The Valiant Thieves

You couldn’t find a group of jazz musicians in Alberta with a more impressive resume than that of the Valiant Thieves. Yes, they play silly 1980’s cover tunes, and yes, their show is highly entertaining, light, and will bring a smile of nostalgia to the face of anyone who ever wore fluorescent shoelaces or stirrup pants. Plus, the Valiant Thieves have the element of surprise in their favor: one doesn’t necessarily expect a well-dressed, classy, jazz quartet to launch into a stirring version of “I Wear My Sunglasses at Night”, followed by “Pop Goes the World” and “We Are the Champions”.

But aside from being highly entertaining, it is explicitly evident the caliber of this quartet is second to none, with enough Juno awards, international achievements, and professional experience between them to make even Corey Hart blush. Truly they are among the best musicians Western Canada has to offer, and have been recorded exquisitely on their debut disk by Juno Nominated producer Douglas Romanow.

Debuting in September 2008 the Valiant Thieves have already become a sought after commodity both in serious jazz circles with their original interpretations and interesting arrangements of classic tunes (showcasing at the 2009 International Edmonton Jazz Festival, for instance), but also for entertaining guests at high scale restaurants and classy parties, with nothing short of exuberant feed back from all angles.

In a nutshell, The Valiant Thieves put a new meaning to the term “cover band”—as it turns out, you CAN have top quality class and fun embodied in the same group-- this quartet is celebratory living proof.

The Valiant Thieves are: Sandro Dominelli, Drums

Sandro is Alberta's first call jazz drummer, maintaining a busy performing and recording career, as well as producing albums for many Alberta jazz artists. A 2004 Juno Nomination with his own recording “Meet Me In The Alley” is just one of many feathers in his cap; Sandro has shared the stage with New Yorkers Joe Lovano, Sonny Fortune, Kenny Werner, Tim Hagans, Roswell Rudd, Steve Slagle, Mark Murphy, and Ben Monder, and has worked with other performers such as Julian Priestner, Rob Schepps. Mike Murley, Rob McConnell, Guido Basso, Dave Restivo, Kirk MacDonald, Phil Dwyer, Hugh Fraser, Ian McDougall, Cambell Ryga, Chris Tarry (of Metalwood) and the late and celebrated Doug Riley. Sandro is indeed Italian, as is his name, but the Thieves are not sure if he is a good cook.

Mike Lent, Upright Bass

Michael has played professionally for over twenty years. From touring with jazz greats like Lee Konitz and Sheila Jordan, to recording with kd lang and Jann Arden, Michael's versatility has kept him in high demand. He has also toured with Jann Arden both as her bassist and musical director, and has produced successful albums for local rising stars such as Samantha Schulz and Wendy McNeill. He also was the musical director for the 2008 International Leonard Cohen Festival. Mike has a bald head and/but the Thieves are ok with that.

Chris Andrew, Piano

Chris’ resume lists a veritable who’s who of jazz, having performed with Joshua Redman, Sonny fortune, Bud Shank, Pete Christlieb, Joe LaBarbera, P.J. Perry, Kirk MacDonald, Paquito D’Rivera, Brad Turner, and Steve Wallace, just to name some highlights. Locally Chris has performed and recorded with numerous well-known groups including The Jump Orchestra, Maracujah,Tim Tamashiro, The Swinging Bovines, the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and the acclaimed Latin group Bomba!. Chris has recently been honoured with the CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award for his virtuosic talent, and also juggles teaching piano at Grant MacEwan College with touring with country superstar Paul Brandt. Sometimes Chris also likes to dance around the drums while playing various random percussion instruments, but the Thieves don’t hold that against him.

Ms. April Valiant, Vocals

April Valiant is better known (when not wearing her pink wig) as a particular Edmonton singer songwriter with the same initials, who is famous in folk and pop circles and on CKUA, CBC, and Magic 99 radio for songs such as “Waterfront”, “Feelin’ Fine,” and others. Her early resume as a singer-songwriter includes winning a songwriting contest which took her to Nashville and helped pay for her first album-- and within 6 months of graduating from Grant MacEwan’s music program was invited to record at Sony Studios in New York City. Since then AV has headlined at festivals such as the Holzminden Jazz Festival (Germany), and the Toowoomba Leonard Cohen Festival (Australia), among others, and has sold over 11,000 albums independently. NOW Magazine states “Edmonton vocalist turns soul on its head, belting out delicate introspection in the form of fire", and this is indeed an accurate description of AV’s talent. When performing WITH her pink wig on Ms. Valiant’s performance is nothing less powerful than these accomplishments indicate, though perhaps slightly less serious-- along with her impressive jazz chops, she engages audiences of all demographics easily with her wit, charisma, and audience rapport.

Douglas Romanow, Producer, Fire Escape Recording

Doug has been nominated for a Juno for his album with blues artist Michael Pickett, and in his 16 years as a record producer he has worked with such greats as Doug Riley, Richard Bell, Shania Twain, East Coast Music Award nominee Eric Crosby, Kurt Swinghammer, Bill Dillon, and countless others, including Ann Vriend. His exquisite capturing of the Valiant Thieves’ talent-- as well as his own subtle additions on synthesizer-- are a immense contribution to the quality of the debut recording by the Valiant Thieves. Doug too has a bald head but he is not related to Mike (as far as we know).