EPK
BIO
Origin: St. John's, Newfoundland & Labrador, Canada
Genre: Alternative Jazz
Years Active: 2013 - Present
Official Websites: bigspaceband.com; bigspace.bandcamp.com
Big Space is an Alternative Jazz trio featuring guitarist Grant King, bassist Ian Murphy and drummer Ashley Chalmers.
Formed in 2013 and based in St. John's, Newfoundland, Big Space plays an original mix of progressive jazz fusion, instrumental rock and atmospheric soundscapes.
In 2016 Big Space released Live at The Levee, a live audio-visual album.
Their 2021 studio debut In Relation To won ECMA Jazz Recording of the Year, awarded to the best jazz album in Atlantic Canada. The album's unique alternative/jazz crossover style garnered praise from rock and jazz media in Canada and abroad.
Big Space is currently working on their next album.
MUSIC
PRESS HIGHLIGHTS
"In Relation To is a brilliantly original album with a free, improvised feel, but also with sections of intense complexity."
- Jazz Journal
"Big Space takes listeners on a dizzying jazz-rock journey that demonstrates the band’s technical chops and dynamic creativity" - DOMINIONATED
"Equal parts technically impressive and refreshingly easy on the ears...the trio’s firm grasp of the songwriting process is consistently on display"
- The Whole Note
"This live-tracked record is an immensely enjoyable and well-balanced set of instrumental pieces."
- The East
"...a surprising journey into sonic worlds that skillfully mix rock, indie, jazz and funk"
- Jazz Espresso
"In Relation To takes the listener on a pretty awesome journey from start to finish."
- Heavy NFLD
EXTENDED BIO
Big Space is a genre-bending band that blends jazz improvisation with rock instrumentation, incorporating the sounds of instrumental post-rock. Guitarist Grant King is a graduate of Berklee College of Music and the Longy School of Music, who also studied privately for years with legendary 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.
Formed in 2013, Big Space has performed at the Lawnya Vawnya festival, the St. John's International Sound Symposium, the Music at Harbourside Series, Brokestfest, 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 studio debut 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 praise 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 Relation To won an ECMA award for Jazz Recording of the Year, awarded to the best jazz album in Atlantic Canada. In 2022, band was honoured to receive the Gerry Porter Award for Creative Improvised Music at Sound Symposium XX. That year Big Space was also performed as a showcasing artist at MusicNL's Music Celebration Week.
From the band's beginning, improvisation has been a cornerstone of their sound. Through many live shows in the 10+ 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.