Gigi Marentette
Geneviève (Gigi) Marentette lived in Hong Kong for 8 years, then Europe and now has returned to home town of Toronto. In March 2015 she released a six-song EP produced by George Koller and titled after her nickname “Gigi”. She was also featured in a duet with Hall of Fame vocalist David Clayton-Thomas on “Combo”, his latest record of jazz standards. In October 2015 she began producing a community concert called Cover One Another, featuring Toronto’s top artistes interpreting each others tunes. In one evening with Gigi you can expect to hear a mix of standards, modern interpretations, Brazilian, French and a bit of the Blues!
“She is, to me, the perfect balance of fragile beauty and a burning intensity that makes her and her music irresistible.” – Don Thompson (Canadian Jazz Giant, Order of Canada)
“A lovely muse of music…a femme fatale from film noir…jazz improvisation at its best…that’s Geneviève “Gigi” Marentette” – Don Franks (Actor, musician)
“This fresh new jazz singer puts as much originality into her covers of the newer repertoire as she does the standards from long ago. With the most minimal of backing, she makes all of this material exciting. ” – Mark Rheaume, CBC Radio
“I plan my calendar around Geneviève’s performances…You should too.” – Jaymz Bee JAZZFM.91
Lou Pomanti
Gemini award winner Lou Pomanti is one of Canada’s most accomplished composers, musicians, and musical directors. Lou’s original music and performances are featured on soundtracks and recordings heard all over the world.
Lou studied music at Humber College in Toronto in the Jazz Program. He was the recipient of The Duke Ellington Scholarship Award for Arranging.
In 1980 Lou received a call from David Clayton-Thomas to join the seminal jazz rock group Blood, Sweat and Tears and toured the world. It began a decades long assocation that culminated in 2010 with Lou producing DCT’s new CD “Soul Ballads” for Universal Records.
1983 saw the beginning of Lou’s session career as the #1 top call pianist/synthesist in Toronto. His playing and arranging has enhanced the recordings of Michael Buble, Gordon Lightfoot and Anne Murray; as well as Rock’s Kim Mitchell and Triumph. His record credits are a “Who’s Who’ of the Canadian recording industry.
The mid 90s saw his emergence as a prominent TV and Film composer, which continues to this day. The list of credits is too long to include here, with shows on CBC, CTV, Global, HBO, Showtime, HGTV, and many more.
The 90s also saw Lou’s emergence as one of the country’s top Musical Directors. Lou was the MD for the Canadian Songwriter’s Hall of Fame ( 6 times), The Gemini Awards ( 7 times ) , the Genie Awards ( 5 times ) and the Junos. Lou has written and MD’ed music for James Taylor, Herbie Hancock, Leonard Cohen and Michael Buble to name a few. Lou received his Gemini award for arranging and conducting “Both Sides Now” for Joni Mitchell’s induction. Lou also MD’ed the CBC TV show “Hockey Night in Canada Anthem Challenge” with megaproducer Bob Rock which found a new hockey anthem for Canada. He also conducted the orchestra for the CBC’s “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria” on live nationwide TV.
Most recently, Lou arranged the orchestra for Michael Buble’s smash hit “Haven’t Met You Yet”, which has sold over 7 million copies worldwide. He is currently at work on Michael Buble’s new CD due out later in 2013.
Lou was proud to have composed the music for the 2011 Pan Am Games Handover Ceremony in Guadalajara, an 8-minute suite for multimedia.
In 2012, the City of Toronto named a street after Lou to honour his accomplishments…
George Koller
As a bassist and multi-instrumentalist, George Koller has performed on over 900 cd’s, toured in almost every country in the world with superstars as diverse as Peter Gabriel, Loreena McKennitt, Holly Cole, the Shuffle Demons, Chaka Khan, Laila Biali, John McDermott, just to name a few. He has produced hundreds of cd’s -most recently for David Clayton-Thomas, and has presented numerous concerts -most recently as artistic director of the International Divas series. George was awarded bassist of the year at the 2007 National Jazz awards and has 12 eclectic albums out under his own name, the newest is entitled “secret space program”.
- George Koller (bass)
- Lou Pomanti (piano)
- Geneviève Marentette (voice)
