JabFung is the brainchild of Toronto-based bassist, Julian Anderson-Bowes, and LA- based drummer Anthony Fung. Since 2014, the band has had a semi-annual residency at the Rex Hotel in downtown Toronto where they have brought together local and international artists to rehearse and perform their original music. During these residencies they have featured a shifting cast of Canadian jazz icons like Kirk MacDonald, and Kelly Jefferson, as well as American counterparts like George Garzone and peers of their own generation, such as Simon Moullier, Isaac Wilson, Andrew Marzotto and Mingjia Chen.
Over the last year however, the cast of JabFung has stabilized with the birth of a creative connection between the two leaders and two world renowned and Juno- nominated Cuban-Canadian musicians, Luis Deniz (saxophone) and Rafael Zaldivar (piano). In summer of 2023, the quartet did a four-night run of concerts at the Rex Hotel and discovered a musical dialogue based in trust and a shared vision for musical expression that was impossible for them, and their audiences to ignore. This musical spark led them to spend a day in the studio in the early spring of 2024 recording their first album Epoch, a collection of songs written by Anthony and Julian specifically for the quartet.
Epoch features 8 original compositions (four by Fung and four by Anderson-Bowes) as well as an unplanned version of the beautiful Thelonious Monk ballad, “Ask Me Now,” which captures the essence of a life- long friendship and musical bond between Zaldivar and Deniz, who grew up together studying music in Camagüey, Cuba. The album is a snapshot into a decade-long collaboration that spans cultures and generations, and is imbued with a profound mutuality and musical vision shared among these four powerful musicians. Epoch releases in May of 2025.
Personnel:
Anthony Fung-drums
Luis Deniz-alto saxophone
Raphael Zaldivar-piano
Julian Anderson-Bowes-bass
Check out: “Live at the Montreal Jazz Festival 2024” “The Valley” “I’ll Remember April”
