Don Ross Louder Than Usual

Canadian guitar legend DON ROSS has been touring internationally for the last 30+ years, bringing his trademark groove-based style to audiences in Canada, the USA, Europe, China, Japan, Korea, Russia, India and Australia in the process. His band project, Don Ross Louder Than Usual, is a collaborative unit that Don has started to achieve some of the arrangements of many of his tunes that, though they work well in the solo context, were actually conceived as working well in a band context.

The core of the band is a quartet rounded out by Andrew Craig on keyboards, Jordan O’Connor on bass, Marito Marques on drums and Don on guitar and vocals.The band got its start in 2018 when Don was invited to perform in ensemble at the Ottawa Jazz Festival.Their sold out show was very well received, and made the band eager to showcase further. They did a tour of Ontario and the Maritime provinces in 2019. After Covid restrictions started to ease, the band played the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival in 2022.

Don Ross was born and raised in Montreal to an Indigenous Canadian mother and a Scottish immigrant father. His bilingual, multicultural upbringing was, perhaps, one of the most quintessentially Canadian experiences one could hope for! He eventually graduated with a Music degree from Toronto’s York University, and then embarked on an award- winning solo composing, recording and performing career that has taken him to dozens of countries over the course of 18 CD releases.

Don went back to school in 2020 and recently graduated with a Masters degree in Orchestration from the University of Chichester (UK). He uses his newly honed skills to compose scores for film, television and video games.Also a long-time recording engineer, he has recently started incorporating immersive Dolby Atmos mixing techniques to his new recording projects.

In addition to guitar, Don plays about a dozen other instruments, but is certainly well- known primarily for his groundbreaking work as a solo “fingerstyle” guitarist. His music shows affinity for the music that influenced him along the way, including the traditions of urban music (jazz, funk, R&B, soul), traditional music, world music, and 20th and 21st century composers, such as Steve Reich, Keith Jarrett and Pat Metheny.