Mike Herriott Premieres Tales of Tricksters and Vagabonds

Advertisement / Publicité

This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en: Français (French)

TORONTO, ON — Toronto-based trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer Mike Herriott will take his most ambitious work to the stage this fall, presenting the world-premiere live performances of the Tales of Tricksters and Vagabonds Suite on a four-city tour across Canada. The tour visits Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal for six performances in total, running September 28 through October 24, 2026.

Built on Herriott’s 2023 album of the same name (H&H Records), the suite is an original programmatic work for large jazz ensemble that portrays six unforgettable figures from folklore and literature: the scheming cat of Puss in Boots, the gold-spinning Rumpelstiltskin, Shakespeare’s quicksilver Mercutio, Dickens’s oily ‘Umble Uriah, Dostoevsky’s guilt-haunted Rodion’s Republic, and the gloriously life-loving Sir Jack — Sir John Falstaff. The music moves from the comic to the genuinely sinister and back again across a single evening.

The ensemble’s instrumentation — brass and rhythm section, with no saxophones — recalls the lineup of Canada’s celebrated Boss Brass. Herriott performs on trumpet and flugelhorn throughout the program, joined onstage by locally hired musicians in each city, with drummer Jacob Slous — who recorded most of the album — appearing for the Calgary, Toronto, and Montreal dates, and longtime Vancouver collaborator Dave Robbins on drums for the Vancouver performance. Cellist Ofra Harnoy, Herriott’s longtime creative partner and co-owner of H&H Records, travels with the tour as co-producer and co-developer of the suite’s concept.

Each performance pairs the premiere suite with selections from Herriott’s earlier album Isn’t Life Grand, including the title piece; the tender, three-part Sweet Sparky Suite, written for his late dog; and Gravity, a meditation on the pull of attraction at every scale, from celestial bodies to people. The tour also offers audiences a first glimpse of material from Herriott’s upcoming dance-theatre collaboration with Toronto’s ProArteDanza.

Tour Dates

Monday, September 28 — Frankie’s Jazz Club, Vancouver, BC

Thursday, October 15 — The Ironwood Stage & Grill, Calgary, AB

Sunday–Monday, October 18–19 — The Rex Hotel Jazz & Blues Bar, Toronto, ON

Friday–Saturday, October 23–24 — L’Entracte Cabaret Jazz, Montreal, QC

Quotes

“These characters have lived in my mind for years — they’re universal archetypes, part of the human experience itself. Bringing this music from the studio to the stage is always a great joy, and I’m excited to share it with audiences across Canada,” says Mike Herriott.

“When Mike and I first started talking about these characters, we weren’t thinking about the recording — we were thinking about people, and what music could say about them. Watching that grow from an idea into a touring suite, and now toward the stage with ProArteDanza, has been a real joy,” says Ofra Harnoy.

About Mike Herriott

Mike Herriott is a Toronto-based trumpeter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. Born in England and raised in Newfoundland, he works as a lead trumpeter, orchestral soloist, bassist, arranger, and composer, and has appeared as a soloist with symphony orchestras and big bands across Canada and abroad.

His recording and performance credits include work with the Canadian Brass (2011 Juno nomination), Michael Bublé, Jann Arden, Maynard Ferguson, Doc Severinsen, Arturo Sandoval, and Rob McConnell, along with sessions for CBC, Sony, Universal, and Disney. He played lead trumpet for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and has held lead-trumpet chairs in Toronto musical-theatre productions, including at the Ed Mirvish Theatre. With New York guitarist Sean Harkness he records as the Harkness-Herriott Duo (H2). He is the co-owner, with his wife and longtime collaborator, cellist Ofra Harnoy, of H&H Records, on which he has released Tales of Tricksters and Vagabonds (2023) and Isn’t Life Grand (2016).