in Slovenia with Apokalipsa playing 3 great concerts in Sezana, Koper and Trieste. We also got the chance to play with Primoz Simoncic. Each of these nights was recorded for what we hope will be Apokalipsa’s first CD release next year! We’re working on plans to collaborate again in June for a Haiku and Music CD, which also may bring some of the poets to Vancouver. We then left for Dresden for a gig at Blaue Fabrik for the Festival Frei Improvisierter. We got to play with Gunter Heinz and it made for the creation of something strange and wonderful. We hope to have Gunter in Vancouver soon he is an intense creating spirit!

Had an absolutely fantastic time playing the Bimhuis, which had a great deal of historical significance for us! We also recorded this gig and were very happy with the result! Tommy especially kicked ass! We are in Berlin now hanging with our good friend Tyson Naylor who is going to sit in with us at the B-Flat. Then we’re off to Poland to play at Poznan’s Blue Note Oct 11, Then back to Amsterdam for Zaal100 with Michael Moore and Eric Boeren Oct 14th, Jazzlinez in Kiel Oct 16th, Buster in Antwerpen Oct 18th, SJU with Mark Alban Lotz Oct 19th, then a full night at Fasching with special guest Fredrik Ljungkvist Oct 21st!

Kenton and I then set off for Calgary Oct 24th and 25th to play with the N.I.C.E ensemble(Simon Fisk, Jerry Granelli, and Jay Granelli) Crackling is also going to do a show!

See you soon!

Gord

February 2008

Hi,
Lots has happened in the last little while! I performed for the Vancouver New Music Guitars! Guitars! Guitars! Series. The solo set was recorded by the CBC and will be broadcast at some point in the new year I'll make sure to send out an email when they announce the times.

I've got a new trio with Tommy Babin and Kenton Loewen. We toured throughout Europe this past September with stops in Holland, Belgium, Germany, and Slovenia we're making plans to return October 2008 in support of our new CD that was just recorded at Ogre Studios in Vancouver. The CD's going to be coming out on the new Now Orchestra Label.

The New Box Cutter CD "New Rules for Noise" is getting back from the manufacturers this week! We're going to be planning a CD release concert in March.

The East Van Strings CD is also getting the final mastering done in February with Songlines scheduling a release in the early part of the summer.

Sangha is preparing for a new collaborative CD with Francois Houle, Fathieh Honari, and Reza Honari we're also opening up for Arabic Oud and Violin Virtuoso Simon Shaheen at the Capilano College Folk and roots series this Sunday so if you're in the area come check out what is going to be a great show!

This weekend is also the creation of a long overdue collaboration with my good friend Simon Fisk from Calgary! The band is myself on Guitar and Oud, Simon Fisk, Bass, Kenton Loewen, Drums, and Jp Carter, Trumpet. The band is called "The Throes" and we're playing at 1067 January, 25th and 26th, Monday the 28th at the Cellar and Tuesday the 29th at Lime. We're then going into the studio to record on Wednesday the 30th for a new CD that will be released on Plunge Records.

Hope to see you at some of the shows!

March 2007

Hi,

Here's a downbeat magazine article that just came out in the new April issue!

There's also a new "Box Cutter" Cd that will be having it's release party shortly. The CD is called "Unlearn" and a song from it has been included on the Dig Your Roots Compilation cd. We made the cd along side The Inhabitants and Jesse Zubot.

We will all be performing as part of a Nation wide radio broadcast on Mar 28th at 6pm at Video In @ 1965 Main Street in Vancouver.

There's more info about upcoming shows on the Calendar page.

View & read Gordon Grdina`s Downbeat Magazine article

View & read Downbeat magazine's review of "Think Like The Waves"

September 2006

JUST RELEASED :

THINK LIKE THE WAVES
Gordon Grdina/Gary Peacock/Paul Motian

Gordon Grdina, guitar & oud

Gary Peacock, bass

Paul Motian, drums

The young, Vancouver guitarist and oud player Gordon Grdina sought out Gary Peacock after a Keith Jarrett concert in San Francisco in 2000, and for the next five years Gary became his mentor and teacher. At their last meeting at Gary’s house in upstate New York there was virtually no discussion, they just sessioned together for an hour or so, and the next day Gordon asked Gary if he would do a trio record. Gary agreed, and helped bring Paul Motian (another of Gordon’s musical heroes) into the picture. Recorded in Brooklyn in January, Think Like the Waves is a remarkable international jazz debut, full of compelling original tunes by Grdina and deep interaction by the trio.

For complete press release click here

THEY SAID :

“Grdina finds perfect communication with the rhythm section….Middle Eastern-meets-ECM chamber jazz in 14 wildly creative tracks.” – Stuart Derdeyn, Vancouver Province

Press support: Cary Goldberg, GoMediaPR, (310) 676-1692, gomediapr@earthlink.net

Tony Reif/Songlines Recordings

3036 W. 6th Ave., Vancouver, B.C. V6K 1X3, Canada

(604) 737-1632 • fax (604) 737-1678 • treif@songlines.com • www.songlines.com

Songlines is distributed in the US by Allegro, www.allegro-music.com

In Canada by Festival Distribution, www.festival.bc.ca

tel : 604 251 6445