The Canadian Jazz Collective (CJC) is a newly created group of established & award-winning Canadian jazz artists, which takes a collaborative approach to the presentation of original Canadian jazz on the international market. The Collective’s repertoire consists of original compositions from the group’s co-leaders, saxophonist Kirk MacDonald, trumpeter Derrick Gardner, and guitarist Lorne Lofsky. The CJC Septet also includes rising star clarinetist Virginia MacDonald, bassist Neil Swainson, pianist Brian Dickinson, & Belgian drummer Bernd Reiter. The Canadian Jazz Collective was formed in 2022 with the purpose of creative collaboration; the blending of three unique artistic voices, & developing new performance ensembles for their works, in order to showcase their virtuosic, world-class artistry & original compositions to new international audiences.
The CJC’s debut album, “Septology-The Black Forrest Session”, was recorded during the first of two highly successful European tours (May 2022 & May 2023) entirely off the floor on “reel-to-reel analog” in the legendary MPS Studio in Villingen, Germany, the same facility in which jazz pianist Oscar Peterson recorded his iconic albums of the 1960’s.