For over 30 years, award-winning pianist/composer Andy Milne has demonstrated boundless versatility, collaborating with dancers, visual artists, poets and musicians spanning multiple genres. With UNISON Milne returns to his first love, exploring the intimacy of the piano trio. The synchronistic relationship Milne has enjoyed with bassist John Hébert since 2010 is matchlessly rounded out with drummer Nate Winn, who represents complimentary threads within the fabric of Milne’s piano trio philosophy -- the intersection of texture and groove. Their 2020 debut recording, “The reMission” [Sunnyside Records] won the 2021 JUNO Award for Jazz Album of the Year: Group. The recording also received widespread media praise.
A former student of Oscar Peterson, Milne has collaborated with a range of artists including Ralph Alessi, Ravi Coltrane, Andrew Cyrille, Sekou Sundiata, Avery Brooks, Bruce Cockburn, and Cassandra Wilson. He is a distinct and respected voice at the heart of New York’s creative jazz scene. Early in his career, Milne was at the center of the M-BASE Collective as a core member of saxophonist Steve Coleman’s bands during the 1990s. Milne is also active as a composer for classical ensembles as well as scoring for film and television. His credits include seven films by acclaimed actor/director William Shatner and the recent CBC TV documentary Black Life: Untold Stores. In 2024 he will premiere his recently composed piano quintet with the Isidore String Quartet, commissioned by the Banff International String Quartet Competition. Milne served as the musical director, and as a cast member in the new Showtime series “Fellow Travelers”. He is a Yamaha Artist and sought-after educator, serving as an assistant professor of music at The University of Michigan and the Assistant- Director at The School for Improvisational Music.
John Hébert, originally from New Orleans, has been a highly sought-after New York bassist since the mid-1990s. A former student of Rufus Reid, Hébert has collaborated extensively with pianists Fred Hersch and Andrew Hill, appearing on celebrated recordings from each pianist. He has also performed with Lee Konitz, Paul Bley, John Abercrombie, Kenny Wheeler, Paul Motian, Uri Caine, Bill Stewart, Mary Halvorson, Tomasz Stanko, David Liebman, and Toots Thielemans, among many others. An accomplished bandleader, Hébert’s 2015 Sunnyside release with his quartet Rambling Confessions -- his quartet featuring Milne -- received critical acclaim, including 4.5 stars from Downbeat. Over the past decade, he has been named multiple times as a “Rising Star Acoustic Bassist” in Downbeat’s Critics Poll and has received multiple Grammy nominations.
Drummer Nate Winn is a consummate musician, clinician, and educator. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Winn discovered his passion for the drums in church at the age of 4. His style fuses his gospel upbringing with jazz, blues, and r&b. He is a fixture in the Detroit music community and has performed around the world with numerous artists, including appearances with Danilo Perez, Robert Hurst, Pat Metheny and Joshua Redman. Winn received his master’s degree from Berklee College of Music Global Jazz Institute and currently teaches at The University of Michigan.
Note - the image above does not include drummer Nate Winn
