R Grunwald with Joshua Van Tassel

Toronto keyboardist R. Grunwald makes his solo debut with a collection of “extended minimalist” compositions inspired in part by the life story of his 96-year-old grandmother, a Holocaust survivor and pianist.

About R Grunwald:
R Grunwald has played on sessions for hundreds of musicians. The Toronto keyboardist has been faithful to two different singer-songwriters, jazz/pop chanteuse Jill Barber and country/folk songwriter Donovan Woods, for the better part of a decade. He’s played with New York City’s Three Famed Cantors, and scored film and TV shows (including the award-winning Yid Life Crisis—“It’s basically Curb Your Enthusiasm, but set in Montreal and in Yiddish,” he says.)

Now he’s ready to step onto the public stage with his own music—alone. But there’s one person who will be with him every night he performs, though she won’t be there physically. His 96-year-old grandmother, who has lived in Chile after fleeing her native Poland in 1946, is the primary inspiration for Grunwald’s first solo album. It’s called Oma—which is the German word for “grandmother.”

About Joshua Van Tassel:
Joshua Van Tassel is a man of many hats. Born in rural Nova Scotia, he’s studied music across Canada with stints in his home province of Nova Scotia as well as Ontario and Alberta. Something of a musical chameleon, he’s acted in a supporting role for such diverse artists as Donovan Woods, Rose Cousins, Doug Paisley, Great Lake Swimmers, Royal Wood, and Justin Rutledge, among others. Joshua is also quickly becoming known as a go to producer, having made albums for David Myles, Gypsophilia, Christine Bougie, Megan Bonnell, and more.

With his solo career, Van Tassel has a built a reputation as a producer and composer of electro-acoustic music that is both highly sophisticated and easily digestible. His music, which has been featured on the Outdoor Life Network’s program “Departures” and “Descending”, is a tapestry of traditions; the familiar plucking of folk music floats amongst drum machines and ambient field recordings, driving bass lines melt into flowing synth melodies. His albums has received critical acclaim from the CBC, The Toronto Star, NOW Magazine, and won East Coast Music Association and Music Nova Scotia awards for ‘Electronic Album of the Year.’

Seating Disclaimer:
To accommodate as many live music fans as possible, we offer both seats and standing room at our shows. Seats are first come, first serve. We recommend arriving early if you’d like to be seated during the performance.

Sound production equipment for the King Eddy is provided by PK Sound and Yamaha.