Mike Downes

Mike Downes is a Toronto bassist, composer, arranger, producer, and educator whose projects range from quartets and chamber ensembles to solo-bass work.

Acoustic bassElectric bassComposerArranger3 current shows

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Photo source · Photo: MorayBlvd, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Career Overview

About Mike Downes

Downes's official biography follows his development on bass, trombone, and piano, his move to Toronto in 1990, and a career as a performer, composer, arranger, producer, and educator. It documents eight leader albums and extensive work in Canadian and international ensembles.[1]

His leader catalog moves from the Mike Downes Quartet into the eleven-piece Parallel Streams Ensemble, the solo-bass recording Mind Mirrors, and the drummerless trio heard on The Way In. The artist site keeps full-album streams and personnel notes for each phase.[1][2][5][4]

Ensembles and Career Threads

Bands & Projects

Leader, bassist, and composer

Mike Downes Quartet

Formed 1994

The quartet developed from Downes's original group with Phil Dwyer, Dave Restivo, and Ted Warren into the later Robi Botos, Ted Quinlan, and Larnell Lewis lineup heard on Root Structure.[1][2][3]

Leader, bassist, composer, arranger, and conductor

Parallel Streams Ensemble

Downes's eleven-piece chamber-jazz ensemble uses winds, brass, guitar, keyboards, bass, and drums to explore his large-ensemble writing.[2]

Solo bassist, author, and educator

Solo bass and education

The official biography places the solo-bass album Mind Mirrors beside Downes's Jazz Bass Line Book and more than two decades leading the bass department at Humber College.[1][4]

Selected, Not Exhaustive

Recordings to Know

2017

Root Structure

Quartet leader, bassist, and composer

Root Structure features Downes with Robi Botos, Ted Quinlan, and Larnell Lewis in a program centered on his compositions.[1][3]

Release details

2022

Mind Mirrors

Solo bassist and composer

Mind Mirrors is the solo-bass branch of Downes's catalog, recorded between his quartet and later trio projects.[1][4]

Release details

2024

The Way In

Leader, bassist, composer, and producer

The drummerless trio pairs Downes with Robi Botos and Ted Quinlan, with percussion added by Joaquin Nunez Hidalgo and Davide Di Renzo on selected tracks.[1][5]

Release details

Artist-Authorized Destinations