Bio

Jesse Zubot, of Vancouver, B.C., is a founding member of the acoustic-roots ensemble 'Zubot & Dawson'. Their recent recording was produced by Lee Townsend (Bill Frisell, John Scofield) and released on True North Records in Canada. Zubot is also a member of the Great Uncles of the Revolution which includes well-known Toronto bassist Andrew Downing and trumpeter Kevin Turcotte. Both of these recording acts are Juno Award winners. Recently, Jesse has delved heavily into the world of creative & improvised music. In the past few years he has performed and recorded with the likes of François Houle, Eugene Chadbourne, Evan Parker, Secret Mommy, Torsten Muller, Dave Douglas, Peggy Lee, Matthew Bourne, Orkestra Rova, Dylan van der Schyff, Tony Wilson, Fred Frith, Ron Samworth, Dylan van der Schyff, Nels Cline, Humcrush, David Tronzo, Gerry Hemingway, Henry Kaiser and many others. Jesse has also worked with many contemporary artists such as Kelly Joe Phelps, Hawksley Workman, Veda Hille, The Buttless Chaps, Oh Susannna, The Be Good Tanyas and Stars. In 2005, Jesse released two albums entitled LaConnor and Zubotta on his new DRIP AUDIO label. LaConnor, a disordered electro-acoustic album, ended up on many year end best-of lists including Exclaim! Magazine's Top Ten Experimental/Avant-Garde albums and received airplay on CBC Radio 2's Brave New Waves. Jesse's recent solo album, Dementia (2006), has been hailed by the Vancouver Sun as "...an extraordinary multi-instrumental abstraction" and by The Wire as "Idiosyncratic and well worth seeking out." ZMF Trio (2007), with the renowned free jazz bassist Joe Fonda (New York) and Jean Martin (Toronto) on drums is his newest release. Jesse was named 'Violinist of the Year' at Canada's National Jazz Awards in 2003, 2008 & 2009.

Some of Jesse's performance highlights in the past few years include The Mulhouse Jazz Festival (France), The Monterey Jazz Festival, The Winnipeg New Music Festival, Festival International de Musique Actuelle (Victoriavillle, Quebec), Era Jazzu (Poland), The Montreal International Jazz Festival, the New York Guitar Festival, The Guelph Jazz Festival, Traz & Folk Fest (Rudolstadt, Germany), The Vancouver International Jazz Festival, The Calgary Folk Festival, Spilimbergo Folkfest (Italy) and The Atlantic Jazz Festival (Halifax, NS).

Current Working Projects

ZMF TRIO - ZMF Trio straddles the lines somewhere between old-school free jazz, contemporary composition and improvisation. The music of ZMF Trio is as uncompromising and aggressive as it is beautifully serene. This multi-national trio is comprised of Jesse Zubot (violin/Vancouver), Jean Martin (drums/Toronto) and Joe Fonda (bass/New York).

FOND OF TIGERS - This Vancouver band features seven of Vancouver’s leading creative musicians, their nuances and layers explore musical possibilities that range from the smallest gesture of extended technique to full-on bombastic avant rock. Compelling, hypnotic, and absolutely post-everything, this double-drum-kit-led band’s exhilarating ordered chaos emerges from a visceral combination of meticulous odd-time composition and improvisational abandon. Their debut CD, a thing to live with (Drip Audio), was named one of the best releases of 2006 by Coda.

JESSE ZUBOT (SOLO) - Jesse's current solo show combines solo improvised violin methods with minimal electronic-influenced sound design. The music stems from his current solo album Dementia.

Commissions

Composition entitled "THE REAR GUARD" with Old Man Luedecke for Symphony Nova Scotia performed by Symphony Nova Scotia (Feb. 20, 2009) *commissioned by the CBC.

Score for "LUNAR ROUGE" performed by The Tomorrow Collective at Vancouver's Dancing On The Edge festival (2008) & The Guelph Contemporary Dance Festival (June 2009) - Choreographer: Chick Snipper

Score for "BODY SCAN" performed at Antipodes '08 Festival Des Arts Indisciplinaires (Brest, France: March 5-8, 2008), Centre Pompidou (Paris, France: March 25-28, 2009) & Festival Transamériques (Montreal, QC: May 30-June 1, 2009 )- Choreographer: Benoît Lachambre & Su-Feh Lee

Composition for "THE WHOLE BEAST" performed at Antipodes '08 Festival Des Arts Indisciplinaires (Brest, France: March 5-8, 2008) & Unodance (Victoria, BC: May 21-23, 2009) - Choreographer: Su-Feh Lee

Composition entitled "INTOLERABLE DISTANCE" for Winnipeg's New Music Festival performed by The Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra (Feb. 7, 2008) *commissioned by the CBC.

Composition entitled "ROUNDS" for the Longest Night festival (Whitehorse, Yukon - Dec. 2007)

Score for "YOU ARE HERE" performed by The Tomorrow Collective at Vancouver's Dancing On The Edge festival (2006) - Choreographer: Susan Elliott *winner of People's Choice Award