Racer Session #578 | Evan Shay | Sunday April 7, 2024

Very very excited to kick off April’s Racer Sessions with Quebec-based Seattle Native Evan Shay! Music this Sunday at 7pm.

Evan Shay is a saxophonist and composer based in Montreal. He completed a Master’s Degree in Jazz Performance at McGill University, where he was presented with the Graduate Excellence Fellowship Award. While earning his Bachelor of Music, also at McGill, he was awarded the prestigious four-year Seymour Schulich Scholarship, and he earned the top distinction of Outstanding Achievement in Jazz Saxophone. Evan was a member of the McGill Jazz Orchestra I for three years, and the McGill Chamber Jazz Ensemble.

In 2017, Evan was named one of the “35 Best Canadian Jazz Artists Under 35” by CBC Music. His self titled CD, Lawful Citizen, was included in the “Favourite Fifty of 2017” by Dominionated online music publication. Evan toured Canada and France as a member of the multilingual hip-hop group, Nomadic Massive. He also toured Quebec and Ontario with Lawful Citizen. Previously, he was awarded an Exceptional Artist Award and featured at the National Arts Centre. Selected by a jury at the biannual jazz festival held in Switzerland, Evan toured with the Generations Unit Band. In Europe, Evan has performed with several bands at the Umbria Jazz Festival, Jazz à Vienne, Les Transes Cévenoles, La Fête du Cognac, and the F’estival Les Pépites. In Canada, he has performed at the Ottawa, Mont Tremblant, Montreal, Rimouski, Saskatoon, Toronto, Vancouver, Victoria, and Winnipeg Jazz Festivals. Evan travelled to Iqaluit, Nunavut to perform at the Alianait Arts Festival. He has also performed at major venues in North America. He has worked with artists such as Backroad Gee, Planet Giza, Potatohead People, Nomadic Massive, Waahli, Chet Doxas, Charles August, Beach Season, and No Cosmos.

Photo of Evan Shay by Francis Leduc-Bélanger

“Over the past five years, I have been developing my identity as a producer and beatmaker. I have been experimenting with new ways of bringing together the jazz and hip-hop worlds in new ways. Recently, I began an improvised acoustic-electronic trio called V.S.T. with two of my closest friends and collaborators Scott Bevins on trumpet/electronics and Kyle Hutchins on drums/electronics. Key to the group’s sound is that each member, in addition to their acoustic instrument, simultaneously performs with electronics – live sampling, looping, and playing synthesizers. The resulting sound careens between avant-garde jazz, ambient music, hip-hop, and drum & bass. This proudly wide-ranging sense of influence is partly due to each member’s experience collaborating in Montreal’s deeply eclectic music scene.

“For this Racer Sessions, I will be incorporating elements of V.S.T. in a duo performance with Evan Woodle on drums.” - Evan Shay