Joe Magnarelli (US) – trumpet
Dick Oatts (US) – alto sax
Kirk MacDonald (CA) – tenor sax
Gary Smulyan (US) – baritone sax
Al Kay (CA) – trombone
Brian Dickinson (CA) – piano
Neil Swainson (CA) – bass
Bernd Reiter (AT) – drums

Tadley Ewing Peake “Tadd” Dameron was a key arranger and composer in jazz history, working for Count Basie, Artie Shaw, Jimmie Lunceford, Dizzy Gillespie, Billy Eckstine and Sarah Vaughan. He also led his own groups with musicians like John Coltrane and especially the drummer “Philly” Joe Jones, who became his best friend, in the 1980s Jones founded the “Dameronia” ensemble.

Drummer Bernd Reiter studied in Graz and New York and received several prizes. He founded this project and since 2021 the “Dameronia’s Legacy All-Stars” bring this unique music back to the stage, featuring some of the best soloists of the international jazz scene. Joe Magnarelli (trumpet), Dick Oatts (alto saxophone) and Gary Smulyan (baritone sax) are among New York’s most outstanding musicians.

Joe Magnarelli has been one of the world’s leading trumpeters for three decades. Dick Oatts is the top lead-alto player in today’s jazz, Gary Smulyan is heading the Downbeat polls on baritone saxophone for many years. Both have been part of the Thad Jones / Mel Lewis Big Band, now the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra, since the late 1970s.

Tenor saxophonist Kirk MacDonald, bassist Neil Swainson, pianist Brian Dickinson and trombonist Al Key are legends of the Canadian jazz scene, who have worked with a long list of jazz giants, including George Shearing, Joe Henderson, Woody Shaw, Sam Noto or George Coleman.

This octet presents enthusiastic, energetic and swinging music at the highest level, simply “Jazz at its Best”!!!