BIG SPACE
Big Space is an instrumental progressive jazz trio from St. John’s, NL. Formed in 2013, the band features guitarist Grant King, bassist Ian Murphy, and drummer Ashley Chalmers. Their 2021 album “In Relation To” was acclaimed by jazz and alternative media in Canada and abroad, with Jazz Journal praising it as “a brilliantly original album” and DOMINIONATED calling it “a dizzying jazz-rock journey”.
Big Space plays an original mix of jazz and other genres like post-rock, math rock and prog, with a focus on live improvisation. They have performed at prominent festivals like Lawnya Vawnya, the St. John's Sound Symposium, and the Wreckhouse Jazz & Blues Festival. In 2016 they released “Live at the Levee”, a live audio/video album.
Their 2021 album “In Relation To” was recorded live-in-studio without overdubs to capture the interplay between the three musicians, and mastered by Nate Wood of the jazz fusion band Kneebody. The album ranges from contemporary jazz fusion to instrumental rock and atmospheric soundscapes, and its unique alternative/jazz crossover style garnered international attention from rock and jazz media.
"In Relation To" is nominated for ECMA Jazz Recording of the Year. In 2022, Big Space received the Gerry Porter Award for Creative Improvised Music. They were also nominated for MusicNL Instrumental Artist of the Year and selected for a showcase performance at MusicNL’s Music Celebration Week. The band is currently working on their next album.
EXTENDED BIO
Formed in 2013, Big Space has been featured at the Lawnya Vawnya festival, the St. John's International Sound Symposium, the Music at Harbourside Series, and the Wreckhouse International Jazz & Blues Festival. They self-released a live album in 2016, Live at the Levee, which also included live videos for each song. The album was featured on CBC radio's First Listen, and the band was also invited by CBC TV to film two live-in-studio performances for their "Parkway Sessions" series.
In 2021 Big Space released their follow-up record In Relation To. It was recorded live-in-studio with no overdubs to capture the interplay between the three musicians, and mastered by Nate Wood of the jazz fusion band Kneebody. In Relation To received favourable reviews from both jazz and alternative media in Canada and abroad, with the UK’s Jazz Journal praising it as “a brilliantly original album” and DOMINIONATED calling it “a dizzying jazz-rock journey”.
In 2022, band was honoured to receive the Gerry Porter Award for Creative Improvised Music at Sound Symposium XX. Big Space was also nominated for MusicNL 2022 Instrumental Artist of the Year, and was a showcasing artist at MusicNL's 2022 Music Celebration Week.
Big Space is a genre-bending band that blends jazz with post-rock, math rock, progressive rock and other styles. Guitarist Grant King is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and the Longy School of Music, who also studied privately for years with the late jazz educator Charlie Banacos. Bassist Ian Murphy is a longtime musical collaborator of Grant's, while drummer Ashley Chalmers also studied jazz at St. FX in Nova Scotia.
From the band's beginning, improvisation has been a cornerstone of their sound. Through many live shows in the 9 years they've been together Big Space has developed their own improvisational language and an ability to seemingly read each other's minds. Their energetic shows are propelled by technically impressive playing and compositions, imaginative improvisations, and immersive sound experiments.
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