JUNO Award winner Ernesto Cervini is a sought-after drummer, composer and bandleader and an influential presence on Canada’s modern jazz scene and beyond. He has documented his vision with the Ernesto Cervini Quartet (featuring Joel Frahm), the innovative sextet Turboprop, numerous co-led trio projects including MEM3, Myriad3 and TuneTown, and also the quartet Tetrahedron, featuring acclaimed guitarist Nir Felder, electric bassist Rich Brown and alto saxophonist Luis Deniz. In all these settings, as J.D. Considine of JazzTimes has written, Cervini “drums like someone who’s an arranger at heart, carefully placing each accent for maximum melodic impact.” He’s been cited by Modern Drummer for his old-school knowledge and feel in the spirit of Art Blakey and Billy Higgins, yet credited by Musicweb International as a maker of music “grounded in the language of hard bop but not confined by it.” Born and raised in Toronto, Cervini graduated from the Royal Conservatory of Music with degrees in classical piano and clarinet performance before focusing his energies behind the drum kit. After completing his bachelor’s degree at the University of Toronto, he began a four-year stint in New York in 2003, earning a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Returning to Toronto in 2007, he has cemented his status as one of the leading champions of the local scene and Canadian musicians more broadly.