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The Juno Awards are approaching, and three Newfoundland and Labrador musicians are up for the biggest musical prizes in Canada.
Andrew Staniland is nominated for classical composition of the year, and Florian Hoefner and Jim Vivian of the Atlantic Jazz Collective are up for vocal jazz album of the year.
Staniland, a decorated composer and Memorial University professor, already has three Juno nominations under his belt and has received several East Coast Music Awards.
He said the most recent Juno nomination for his album The Laws of Nature feels special.
“The project is just so big and so many years in the making and brings in so many of the different things that I do in my creative life all into one package,” Staniland said in an interview with CBC Radio’s On The Go.
Andrew Staniland innovated music technology on his latest JUNO-nominated album. (Photo by Kit Sora)
He called The Laws of Nature the crowning achievement in a decade-spanning exploration of digital instruments used in a classical music structure.
One of the new instruments he created and used on this project is called JADE, which can be controlled by sensors, or even the brain itself, by using EEG sonification.
Six dancers from Kittiwake Ballet helped bring the music from the Juno-nominated album to life with that technology.
“We experimented with different ways to monitor their brain waves as they listened to music that I was playing. And then we would actually turn their own brain waves right back into music sort of in real time,” said Staniland.
“We could see how… the sounds and the music changed as they moved, and even as they thought about movement.”
Andrew Staniland’s latest work features the digital instrument JADE, which turns brain wave readings into music. (Andrew Staniland)
He said it’s an honour to be recognized on a national scale for this labour of love.
“It’s not just another album and not just another composition,” said Staniland. “It’s a big, big part of my life.”
Across the Atlantic
Atlantic Jazz Collective’s debut LP Seascape is nominated for vocal jazz album of the year. It’s made up of N.L. pianist Florian Hoefner and bassist Jim Vivian, as well as N.S. saxophonist Mike Murley.
Florian Hoefner (left) and Jim Vivian (right) of Atlantic Jazz Collective now live in St. John’s. They say it was special to record their debut album as a trio at home. (Atlantic Jazz Collective)
Although the project draws on talent from far and wide, Hoefner said St. John’s is at its centre.
“We started a series [Atlantic Jazz Nights] at the Arts and Culture Centre that we run four times a year. We’re bringing international artists here to St. John’s to perform,” he said.
Hoefner said in September 2023 they invited U.K.-based singer Norma Winstone and legendary American drummer Joe LaBarbera to perform with them and it sparked an idea.
“We had the thought: ‘Man, this is such a great group, such amazing artists. Let’s try to record it.’”
Thus, Seascape was born. Both Winstone and LaBarbera are featured as guests on the album.
Seascape features a collection of original jazz songs with vocals from Norma Winstone. (Alma Records)
From Atlantic Jazz Nights to open sessions throughout St. John’s, Hoefner and Vivian feel there’s a greater appreciation for jazz in the province than there used to be.
“We have a jam session now every two weeks at the Majestic and there’s a lot of younger artists and groups that have popped up,” said Hoefner.
Each member of the trio that makes up the Atlantic Jazz Collective is a Juno winner already, but Vivian said it’s always exciting to be nominated.
“We sort of brought our world back here to do something from here, which is especially nice,” said Vivian.
“The other guest musicians… are big people in our little jazz world and it’s really great that this comes out of here.”
The 2026 Juno Awards will be held in Hamilton, ON on March 29.
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