Andrew Downing
Improvisation
Composition
Small Jazz Ensemble
Applied Bass
Andrew Downing is a Toronto based double bass player, composer and educator born in London, Ontario. He plays primarily in the creative jazz scene in Canada, but also performs classical chamber music, improvised music, folk and roots music, and world music. He practices the unusual craft of tuning his bass in fifths an octave lower than a cello. His teachers include Jack Winn, Dave Young, Don Thompson, Shauna Rolston and Joel Quarrington.
Apart from his busy career as a side musician with such groups as CD9, the Florian Hoefner Trio and the Lina Allemano Four, Andrew's own group Otterville has been an ongoing concern since 2015, winning him a JUNO nomination for their first album as well as being on the 'Longer List' for the Polaris Music Prize. His former group, The Great Uncles of the Revolution, won him a JUNO award, a West Coast Music Award and the Grand Prix de Jazz at the Montreal Jazz Festival.
As a composer, Andrew has written pieces for The Iris Trio, Ensemble Made In Canada, Nordic Folk group Ensemble Polaris, banjo player Jayme Stone, The Vancouver Bach Choir, Ensemble Meduse, Toca Loca and The Prince George Symphony, and has written arrangements for Patricia O'Callaghan, The Gryphon Trio, John Southworth The Annex Quartet and The Art of Time Ensemble.
Andrew currently teaches double bass, composition and improvisation at the University of Toronto and has taught at Wilfred Laurier University, the Banff Centre's Jazz Workshop and the Creative Music Workshop in Halifax. He is also an artistic associate with Confluence Concerts in Toronto.