Cellar Booking is a boutique agency for performing jazz musicians under the umbrella of the Cellar Music Group. As a non-exclusive agency, we invite artists to work with us while still booking performances on their own, or with other partners.
Our clients are primarily artists who have recorded for our GRAMMY-winning Canadian jazz record label, Cellar Music. We’re currently working with celebrated vocalist Champian Fulton, New York’s Heavy Hitters featuring pianist Mike LeDonne and saxophonist Eric Alexander, the Groover Quartet, and more.
We launched Cellar Booking to make sure world-class musicians keep getting the gigs they deserve. We’re musicians ourselves and have a well-tuned understanding of what jazz performers need when it comes to North American touring – having developed live show opportunities across the continent for decades.
In addition to representing artists for tour booking, we have an extensive roster of musicians who service events and corporate gigs in our home region of Metro Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Cellar Booking is under the direction of jazz impresario and saxophonist Cory Weeds. We know that musicians need teammates who understand their art and can connect them with opportunities to take it further. We’re reliable communicators and long-term thinkers, here to empower jazz musicians and help further the cause of this timeless art form. Let’s book some shows!
Artists
Cory Weeds
A saxophonist with an expressive sound rooted in jazz tradition, a label owner tirelessly documenting unsung jazz heroes, one of Canada’s most important jazz impresarios, the hardest-working man in jazz business – Cory Weeds is all of these things, and much more. Cory has led the Cellar Music Group for over two decades to considerable acclaim. In addition to his work as an artist with 19 albums as a leader, Cory is available for corporate events and for speaking engagements on the business of music.
Champian Fulton
Pianist and vocalist Champian Fulton is a mainstay on the New York Jazz scene. She has performed with legendary artists including Lou Donaldson, Frank Wess, Scott Hamilton, Buster Williams, and Louis Hayes and has been cited as “the most gifted pure Jazz singer of her generation” (Mark Stryker). She has toured worldwide and has over a dozen recordings as a leader, including her latest, Meet Me at Birdland (2023). Champian is available as a solo artist with local rhythm sections or as a duo with Cory Weeds; the duo have recorded two albums on Cellar Music, Change Partners and Dream a Little…, and will release another album alongside an upcoming tour.
Jalen Baker
Vibraphonist Jalen Baker‘s debut release on Cellar Music, Be Still, features his quartet with pianist Paul Cornish, bassist Gabe Godoy, and drummer Gavin Moolchan. The six originals and three jazz classics on Be Still represent Jalen’s musical upbringing, his spiritual beliefs, and the reflective nature of the last couple of years. The band’s electric synergy on these dynamic compositions make for a captivating, fun listening experience. Based in Houston, Jalen has been an active performer with the Leon Anderson Quartet, with acclaimed drummer Ulysses Owens, and in his own band Musiki Tano.
Heavy Hitters
The Heavy Hitters is a sextet co-led by pianist Mike LeDonne and tenor saxophonist Eric Alexander, featuring some of the premiere purveyors of straight-ahead swinging jazz: Vincent Herring on alto saxophone, Jeremy Pelt on trumpet, Peter Washington on upright bass, and Kenny Washington on drums. The band makes soulful, kickass music that you would have heard on a Blue Note record back in the day. But not to look back… The Heavy Hitters is all about the NOW because it’s happening right now! Their debut record for Cellar Music, released in 2023, was recorded at Rudy Van Gelder’s studio.
Groover Quartet
Led by keyboardist Mike LeDonne, the Groover Quartet is an outlet for LeDonne’s love of the Hammond B-3 electric organ and funky jazz, soul, and R&B. Alongside LeDonne, the Groover Quartet features his equally adept bandmates, saxophonist Eric Alexander, guitarist Peter Bernstein, and drummer Joe Farnsworth. The group first grabbed audiences’ ears with its 2004 debut, Smokin’ Out Loud. Since then they’ve toured often and until the pandemic hit the band had a weekly spot at Smoke Jazz Club that lasted over 15 years.