Faculty - Percussion

Graham Boyle, Drum Set/Vibraphone/Percussion

In the classical field he has worked (for over 20 years) as an extra musician for the Vancouver Symphony. In addition, Graham was a founding member of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and has also performed with the CBC Orchestra and The New Music Society.

In the pop field, Graham has been heard on thousands of jingles, over a dozen film scores, numerous CDs and several television series including McGyver and Lonesome Dove. For his recordings with SIRE recording artist k.d. lang, Graham received Gold and Platinum Albums for both "Torch and Twang" and "Ingenue". This work with ms. lang led Graham to tour with her for almost a year, including appearances on the Johnny Carson Show, Jay Leno Show, two Arsenio Hall Shows, a PBS special, MTV "Unplugged", three BBC productions and the 35th Annual Grammy Awards Show as well as live "gigs" on stages throughout the world, including Radio City Music hall in NYC and the Royal Albert Hall in London. Graham also played drums on Canadian superstar Jann Arden's western Canadian tour which included five concerts with the legendary Bob Dylan.

Despite his busy schedule, Graham has remained active in Vancouver's very talented jazz community and is a regular performer at many of the local venues with a variety of this city's finest jazz musicians. He also created the Monday Night Big Band series at the Hollywood North Jazz Club. In 1985, Graham was honoured with the "Jazz Act of the Year" award at the CARAS Association's West Coast Music Award Show. Graham also feels fortunate to have accompanied a number of internationally famous jazz artists during their visits to Vancouver, including Barney Kessel, Gene Bertoncini, Don Thompson, Kenny Wheeler, Mark Murphy, Holly Cole, Bobby Shew, Pat Barbera, John Handy, Eddie Harris, John McNeil, Natalie Cole, Harry Connick Jr., and in what was a career highlight, Graham had the honour to accompany jazz legend Chet Baker on his last two visits to Vancouver.

Dave Robbins

Dave Robbins is one of Canada's premier jazz drummers and a first-rate composer, arranger and jazz educator. He has played on over 30 jazz CD's and his own group, the Dave Robbins Sextet, has just released their debut CD, 'At The Mark'.

An energetic and sensitive drummer, Dave grew up in Victoria and was educated at McGill University, where he achieved his Masters degree in Jazz in 1995.

Dave has played music all over the world, in countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Finland, France, Holland, and Ireland. Musicians he has recently performed with include: Gary Bartz, Dee Daniels, Slide Hampton, Hugh Fraser, Buddy Montgomery, Bob Minzer, Denzal Sinclaire, Bobby Shew, and Dave Young among others.

For more information, go to: www.daverobbins.com

Dylan van der Schyff

Dylan van der Schyff Photo by Peter Gannushkin

- “Mr. van der Schyff spins out essayistic passages of texture.“  
     – New York Times
- “…a master manipulator, tests and expands common notions of timbre…” 
     – Down Beat
- “…van der Schyff exemplified creativity in simplicity, working solely with a traditional drum kit… He remains deeply in the pocket of the great jazz drummers…” 
      – Musicworks
- “One of this countryʼs finest musicians.” – Kenny Werner

Dylan van der Schyff was born in Johannesburg, South Africa in 1970. He now makes his home in Vancouver, Canada, where he lives with his wife, cellist Peggy Lee, and their two children. Van der Schyff attended the schools of music at the University of Victoria and, briefly, McGill University; and he studied military drumming while with the Band of the Ceremonial Guard in Ottawa. He received his MA from Simon Fraser University and is currently engaged in graduate research in music psychology at the University of Sheffield in the UK.

As a performer and producer, van der Schyff has appeared on close to 100 recordings spanning the genres of jazz, electro-acoustic, improvised, experimental and new music; he has performed in almost every major centre in Europe and North America including international festivals in Berlin, Lisbon, Stockholm, New York, Chicago, Montreal, Trento (Italy) and Molde (Norway); and he has collaborated in numerous interdisciplinary projects involving theatre, dance and film. A partial list of notable performance and recording collaborators includes: George Lewis, Joelle Léandre, Dave Douglas, Mark Helias, Peggy Lee, Eyvind Kang, Nicole Mitchell, Brad Turner, Tony Wilson, Wayne Horvitz, Marilyn Crispell, Torsten Muller, Robin Holcolmb, Michael Moore, Ellery Eskelin, Sylvie Courvoisier, Rob Mazurek, Talking Pictures, Ken Vandermark, Paul Rutherford, John Butcher, Tobias Delius, Louis Sclavis, Evan Parker, Mark Dresser, Fred Frith, and Gary Peacock. Van der Schyff has also performed as a sideman with Roswell Rudd, John Zorn, Butch Morris, Misha Mengelberg, Georg Graewe, Oliver Lake, Wadada Leo Smith and the Kenny Werner Sextet with Randy Brecker.

Van der Schyff has served on the music faculty at Capilano University in Vancouver, Canada, since 2009. He also served on faculty at the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music between 2002-2005, and at the Vancouver Institute for Creative Music in 2006. Additionally, he has given seminars and workshops at the University of Indiana and at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. Van der Schyff has appeared on Austrian television and Swedish radio as well as NPR, the CBC and Radio Canada. Articles about his work as an improviser have appeared in publications such as Downbeat, Jazz Times, The Globe and Mail, The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Chicago Reader, The Wire, Coda, and MUZIK.

SELECTED ARTICLES ABOUT
• Warburton, D. “Dylan van der Schyff: Back Seat Driver” in The Wire, June, 2008
• Gilbert, A. “Dylan van der Schyff: Toys R Him” in Jazz Times, November, 2005
• Jenkins, T. Free Jazz and Free Improvisation: An Encyclopedia, Volume 2
(p.365) Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004
• Hale, J. “Young Drums: 13 Who Set the Beat For The Future” in Downbeat, 2003
• Corbett, J. “Dylan van der Schyff” in The Chicago Reader, October, 2001
• Miller, M. Miller Companion to Jazz in Canada. Toronto: Mercury Press, 2001
• Buium, G. “Peggy Lee and Dylan van der Schyff: Common Language” in Down
Beat, July, 2001
• Miller, M. “The Globe and Mail Young Leaders.” In The Globe and Mail, July 1st,
2000

SOME NOTABLE RECORDINGS
 Way Out Northwest – with John Butcher, Torsten Muller **** 1/2 stars All Music Guide
 Mountain Passages – with the Dave Douglas Quintet **** stars Down Beat
 The Definition of a Toy – with Michael Moore, Brad Turner, Achim Kaufmann,
Mark Helias **** Jazzman, France
 Bow River Falls – with Dave Douglas, Louis Sclavis, Peggy Lee **** stars Down Beat;
 Floating 1…2…3 – with Peggy Lee, Michael Moore **** stars Down Beat

Blaine Wikjord

A leading Canadian exponent of jazz drumming, Blaine Wikjord has accumulated an impressive list of credits over his notable professional career.

Blaine has performed with many internationally renowned artists including Freddy Hubbard, Carl Fontana, Lockjaw Davis, Barney Kessel, Tommy Banks, Shorty Rogers, Kenny Wheeler, Scott Hamilton, Oliver Gannon, PJ Perry, Fraser MacPherson and Benny Golson.

Blain's list of credits for radio and television, recording and club dates is both long and distinguished. In 1998 he was a recipient of Canada's prestigious Juno Award for Best mainstream Jazz Recording on the High Fraser Quintet Album entitled "In the Meantime".

Blaine has also recorded with Oliver Gannon, Campbell Ryga, Ross Taggart, Dee Daniels and Charles MacPherson.