Bernie Senensky

A versatile pianist who has been a valuable asset on many sessions through the years, Bernie Senensky has long been one of Canada's finest jazz musicians. Senensky started with classical piano lessons when he was nine and discovered jazz around five years later. He played locally as a teenager (including with Lennie Breau and Dave Young), led the house band in various Holiday Inns all over Canada and settled in Toronto in 1968. Senensky has performed with Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Elvin Jones, Maynard Ferguson's Big Band, Rob McConnell's Boss Brass, Phil Woods, Dizzy Gillespie, Terry Gibbs, Buddy DeFranco, Art Pepper, Scott Hamilton and Bill Watrous, among many other visiting Americans. Throughout the 1980s he was a regular member of the Moe Koffman Quintet. As a leader, Senensky recorded for RCI, PM, Unity and Timeless, and as a sideman he made recordings with Moe Koffman, Gillespie, Eugene Amaro, Peter Appleyard, Herbie Spanier and Ted Moses.