Northern Ranger, Eastern Stranger Review
Harry Vetro is a Canadian drummer and composer that leads an active performing career playing at major jazz festivals and venues across Canada: Lakefield Jazz Fest (Lakefield, Ontario), TD PEI Jazz and Blues Fest (Charlottetown, PEI), Sudbury Jazz Festival (Sudbury, Ontario) Jazz YYC (Calgary, Alberta), Yardbird Jazz Fest (Edmonton, Alberta), Toronto Jazz Festival, Ottawa Jazz Festival, Rex Hotel & Jazz Bistro (Toronto, Ontario), The Pilot Tavern (Toronto, Ontario), and Jazz Room (Waterloo, Ontario). He is a graduate of the University of Toronto Jazz program and has been featured as a rising star drummer in the Ottawa and Sudbury Jazz festivals in Ontario. He currently leads a monthly residency at The Tranzac (Toronto’s premiere creative music club) featuring new compositions inspired by nature and landscape. Vetro is the recipient of multiple grants: Canada Council for The Arts, Ontario Arts Council, FACTOR (The Foundation Assisting Canadian Talent on Recordings) and FMUA (The University of Toronto Faculty of Music Undergraduate Association). In 2017, as Canada celebrated 150 years of confederation, 23-year-old Vetro took to the road. He traveled coast to coast, visiting communities in the six Indigenous cultural areas in Canada (Arctic, Subarctic, Northwest Coast, Plateau, Plains, and Eastern Woodlands), in an effort to connect with musicians and artists from different cultural backgrounds, and to better understand the land’s long cultural history. Vetro created the band Northern Ranger to express in music the result of his travels. The band is Vetro (drums), Noah Franche-Nolan (piano), Victor Vrankulj (Bass), and Nelson Moneo (violin). Northern Ranger is releasing a four song EP titled Eastern Stranger. With a solid presentation of folk jazz, Northern Ranger is capturing the vibe of Canada.
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Positives:
A nice mix of feels and interesting melodies performed by a band that is blazing their own unique folk jazz sound.
Bottom Line:
The textures found on Northern Ranger’s Eastern Stranger are colorful and bring a fresh approach to the Canadian jazz sound. The main driving force is Moneo’s violin playing and Vetro’s drumming. “Quidi Vidi Ditty” has an Irish Jig influences in the melody and rhythmic presentation. Vetro’s drumming is propelling as Moneo and Nolan exchange phrases. The feel changes in the form keep the music flowing and building. “Leaving St. John’s” is a beautiful ballad that has a folk styled melody. The waltz feel is accented by Vetro’s well played brushes. Both Moneo and Fanche-Nolan perform well executed solos that keep musical interest and fluidity. “Eastern Stranger” opens with a solid gospel inspired intro by Fanche-Nolan. The melody is wonderfully played by Moneo, his emotion is obvious. Vrankulj takes a melodic solo on the bass, which leads to Moneo’s solo. Overall, Northern Ranger is onto a hip folk jazz sound with their EP Eastern Stranger. That’s the short of it!