JESSE RYAN & BRIDGES

Jesse Ryan & Bridges is anticipating the release of their EP “Bridges” in the summer of 2017. His band; an emerging, eclectic quintet, is poised to take Caribbean jazz out of its niche of ethnic fusion into the mainstream, with its fusion of jazz and Afro-Caribbean music. A true celebration of the cultural, rhythmic and expressive connections between North America and the islands.

 Jesse grew up in Port of Spain, Trinidad surrounded by a rich heritage of music. Being the grandson of one of the islands’ calypso veterans, Clifton Ryan, aka the “Mighty Bomber”, perhaps it is no surprise that he has steadily earned his place as one of Trinidad’s bright, young stars. In 2008, he received a partial scholarship to attend Berklee College of Music, and is currently completing his studies at Humber College, Canada. At Humber he has had the opportunity to study and interact with some of Toronto’s finest and world-renowned musicians and educators including Nick Morgan, Kirk Mac Donald, Pat La Barbera, Luis Deniz, Hilario Duran, Geoff Young and Neil Swainson.

 He has played many of the major festivals and venues around the across the island of Trinidad and Tobago, Caribbean and Toronto including the annual Jazz Artists on the Green’s, Tobago Jazz experience, Mt. Irvine Jazz on the Beach, Virgin Gorda Jazz Festival (British Virgin Islands), Beaches Jazz Festival (Toronto), The Rex (Toronto) and the Jazz Bistro (Toronto). Last summer, Jesse had the distinct pleasure of sharing with stage with New York based, Canadian saxophonist Seamus Blake and jazz piano legend Harold Mayburn while attending the Youth Jazz Canada Workshop, and just this spring he had the opportunity to perform and recorded with saxophonists Joe Lovano and Donny Mc Caslin, playing lead alto with Humber’s studio jazz ensemble.

 His soulful sound continues to capture audiences all over, as he reflects on his source, God, the Great Musician. Ryan say’s, “I consider myself to be bilingual; music is my second language and is the universal language of the soul. Nothing else moves people like music does”