Gordon Sheard

Gordon Sheard has enjoyed a many-faceted career as a professional musician for three decades. During that time he has toured with the bands Manteca, Rick Shadrach Lazar and The Montuno Police, and Montreal bassist Alain Caron's Le Band, among others.

Composition is another important part of Gordon’s musical life; his music may be heard on his 2006 CD Crucible, on two CDs on the Avalon label – Martini Lounge (1998) and Romance of Rio (1997), as well as on recordings by Phil Dwyer, Rick Shadrach Lazar and The Montuno Police, and Manteca. The latter two bands have also called upon his talents as a producer, as have vocal artists Eliana Cuevas, Yvette Tollar and jazz vocalist/pianist Carol Welsman.

In addition to these activities, Gordon has been involved in the production and composition of music for television and radio commercials, films, and audio-visual productions since the late 1980s.

He has also worked extensively as a studio pianist/keyboardist; his work in this capacity may be heard on recordings by Lorraine Segato (formerly of Parachute Club), Rita McNeil, Liona Boyd, Louise Pitre, Eliana Cuevas, Yvette Tollar, Carol Welsman, Brian Hughes, Stan Samole, Levon Ichkhanian, Terry Kelly, and Ron Hines, among many others. Gordon has also performed as a musician in the musical theater and in numerous other live performance situations.

From 1984 to 1987 he toured extensively with fluegelhornist/composer Chuck Mangione in the United States, Canada, South America, and the Caribbean.

In addition to the musicians listed above, Gordon has had the pleasure of performing live with Michael Brecker, Randy Brecker, Steve Gadd, David Garibaldi, Steve Ferrone, Lew Soloff, Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson, and Slim Gaillard.

Gordon is currently enrolled in the doctoral programme in ethnomusicology at York University, where his primary area of expertise is Brazilian traditional and popular musics. He is also a jazz educator, and teaches part time at Toronto's Humber College School of Creative and Performing Arts.