45north band

01 Little Sunflower excerpt.mp3

Until recently I have also been baritone sax in the nonet 'Alternate Takes' and we released our 2nd CD at our concert at Merrickville's Jazz Fest in Oct 2018 - the tune above is an excerpt from the first track on that CD, Little Sunflower

You can purchase copies of Alternate Takes CD 'Urban Flower' at the Alternate Takes web site

- recordings of 45north below -

45north band

45north band is a 5-piece band - trumpet, sax, piano, bass and drums. We perform a varied repertoire of great jazz tunes, many by Canadian artists. Our arrangements are done by us, Jean Trudel has done many, or by others specifically for 45north. For Canada's 150th celebrations in 2017 we added a group of tunes to our repertoire that were non-jazz tunes but all by Canadians. We have now reverted back to our all jazz repertoire, a short list is below, and we are now adding a number or original tunes as well as we continue to refine our book. Our tunes tend to be lyrical and melody driven and thus accessible both to jazz audiences and non-jazz audiences alike.

Contact Ralph Hopper for booking information or inquiries: email phone: 613-833-3509 - cell: 613-882-8464

45north is: Ralph Hopper, saxes; Jean Trudel, trumpet/flugel; Paul O'Connor, keyboards; Paul Soble, bass; Bill Brown, drums

A sample listing of tunes by Canadian artists that form the core of our repertoire:

Dissfunktion by Manteca
Honeydew Harbour by David Restivo [Toronto]
Fissure, Mistaken Convergence and Other Fascination by Nick MacLean [Snaggle - Toronto]
Cowboy Bebop and The Work Song by David Braid [Toronto]
Stanstill and Sonny's Way by Mike Murley [Toronto]
Blue Jeans and LeBreton Flats by Rob Lussier [Ottawa]
Blue Jade by Joe Sealy [Toronto]
Hockey Night in Canada theme arranged by Jean Trudel
Intrada by Alan Matheson [Vancouver]
Jazz Dance by Paul Novotny [Toronto]
In The Blues Garden and Sundown Comin' and Swamp Gator Crawl by Bill King [Toronto]
Search Warrant and Mr. Hitchens by Cameron Wallis - Montreal Hard Bop 5
Signal to Noise and Dimpled Chad by Jean Trudel
Eight By Eight and Green's 'N Blues by Ralph Hopper
Let's Go by Tilden Webb and Cory Weeds [Vancouver]
The Pour by Ross Taggart and Cory Weeds [Vancouver]
Open Season by Brian Dickinson
Ubiquitous by Neil Swainson
Cedar by Brad Turner
Spies and Merge by Dave Robbins
- Some non-Canadian tunes
Gypsy Blue and Open Sesame by Tina Brooks
Five Spot After Dark by Benny Golson
Alter Ego by James Williams
Chant for Bu by Mickey Bass
Hand of Love by Paul Chambers
Sudel and Big Bertha by Duke Pearson
Ale House Rock by Rick Hirsch
Line For Lyons and Festive Minor and Soft Shoe by Gerry Mulligan
Manaus by John Fedchock
Can't Wait For Perfect and Down South by Bob Reynolds
Blues for T.H. and Nice Groove and Tears Forever by Reed Kotler [arr by Bobby Shew]
I Know You and An Elusive Man by Gordon Goodwin
Dance of Denial by Michael Philip
November Afternoon by Tom McIntosh [Jazztet]
Totem Pole and Speedball by Lee Morgan
Wahoo and Sudel by Duke Pearson
Three In One by Wayne Wallace

Click here to contact me for information, available dates and rates.

A few of our recent gigs:

May 5, 2019, Industria Pizzeria + Bar

Apr 27, 2019, Fatboys Southern Smokehouse

2018

June 26, 2018, Ottawa Jazz Festival, this was a one hour set in Confederation Park - oooohhh was that a hot day! Loved it and the audience was great.

July 1, 2018,Canada Day celebrations in Merrickville. Again, soooooo hot but a great time. Thanks Merrickville

2017:

45north performed the opening concert at Merrickville's Jazz Fest on Oct 12. We performed an all Canadian jazz set

May 20, we played at Greenfields Gastro Pub, Barrhaven

April 1, great time at Fatboys once again. A couple of photos below...

2016

December 20, we played at the Rainbow Bistro, Murray St

December 17, we played at Fatboys Smokehouse, Murray St

Dec 11, we played at the Record Centre, Wellington St - see review below...

Sept - Les Brasseurs du Temps - we had a great time playing to a full house

Here's the recordings we have. 'LeBreton Flats' is a full length version from our recording session in March 2017 - a tune written by Rob Lussier. The others here include short versions of 45north performing 'Blue Jeans', another tune written by Rob Lussier who is from Ottawa; 'Honeydew Harbour' a wonderful grooving tune by David Restivo; 'Dissfunktion', by Manteca from their CD 'Onward'; 'Work Song' is by David Braid. 'Stanstill' is a Mike Murley tune .

Open Season [Brian Dickinson] and Blue Jade [Joe Sealy] are off the floor recordings from our gig at Fatboys in April 2019