Jazz Night with Music Conference Alberta

Some of the artists on the label will be collaborating with some of MacEwan’s music students and outside musicians to perform at Music Conference Alberta this weekend! As a part of the Alberta Emerging Musicians Festival, Mallory Chipman, Chandelle Rimmer and Tom Van Seters will be performing with the MacEwan University Big Band (directed by Ray Baril), the MacEwan University Jazz Combo (directed by Kent Sangster), and will feature a special guest trumpeter Terell Stafford. Chandelle and Tom will also be performing a few tunes from their latest release, Stillness Falls.

This is going to be an exciting performance as it will showcase our local MacEwan community including staff and students, as well as showcase international performers to the Alberta Music community who is in town for the conference.

The performance is on Saturday, October 27th at 7:00pm in the Betty Andrews Recital Hall in Allard Hall at MacEwan University.

Click here to grab some tickets (non-delegate tickets available), and have a peak at some more information about the musicians in both The Big Band and Jazz Combo, as well as more information on the visiting trumpet player Terell Stafford.

Celebrating Tommy Banks – Oct 21, 2018 (Calgary, AB)

One of our artists is going to be a part of a very exciting tribute to Edmonton’s own, Tommy Banks. There is a celebration for Mr. Banks, the renowned pianist, conductor, arranger, composer, television personality and senator, who contributed widely to the Edmonton music community. Our own Mallory Chipman is going to be performing in Calgary, Alberta (tonight!) on Sunday, October 21, 2018, at River Park Church.

For more details on the event click here!

You Say Goodbye, I Say Hello…

Hello friends! We would like to let you know that we have some changes happening here at Bent River Records, and we wanted to take some time to say a fond farewell and a warm hello (all at the same time). We are taking on a new practicum student who will be handling our distribution and artist presence. What this really means is she will be walking around MacEwan campus ensuring that our artists (and their records) will be available at places like the MacEwan Bookstore. Make sure to say hello to her when you see her carrying armloads of albums from our artists!

Photo credit: Kylee Thompson Photography (Hire this woman! She is amazing!)

“I am thrilled to become a part of the Bent River Records team and can’t wait to apply my 12 years of music industry experience to work at this amazing label! This is really going to be a new chapter for me in the music industry and I am happy to share it with the BRR team.”

— Odessa Ashbey, Distribution and placement

Odessa Ashbey has been working within the Edmonton metal community as an artist manager for Edmonton death metal/murder metal band Tales Of The Tomb, live music promoter, and arts manager. She has previously been a mentor at BreakOut West and has been working with Asher Media Relations (AMR) as a publicist for the past 5 years. Some of her past publicity clients include Wormwitch, Protosequence, Death Toll Rising, and other western Canadian metal acts. Her new role at Bent River Records includes distribution and placement of artists.

Photo credit: Batul Gulamhusein

Feel free to add her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.

With a new hello comes a very fond farewell and endless gratitude for our own label artist and A&R Representative, Mallory Chipman. Fear not! She is still going to be an artist on our roster, but will be departing to work on some exciting projects, and we want to wish her the best!

Check out her most recent release ‘Rags and Feathers: A Tribute To Leonard Cohen’ here.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates from the BRR team right here on our blog!

Back to School with Bent River Records!

Welcome back, friends and fans! We know it’s been a minute since you’ve heard from us on our blog, but we’re back more inspired than ever after an action-packed couple of months! Our artists spent this summer recording new music for your ears and touring music festivals throughout Canada and Europe, spreading the Bent River name across the globe. Even though summer is drawing to a close, Bent River Records is cooking up some really hot projects this year to keep you warm through the winter.

Bent River Records Recording Competition winner, Nature Of, is releasing their forthcoming album in 2019 after an incredible year working with BRR’s own Paul Johnston and Montreal-based Marcus Paquin; Kent Sangster’s Obsessions Octet is launching a new record; and trumpeter/organist extraordinaire, Kevin Dean, will be teaming up with Bent River Records for a brand new record…and, without giving too much away, let’s just say that there will be vinyl involved 😉

As always Bent River Records will be hosting our annual Artist Spotlight to celebrate the new albums on the label this year, so save the date for Tuesday, April 9th, 2019 and stay tuned for details about the show!

2018 Artist Spotlight

On April 17th, we gathered in the Triffo Theatre to celebrate the 2017/2018 successes of Bent River Records!

The evening consisted of a reception with food, beverages, a table to purchase Bent River Records merchandise, and a photobooth station! There were three wonderful performances by Chandelle Rimmer and Tom Van Seters (Stillness Falls), Josh Rager (Jondo), and Mallory Chipman (Rags and Feathers: A Tribute to Leonard Cohen), who all performed tunes from their latest releases on Bent River Records.

The winners of last year’s competition – Nature Of – joined the emcees on stage, and endearingly discussed working with Paul Johnston and Marcus Paquin (and hilariously compared their relationship to two parents). Marcus sent his well wishes via video message from Montréal, and then our team here at Bent River Records held an after-party in the atrium. We could not have pulled this night off without the support of everyone who was involved – and we want to share our sincerest thank-you’s! We are all looking forward to the next year, and we can’t wait for you to see what is to come!