Faculty - Trumpet

Kevin Elaschuk

Kevin Elaschuk has been active on the Canadian jazz scene for more than 25 years. He began his career in Edmonton but has been based in Vancouver since 1987 with a 2 year stint in Toronto in the late 1990’s. He has played with such great artists as George Lewis, Oliver Lake, Bill Emes P.J. Perry, Sheila Jordan, Owen Howard,Chris Sigerson, Roy Styffe, Chris Nelson, Mike Murley, Bill Coon and Campbell Ryga  among others. Kevin’s horn playing has influenced by Miles Davis, Kenny Dorham, Don Cherry, Chet Baker, Woody Shaw, Tom Harrell among others. He, along with saxophonist Dave Say is co- leader of esq. He leads a trio under his own name that features guitarist Bill Coon and bassist André Lachance. Kevin is a member of guitarist/ composer Tony Wilson’s Sextet. Kevin has been jazz trumpet instructor at Capilano University since 2001.

Kevin has performed at many international jazz and music festivals including the Berlin Jazz Festival, Jazz em August in Lisbon, Portugal, the Montreal Jazz Festival, Musique Actuelle Festival – Victoriaville P.Q., Toronto Jazz Festival, Jazz City Festival - Edmonton and the Vancouver International Jazz Festival. He has recorded 3 albums as a leader or co-leader, Casual Coordinates with esq, Any Answers with the Elaschuk/Ryga Quartet on the Cellarlive label, Breakfast in Kamloops with esq and the Door with the Stratochiefs. He can be heard on Tony Wilson’s album Lowest Note on the Spool label. Kevin has recorded many radio programs for the Canadian Broadcast Corporation as a leader and as a sideman.

Alan Matheson

Alan Matheson is a Canadian trumpeter, pianist, composer and arranger. He studied with Vincent Cichowicz at Northwestern University in Chicago and graduated with a degree in performance.

Alan currently teaches trumpet and jazz piano at Vancouver's University of British Columbia and teaches in the Jazz Studies programs at Vancouver Community College and Capilano College.

He is the leader of his own big band, nonet and septet and has played with a wide variety of local groups, including the Vancouver Opera Orchestra, the Vancouver New Music Ensemble and the CBC Vancouver Orchestra.

Alan's jazz groups have been featured on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's radio programs and he has also directed the CBC Jazz Orchestra in two tributes to Paul Whiteman. Alan is the musical director of the "Festival Vancouver Jazz Orchestra" and has conducted for Clark Terry, Phil Woods, Bud Shank and Carol Welsman. He has also performed with Phil Woods, Mel Torme, Cleo Laine, Louis Bellson and Doc Cheatham. He has played at the Vancouver, Montreal and Paris Jazz festivals, and in Estonia with the Aldo Meristo Quintet and the Estonian Dream Big Band at the Tallinn, Tartu and Vosu jazz festivals. In fall 2000, he toured Finland and Sweden with the Helsinki City Jazz Orchestra. Alan's compositions and arrangements have been played by Bud Shank, Clark Terry, Sal Ferraras, Julia Nolan, Martin Hackleman and the "Touch of Brass" quintet.

Locally Alan has performed in the Arts Club productions of "Swing", "Sweeney Todd" and "My Fair Lady" and conducted the soundtrack for the "Monsters, Inc." video-game.

His musical influences include Duke Ellington, Billy Strayhorn, Woody Shaw and Bix Beiderbecke.

Robin Shier

Trumpeter Robin Shier's professional training includes two years at Humber College in Toronto, and four years at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston where he received both a Bachelor and a Master of Music degree. He also has a Bachelor of Education degree from the UBC.

From 1984-86 he lived in Halifax, working with Symphony Nova Scotia and playing numerous studio and freelance engagements. Since 1986 he has been very active in the music community in Vancouver. He is in demand in all disciplines of music including big bands, jazz combos, and the Vancouver Opera Orchestra.

His jazz group, the Robin Shier Quintet, has toured Canada many times, performing in virtually every major city in the country. The group has been assisted frequently by the Canada Council and has recorded both an LP and a CD for Unity Records. The Quintet has performed at many Canadian jazz festivals.

As a member of the Festival Vancouver Jazz Orchestra, he performed with Clark Terry in 2000 and 2003, and in 2002 with Phil Woods and Bud Shank. He is also a member of the Jill Townsend Big Band.

Robin Shier has been identified by Katie Malloch of CBC's national radio program Jazzbeat as "one of the finest composers in Canadian Jazz".