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ProjectsSHAWN BERESFORD & THE SOULUTION: The Soulution is a five piece Soul / R&B band made up of Bruce Cooper, Gary Johnston, Ian Taylor, Natasha Hartery & I. Delivering soulful renditions of classics from artists such as Al Green, Stevie Wonder & Billy Preston, along with a substantial offering of my original material. Bruce cooper - Drums: My longest standing musical partnership ... Me n Brucey have been together for 8 years. A monster player, Bruce is technically brilliant, versatile & has great groove & feel. His style is unique style & hard hitting; he also has this way of taking a song where I want it to go - Probably why he has been a constant fixture in any group Ive put together over the last 8 yrs!! Gary Johnston - Keys: Gary is exactly what I was looking for in a piano player - Again, extremely versatile & technically brilliant. Easily one of the finest musicians I've ever shared a stage with - The 'color' Gary brings to the project has taken us to another level!! Ian Taylor - Bass: Ian & I played together in Sweet Tooth, & shortly after that he left the province in search of greener pastures. After his return a few months ago, I took the opportunity to add him to the line-up. Needless to say, I'm pretty excited to have him back onstage with me!! Natasha Hartery - Sax: The latest addition to our line-up, Nat's been playing for 16 years, has a degree from St. FX in jazz saxophone & could write a book on how to bring the funk!! Primarily a Bari sax player, Nat also rips it on the Alto, has a great voice & plays a pretty savage tambourine!! MOJO: Covering artists such as BB King, Keb Mo, Robert Cray, Billy Preston & Stevie Wonder, MoJo has been bringing a unique blend of contemporary blues, funk & soul to the local music scene since the summer of 2002. The original lineup included myself, Geoff Smith on bass, Scott Hammond on guitar & Bruce Cooper on drums. We've seen some changes to that lineup since then ... In 2004, we were joined by 'monster sax-man' Craig Noseworthy. The following year, Craig took his expertise to Carnival Cruise Line as a staff musician & Jon Drover joined the band, as Scott Hammond left to pursue some opportunities to work in the recording industry. Later that year, Jeff Power stepped in when Geoff Smith moved on to work on another project, giving us our current lineup. Which brings us to one of my favorite highlights ... In 2006, with the help of MoJo-alum Scott Hammond, we finished recording & released our debut CD, simply titled 'MoJo' ( Which you can sample & purchase, directly through this site!! ). SHAWN BERESFORD TRIO: The trio consists of myself, Bruce Cooper on Drums & Mike Fardy on Bass. Covering artists like Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Colin James & Jacksoul, I would probably classify us as 'contemporary soul'. That said, we'll certainly be armed with our fair share of ferociously funky grooves as well. Most importantly, this group will also be bringing forth the largest offering of my original material, to date. That in itself has me pretty stoked! BAND HISTORY: In December 1995, I hit the stage with my first band, Apartment 401. Along with Scott Evans, Peter Slade & John Peddle, the band covered mostly classic rock. In August of 1996 I put together a new band, 'Sweet Tooth'. Although primarily blues based, the band also covered a fairly broad selection of rock, classic & current. In September of 2000, I re-emerged with bassist Jeff Power & Drummer Mike Crotty, in 'Groovehound'. This was my first experience with a trio & certainly pushed my playing to another level, being the only guitar player in the band. |
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