Pete Johnston was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, Canada, and is the son of a high school music teacher and a Baptist Church pianist. He studied music composition and double bass at Dalhousie University, alternating scholarly endeavours with tours of North America as part of the Johnny Favourite Swing Orchestra, with whom he won a Juno Award in 1999. After completing his studies at Dalhousie in 2000 Pete moved to Toronto and began working as a freelance musician, guitar teacher, novel editor, and telemarketer. Following several lost years in the part-time employment trenches, Pete returned to the academy, completing a Master’s degree in composition in 2005 and a Ph.D. in ethnomusicology in 2009, both at York University. As part of his doctoral research he spent the 2006/07 academic year in London, England, where he performed for Queen Elizabeth II. Since completing his Ph.D. Pete has resumed his work as a freelance bassist and music educator in Toronto, which includes performing regularly with the groups See Through Trio, See Through 5, and Aurochs, and teaching at Ryerson University and Humber College. In 2011 Pete had the great fortune of being awarded a Chalmers Professional Development Grant from the Ontario Arts Council to study with renowned bassists Barre Phillips and Gary Peacock. He currently teaches at Toronto Metropolitan University and University of Toronto

Full CV available here.

 

Interview

Conducted by Paula Fayerman on Noise, from CJSW in Calgary, Alberta. 12 July 2018.

Education

2010 - Ph.D., Ethnomusicology, York University

2005 - M.A., Music Composition, York University

2000 - B.Mus., Concentration in Composition, Dalhousie University

Teaching Positions

University of Toronto - Sessional Lecturer, 2021-present

Courses taught: Jazz History, Seminar in Jazz Studies, Small Jazz Ensemble

Toronto Metropolitan University - Sessional Lecturer, 2014-Present

Courses taught: History of Popular Music, Music of World Cultures, Social Issues in Popular Music, Global Popular Music

Humber College - Sessional Lecturer, 2014-2021

Courses taught: Critical Perspectives in Contemporary Music, Music of World Cultures, Music in Contemporary Society, Music in Canada

Conductor of the Toronto All-Star Big Band, 2010-2014

Publications

“Teaching Improvisation and the Pedagogical History of the Jimmy Giuffre 3." International Journal of Music Education 31, no. 4 (2013): 383-393

"Labour, Creativity, and the Politics of Profit in the Improvised Music Field." Critical Studies in Improvisation 9, no. 1 (2014)

“Contemporary Compositions for Beginning Jazz Ensemble: A Progressive Method To Teaching Jazz Improvisation and Ensemble Performance Practices” (2006), self-published

Northern Static - Conversations with Canadian Composers (podcast)

Awards

1999 - Juno Award for "Best New Group" as a member of the Johnny Favourite Swing Orchestra

1998 - East Coast Music Award for "Best Jazz Album" as a member of the Johnny Favourite Swing Orchestra for the album The Life Desire

Recordings

As a leader

2023

Stranger Still - The Songs Which Are (All-Set! Editions)

2021

See Through 4 - Permanent Moving Parts (All-Set! Editions)

2020

See Through 4 - False Ghosts, Minor Fears (All-Set! Editions)

See Through 4- Bog Standards (All-Set! Editions)

2019

Stranger Still - Songs of Bread, Wine and Salt (All-Set! Editions)

2016

See Through 5 - Margins (All-Set! Editions)

See Through Two - Slow Bend (All-Set! Editions)

See Through 5 - Utilities (All-Set! Editions)

2014

See Through Trio - Parallel Lights (Woods And Waters)

2012

See Through Trio - Near Northern Static (Woods And Waters)

2009

See Through Trio - Lines and Spaces (Woods And Waters)

2007

See Through Trio - Our Own Devices (independent)

2000

Quatrain - Adamant Shoals (independent)

1997

The Art Ensemble Of Halifax - Exile On The Wayside and Subfield Emissions, independent

As a collaborator

2019

Aurochs - Perdidox (All-Set! Editions)

2016

Aurochs - Another Helpful Medicine (All-Set! Editions)

2014

Aurochs - Rational Animals (Woods And Waters)

As a side player

2011

Muskox - Invocation/Transformations (independent)

AIMToronto Orchestra - Year of the Boar (Barnyard Records)

2009

Muskox - Five Pieces (Standard Form)

2008

Muskox - Gallantries (Woods and Waters)

1999

Johnny Favourite Swing Orchestra - Holiday Romance (Universal Music) - Juno Award winner

Joel Plaskett - In Need of Medical Attention (No Alternative)

1997

Johnny Favourite Swing Orchestra - Life Desire (Lucky Life Recordings) East Coast Music Award winner

Notable Performances

2022

Performed with See Through 4 at IMOO Fest in Ottawa, presented by Improvising and Experimental Musicians of Ottawa and Outwards

Performed with Stranger Still at the Guelph Jazz Festival

Toured Eastern Canada with Stranger Sill, including performances in: Lunenburg, Baxter’s Harbour, Windsor, Halifax, and Great Village (NS), Moncton and Fredericton (NB); and Montague (PEI)

2020

Performed with Stranger Still at the inaugural "Angus Johnston Memorial Lecture" at King's College in Halifax, Nova Scotia

2017

Performed with See Through 4 at the Open Waters Festival in Halifax, Nova Scotia

2015

Performed with See Through Trio at the Something Else Jazz Festival in Hamilton, Ontario

2014

Performed at the Music Gallery in Toronto with Aurochs, opening for legendary jazz bassist Henry Grimes

2013

Performed in the premiere of Canadian composer Martin Arnold's piece Mill O.Tifty's. Annie at the Somewhere There Music Festival

2012

Performed with Doc Severinson and the Toronto All Star Big Band

Performed with Muskox and Jeremy Stratchan at the Guelph Jazz Festival

2011

AIM Toronto Orchestra CD release with special guest saxophonist Evan Parker

Performed with Muskox at the JazzEast "Out Like A Lion" festival in Halifax

2010

Performed with SISTER at the Pop Montreal Festival

2009

Performed with Muskox at The Music Gallery, supporting Charles Spearin's. The Happiness Project

2008

Live recording for CBC Radio's The Signal, with Muskox

Summer tour of British Columbia with See Through Trio

2007

Summer tour of Nova Scotia with See Through Trio, culminating with a performance at The Atlantic Jazz Festival, Halifax

2006

Performed for Queen Elizabeth II in London, Il England as part of the Royal Visit to Goodenough College

2005

Performance of Eleven Pieces For Improvising Trio at The Distillery Jazz Festival, the ArrayMusic Studio Leftover Daylight concert series, and at the Tranzac Club

Large jazz ensemble compositions Black River and Flat Earth Suite premiered by the Toronto Jazz Orchestra at the ArrayMusic Studio

2004

Premier of Spiral Glider, for chamber ensemble. Performed by the Continuum Ensemble in the Dacary Concert Hall, York University

2001

Music for the film A Fresh Start by Halifax filmmaker Jason Buxton, which played at the Toronto Film Festival and the Atlantic Film Festival

2000

Premier of String Quartet, Sextet For Strings, and Three Canadian Poems. Performed by members of Symphony Nova Scotia in the James Dunn Theatre, Dalhousie University

Music For Jazz Quartet performed by Quatrain at the Atlantic Jazz Festival, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Music for Being Here, a modern dance work by Toronto choreographer Sally Morgan

Performed at the Banff Centre for the Arts as part of the Summer Jazz Workshop

1999

Performed as a member of the Upstream Orchestra for a series of concerts with Symphony Nova Scotia and Peter Weigold, as part of the Open Waters Music Festival

1995-Present

Frequent performances in clubs, restaurants, concerts and private affairs in jazz, folk, and rock ensembles, often performing my own compositions

Professional Experience

2015-Present

Co-owner/operator of All-Set Editions, a boutique label dedicated to releasing sounds from Toronto's left-field music scene

2013-2016

Artistic Director of the Somewhere There Creative Music Festival

2012-present

Board member and President of Somewhere There Creative Music Presentations

2010

Co-artistic Director of Music(in) Galleries, an annual event that features musicians performing in a series of art galleries in downtown Toronto

2002-2003

Assistant Musical Director and bassist, Ship's Company Theatre, Parrsboro, NS

1996-1999

Musical Director and bassist, Johnny Favourite Swing Orchestra. Performed in many of the major cities in North America

1995-Present

Self employed bassist, composer, and bandleader