Rob Frayne (born 1957) is a Canadian jazz saxophonist, arranger and bandleader based in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. He was part of the bands

Chelsea Bridge Chelsea Bridge is a bridge over the River Thames in west London, connecting Chelsea on the north bank to Battersea on the south bank, and split between the City of Westminster, the London Borough of Wandsworth and the Royal Borough of Kensing ...

and the Angstones, but his career was interrupted by a serious car crash in 2004. Following that, he concentrated on composing, then made a gradual return to public playing.

Career

Frayne was born in 1957. He started playing the saxophone in his teens. "In the 1990s and early 2000s, Frayne was the premier saxophonist in Ottawa, his home town. He played in such groups as

and the Angstones. He had played with the Gil Evans Orchestra,

Kenny Wheeler Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards. Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he was also active ...

, and Toronto's costumed jazz cut-ups the Shuffle Demons. Outside of Canada, he played concerts in New York, Washington, Norway and the U.K." In 2004, Frayne was involved in a car crash, following which he had a stroke and was in hospital for over two months. He had "partial paralysis and a left lung that didn't work", so even following recovery his saxophone capability was reduced. He therefore concentrated on composing music, including for his Dream Band project, the first, 15-piece, iteration of which performed in 2012. Frayne returned to small-group public performance with a quartet gig in 2014. He continued with such appearances and commented four years later: "After getting hit by a truck, you don't really care so much about what people think ..I just play the stuff I really like, and feel good about it." In 2015, Frayne led an octet and the second edition of his Dream Band. He became music director of the Ottawa-based JazzWorks jazz camp in 2016. Another iteration of the Dream Band had performances in 2018.

Discography

As leader/co-leader

*''Rob Frayne Dreamband Home (Bowl of Notes Records, 2013) *''Skeezix I and II (Jazz Tunesy Records, 1998) *''Blues in a Sharp Sea'' (Unity, 1992) *''Tatamagouche...Next Left'' (Unity, 1994) *''Double Feature'' (Unity, 1995) Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Frayne, Rob 1957 births Musicians from Ottawa Canadian jazz saxophonists Male saxophonists Living people 21st-century saxophonists 21st-century Canadian male musicians Canadian male jazz musicians