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Grain of Sand is a flute-fronted group consisting of Bill McBirnie and Bruce Jones. Fifteen years after Bill and Bruce’s first collaboration, ‘Desvio’, they have teamed up again in their most recent production, ‘Grain of Sand’, which is a fresh new incarnation of ‘Extreme Flute’. Bill is the extreme flautist, while Bruce is the composer, vocalist, performer, arranger and engineer. The album consists entirely of originals, and it evokes feelings of joy and a dream-like experience, from front to back.

Bill McBirnie has attained an international standing as one of the finest flutists in jazz, winning multiple awards over the years, ranging from ‘Flutist of the Year’ (Jazz Report Awards), Best Jazz Album (Toronto Independent Music Awards) and a Best Jazz Album nomination (Independent Music Awards). Bill considers one of his major achievements to be clinching a “Triple Crown” at the National Flute Association in the USA where he has won all three of the NFA jazz flute awards, in the Jazz Flute Soloist, Masterclass and Big Band competitions. Among his solo works, he has collaborated with other greats such as Sir James Galway, who also solicited Bill directly to serve as his Resident Jazz Flute Specialist.
Bruce Jones has worked in Brazilian, rock and other folkloric idioms over the course of his long musical career. Bruce was born in Sao Paul, Brazil where he formally studied at the Academia Paulista de Musica before he ultimately settled in Canada where he continued to study at the Royal Conservatory of Music. The blending of his North and South American roots have created an amazingly talented musician who has drawn the attention of Canada’s finest jazz musicians who, in turn, have sought to play in Bruce’s live bands Cocada and Da. His earlier releases, ‘Canada Eh! and ‘Sarava Criola’, were described by journalist and critic, Andrew Sun, as “…among the most fascinating Canadian records ever made…”
Grain of Sand is available at CDBaby and iTunes on March 2, 2015

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