Steve Kaldestad

Born in Mississauga, Ontario, Steve grew up in a very musical family. Early on, his parents exposed him to classic recordings by such greats as The Irish Rovers, Sha Na Na, and Willie Nelson. Somehow this led him to the music of Duran Duran, and eventually the tenor saxophone, and the music of John Coltrane. After 7 years with the world famous Regina Lions Junior Band, Steve left high school with a General Motors Award of Excellence to attend McGill University, where he studied with trumpet great Kevin Dean and Montreal bebop legend pianist/drummer André White, graduating with high distinction in 1994. That same year, Steve spent a month at the Banff Jazz Workshop with Kenny Wheeler, Mick Goodrick, Pat LaBarbera and John Clayton. After spending 1995 in Toronto, Steve set up in Montreal again, recording a television special with singer Denzal Sinclaire as part of the 1996 Montreal Jazz Festival, and performing a concert with Maria Schneider at la Salle Gésu in 1997. He then spent a year in New York, taking lessons with jazz legend Lee Konitz and playing afternoon sessions with many great New York musicians. Steve returned to Montreal in summer 1998 and enrolled in McGill University’s Masters Degree in Jazz Performance, this time studying with composer/pianist Jan Jarczyk. A highlight of this period would be when Steve was joined by guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel for a weekend at Upstairs Jazz Club. In May of 2000, Steve recorded an album of original music with fellow McGill alumni Tilden Webb, Dave Laing, Mike Downs, and Dave Mossing. Steve moved to London, England in September 2000, where he played with many of the UK’s finest musicians, like Humphrey Lyttelton, Steve Fishwick, Mike Carr, Jim Mullen, Geoff Gascoyne, Sebastiaan DeKrom, Matt Wates, Tommy Whittle, Steve Brown, Colin Oxley, John Pearce, Dave Cliff, Kate Williams, to name more than a few. In April 2008, he made the big move back to Canada, and is now happily settled in beautiful Vancouver, BC, where he leads his own quartet and plays with the Jodi Proznick Quartet (winners of the 2008 National Jazz Award for best acoustic jazz group). Steve can also be heard on the upcoming Karl Jannuska CD release, "Thinking in Colours", on Effendi Records.