Conductor Bobby Rice is a JUNO Award-nominated composer, arranger, producer, and trumpeter who leads one of Canada’s most electrifying Latin jazz big bands. His group regularly features heavyweights like multi-JUNO winner Hilario Durán and other top Canadian jazz talents, including Phil Dwyer, Bill McBirnie, Al Kay, Ted Quinlan, Mark Kelso, Alex Dean, and Kevin Turcotte.
After earning a JUNO nod for his Latin jazz big band album, Bobby’s ensemble lit up stages at the Toronto Jazz Festival (Nathan Phillips Square), Markham Jazz Festival, and even kicked off the Pan Am Games. With over 20 years as a music educator—including 12 years on faculty at Humber College’s Music Program—he’s shaped countless musicians. Bobby holds a Master of Arts in composition and a B.A. in Jazz Studies, and he was even a musicology Ph.D. candidate. He’s also scored nine music grants from the Ontario Arts Council, Canada Council for the Arts, and Toronto Arts Council for his work in composition, concerts, and recordings.
A seasoned touring musician, Bobby has played worldwide. His Latin jazz big band and seven-piece groups have headlined nearly every major jazz fest in Ontario—Toronto, Oakville, Markham, Aurora, Newmarket, and beyond. His performance credits read like a who’s-who: Shania Twain, Mary Wilson (The Supremes), Frankie Valli, Frankie Avalon, The Drifters, Dick Clark, Bill Cosby, Joan Rivers, Louise Pitre, Snow, Dan Hill, Robert Pilon, Colm Wilkinson, Michael Burgess, Jackie Richardson, Rich Little, Rik Emmett (Triumph), George Oliver, and more.
Bandleader Rob Boniface: "It all started in Grade 1 with group lessons on a fold-up cardboard keyboard. I was hooked! The defining moment was when I was 12 years old and began to study jazz piano with “Duke” Martin. The man was a true inspiration and had a profound influence on my musical journey. The teen years saw stints in local bands (Ulysses and North Side Blues Band) but jazz was never far away. A Phil Nimmons arranging course led to a brief period of writing charts for the late great Pete Schofield. The dilemma now became whether to play and write or try to get a career! As always, it was a high school music teacher ( Chris Kitts ) who showed me how much fun it was to teach so... off to McMaster University for 4 years to get a music degree. Taught instrumental & vocal music as well as guitar for 31 years at St. Martin’s Secondary School in Mississauga and retired in 2009. For almost 35 years now I have been pursuing my love of big band jazz as leader and keyboard player of The Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble. Thanks for the memories."
Baritone saxist Wayne Smith: Wayne took up flute and saxophone when he entered high school, which was more than a few years ago. Besides playing in the school bands, he became musical director of his own big band while still in high school. Since then, he has been playing, singing, writing, and arranging music in a dizzying array of styles and combinations, including an eight-year stint playing weddings every Saturday in a Belgian polka band. Wayne holds down the baritone sax chair in MBBJE, and adds the occasional flute solo. Wayne is also a singer/songwriter who performs with his own band under the name Wayne Neon.
Mark Obermeyer: Mark's most excellent high school music teacher, Terry Trainor, taught him which end of the trumpet to blow into, then immediately encouraged him to borrow one for gigs with "Skylight", a 7 piece wedding band with a horn line in Hamilton. They got wedding gigs just about weekly, and were quite loud, which qualified them for high school dances, bars and park gigs. Playing that summer festival gig at the Gage Park bandshell in the 70's was awesome. He made enough money to buy his own trumpet, but stupidly left it languishing it in a closet for a quarter century when the band inevitably broke up. Tragic. Once the brass had properly matured, he joined Oakville Wind Orchestra, which splintered off into Quantum Brass; a seven piece brass quintet composed of musicians, not mathematicians. Next was Milton Concert Band, which led to MCB Showband, THAT Band, and currently MBB Jazz Ensemble, Alexander's Jazz Band and the Roxbury Rollers. (We won't mention The Cootes Paradise Plastique Oh No Swamp Band... or The Rolling Bones.) He'll play just about any chart you put in front of him. He'll also keep playing if you take the chart away.
Wayne Ferrell: Wayne started playing guitar in the 60’s and never stopped. He has played guitar and electric bass in jam bands, big bands and rock bands ever since and has been the guitarist for the MBBJE band since 2003. Wayne also plays guitar in a Mississauga-based jazz combo and electric bass for a Toronto-based country-rock band. Since retiring (for the second time) in 2024, he has more time for musical pursuits and has even composed a few original tunes.
Mike Calich: Mike has been playing saxes and guitar and exploring jazz for over 50 years, starting in garage bands with friends (yes, in actual garages); playing jazz, blues, rock and dance gigs in restaurants and clubs; with the Queen’s University Jazz Ensemble and Wind Ensemble; and the Steve Shapiro Orchestra, in Toronto’s major hotels and ballrooms. Mike has performed and recorded for decades with composer/arranger Ted Blackbourn, at festivals and campuses in southwestern Ontario with the progressive jazz sextet Line One, the Interplay quartet and the Ted Blackbourn Big Band Project. Currently, in addition to the Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble, Mike plays tenor with Toronto’s MegaCity Swing Band.
Mitchell Smith: Lead trombone player. Picking up the trombone in Grade 6, Mitchell "Mitch" Smith studied music for nearly twenty years of his life. From different music programs across middle and high school, Mitchell developed his trombone skills for seven years before enrolling in the Bachelor of Music program at Humber College. There, Mitchell studied under Alistar Kay and Kesley Grant, eventually graduating in 2017 with the Eddie Sossin Jazz Award for the most improved student in the program. Mitchell has been a member of the MBBJE since 2016, starting as a bass trombone player before being promoted to lead trombone player in 2019. Besides MBBJE, Mitchell plays with the Brampton Jazz Mechanics and the Toronto Megacity Swing Band. He is also a volunteer at MusicFest Canada, helping out as an audio and technology specialist since 2015.
Gary Martin: Gary has been with the band for 30 (!) years. He is a retired school teacher. He plays with the MBBJE, as well as the Oktocats, an eight piece West Coast jazz group. He is the conductor of the Megacity Swing Band and the Milton Concert Band. He has written many arrangements for MBBJE over the years. He also writes for film, theatre, concert band and video game productions.
Urmas Soomet: Bassist Urmas Soomet played guitar in rock bands during his youth in Montreal, where he also trained as a low brass player and played the tuba in concert bands. Later on, while working in the steel industry in Hamilton, he continued playing in bands evenings and weekends and took up the bass, both electric and upright. In 2007 he gave up his day job in order to focus on performing in the Golden Horseshoe area and on operating Studio 13 Live Sound Recording, a state-of-the-art recording studio in Flamborough. Urmas has performed on theatre and festival stages across Ontario, playing jazz, swing, classic rock, rhythm and blues and Dixieland music for over twenty years. He is pleased to be playing bass with the Mississauga Big Band Jazz Ensemble.
Fraser Hutchinson: Lead trumpeter Fraser Hutchinson is a composer, arranger, trumpet/flugelhorn, keyboard and bass player based in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. Originally from Montreal, Fraser played horns and keyboards for numerous big bands, R&B bands and top 40 bands in Montreal and in the Seattle, Northern California, and Toronto GTA areas. He has also played in pits for musical theater, and is an active composer and arranger. Fraser received music degrees from Vanier College and Concordia University in Montreal, Quebec, where he studied trumpet, piano, composition and arrangement. He studied trumpet with Real Mathieu and Greg Lyons, piano with Art Roberts, Peggy Wada and Ronald Headland, arranging with Al Baculis Sr, Jan Jarcyk and Don Habib. Fraser currently operates a home recording studio out of Oakville, Ontario.
Annie Cho is a passionate jazz trumpet player who discovered her love for jazz in high school, where she actively participated in big bands, small combos, and competitions. Starting her trumpet journey at the age of 12, she has now been playing for over a decade. Born in Korea, Annie has performed internationally in cities including Taipei, Hong Kong, Singapore, London, and Frankfurt—often featured as a jazz soloist. Her talent and dedication earned her the Louis Armstrong Award, and she continues to pursue her passion for jazz trumpet in Canada as a member of the Mississauga Jazz Band.
John Martin: I've been playing since I was about 14. Was part of Kitchener based touring group, Project People through to about 25, then took about 20 years off. Since picking up Trumpet again, I've played with community groups like Oakville Wind Orchestra, Founding Member of the Milton Concert Band, Quantum Brass sextet, Sixth Sense R&B group and Alexander's Jazz Band and am happy to be part of the Mississauga Big Band. Music has become a much larger part of my life then I ever thought it would and I'm having a great time.
