Bill Canada Jazz experience Men's Bio's

Bill Canada began playing drums at twelve years old and played with various swing and jazz bands through junior high school, high school and college at Oklahoma State University. For three Consecutive summers when home from college he studied at Remo Beli’s Drum City in Hollywood California. Most recently, he has studied for five years with Jason Gianni who has a Bachelor’s degree in percussion from the Julliard School of Music and a Masters degree in percussion from Pennsylvania State University. Jason is presently a full time instructor at the Drummers Collective in New York City. Mr. Canada has played with a number rock, blues and jazz groups over the last several years.

Chuck Michniak began playing guitar when he was about ten years old, and bass when he was fifteen. Other than a few basic guitar classes early on, he is self-taught. He’s played in a variety of rock and blues bands and is currently immersing himself in the world of jazz. Some of his early influences include Geddy Lee and John Entwistle, with a little Steve Harris thrown in, followed later by Paul McCartney and Chris Squire. He has been listening to a lot of Paul Chambers lately as his interest in jazz and upright bass has grown.

Harry Blake began playing the saxophone in the 5th grade in Ohio. During high school he played in a Cleveland big band with several musicians who went on to perform with Stan Kenton, Maynard Ferguson, and Count Basie. Also during high school for two consecutive summers he attended the Stan Kenton Jazz Clinic at Indiana University. There he had the opportunity to learn from top-ranking Jazz musicians such as Donald Byrd, Conte Condoli, Sam Donahue, Marvin Stamm, Gary Burton, and others. Since college Mr. Blake has performed with a variety of groups playing blues, rock, and finally, his real love, jazz.

Michael Granat has been playing piano professionally throughout the San Francisco Bay Area for the past eighteen years. He is currently on staff at San Francisco City College as an accompanist. Some of the venues in which he has played are: Rasselas, the Cafe' Du Nord, Mecca, The S. F. Brewing company, and The Freight and Salvage in Berkeley. He has also performed at the American Festival in San Jose and the Valhalla Jazz Festival in Lake Tahoe. Mr. Granat has a Bachelor’s degree in piano from San Francisco State University and has attended The San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Indiana University and CSU Hayward.

The “Bill Canada Jazz Experience” is a jazz quartet consisting of Michael Granat on piano, Chuck Michniak on bass, Harry Blake on tenor sax and Bill Canada on drums. The band has been together since 2002, but also played together previously in a larger Rock and Soul band, “Night Train.” The group can also perform as a larger ensemble with more horns and a vocalist, if the client so desires. The “Jazz Experience” has played for most of the major yacht clubs in the San Francisco Bay area, and also for the Tahoe Yacht Club. They are a regular at Servino Ristorante in Tiburon, CA, and have performed at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, Schramsberg Winery in Calistoga, CA, The Frank Sinatra Room at the Cal-Neva, North Shore, Lake Tahoe, to name a few.