Busty and the Bass Tickets

Busty and the Bass In Concert

Inspired by one band member's joke nickname and adopted the same week they first got together in Montreal, Busty and the Bass know just how goofy their name might sound. But anyone who hears them can have no doubt about how seriously these eight players take their music. Since besting hundreds of competitors to win the CBC and TD Bank's Rock Your Campus contest to earn the title of Canada's Top University Band in 2014, Busty and the Bass have thrilled audiences in Canada, the U.S., and Europe with a brass-heavy, groove-forward sound that mixes soul, jazz, funk, and hip-hop.

Busty and the Bass' remarkable diversity of styles is a result of the members' many backgrounds and influences. The players originally came from all over Canada and the U.S. to study at McGill University's Schulich School of Music. They found a common musical language during their first jam session at a house party hosted by guitarist Louis Stein. They soon developed a forte for radically revamping R&B favorites and other hits to with their arsenal of horns. A startlingly funky cover of "I Try" earned some love from Macy Gray herself.

Their palette expanded when alto-sax player Nick Ferraro and keyboardist Alistair Blu began showing off their singing and rapping skills. Their fellow founding members — trumpeter Scott Bevins, trombonist Chris Vincent, bassist Milo Johnson, keyboardist Eric Haynes, and drummer Julian Trivers – gained in confidence as well.

Following their triumph in Rock Your Campus, they released the first in a series of exuberant EPs, signed with Montreal's Indica Records, and made breakout appearances at Montreal's Osheaga Music and Arts Festival and Paris' Fête de la Musique. Produced and mixed by Neal Pogue (OutKast, TLC) and released in 2017, their debut album Uncommon Good showcased a sound that encompassed everything from the brassy R&B strut of "Free Shoes" to the supple neo-soul of single "Common Ground."

The same year, Busty and the Bass showed what they could do in front of their biggest audience yet when they opened for Anderson.Paak before a crowd of over 80,000 at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. In December 2018, a run of three shows at the Mod Club in Toronto confirmed their prowess as headliners, too.