HALLOWEEN THRILLER (Hamilton) - MJ as electric-jazz on tour, 7pm, $20/$25
Schedule
Thu, 30 Oct, 2025 at 07:00 pm
UTC-04:00Location
Henry's On James (303 James St N, Hamilton) | Hamilton, ON
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HALLOWEEN THRILLER 2025 :: www.Thriller.Brownman.comJUNO & GRAMMY nominated jazz/hip-hop trumpet playing iconoclast BROWNMAN ALI (Jay-z, Missy Elliot, Kanye West, Guru's Jazzmatazz) will once again lead an all-star quartet through his popular annual HALLOWEEN THRILLER concert, this year travelling up from Brooklyn, NY to various venues (and schools) across Southern Ontario. The much lauded BROWNMAN ELECTRYC TRIO + 1 will perform the entire Michael Jackson "Thriller" recording, interpreted and re-worked in the Miles Davis-esque fashion this multiple National Jazz Award winning improviser has become known for. In addition to the quartet performing Thriller from top to bottom, other MJ classics will be featured through the night for this unique Halloween Series jazz party. Costumes and Thriller video dance moves encouraged!
[ TICKETS: www.eventbrite.ca/e/1744345627729 ]
This show features as it's "+1"acclaimed keyboardist NICK MACLEAN, a rising star in Toronto's jazz community, signee to Brownman's Browntasauras Records label & winner of 10 Global Music Awards, standing alongside 2 of Toronto's most in demand musicians : MATT GRUEBNER on bass (from New Zealand, now in Canada), and ADAM MANSFIELD on drums (a 22-year old drumset phenom), all under the direction of 2x National Jazz Award winning modern jazz trumpet iconoclast BROWNMAN ALI. Please visit www.Thriller.Brownman.com for more info on this year's Halloween Thriller Series.
"Delving so deeply into that record always leaves us speechless", states Ali. "Michael birthed so many incredible tunes over the years, but his collaborations with Quincy Jones on Thriller has to be one of the most towering musical achievements in pop music ever. Using that brilliant material every year on Halloween, as jump-offs for what we do makes for a party that's both danceable, but still rooted in exploratory improvising and deep reaching solos. We approach it the way Miles might have."
The BROWNMAN ELECTRYC TRIO has won a National Jazz Award, 3 Toronto Independent Music Awards, a SOCAN music award, a CBC Galaxie Rising Star Award, and an International Independent Music Award for "Jazz-Funk album of the year" for their latest release "Gravitation", which hit number 4 on the iTunes USA jazz charts upon it's release.
“Awards are nice, naturally, but to dig what Brownman is doing, you’ve got to see him live. I had a chance to do just that over the summer when Brownman fronted his killer trio ... I came away with a blown mind. This guy’s got chops galore, soul to match, and a sense of phrasing that recalls many of the greats, but suggests itself to be his own.”
-- The Buffalo News on the latest slew of awards for the Brownman Electryc Trio
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Thr-Oct-30 -- HAMILTON Tour Date
@ Henry's On James
303 James St N, Hamilton, ON, L8L 1H3
www.HenrysOnJames.com
7:00pm -- show
$20 -- advance
$25 -- door
$15 -- students / arts workers
TIX: www.eventbrite.ca/e/1744345627729
Happy Halloween!!!!
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2025 HALLOWEEN THRILLER -- ONT. TOUR DATES
www.Thriller.Brownman.com
[ Tue-Oct-21: day: Oshawa Masterclass ]
Wed-Oct-22: 7pm: Campbellford @ Dockside Bistro
Thr-Oct-23, 7pm: Kingston @ RCHA Club
Fri-Oct-24, 7pm: Almonte @ TBA
Sat-Oct-25, 7pm: Ottawa @ Night Oat (Gladstone)
Sun-Oct-26, 6pm: Keene @ Keene Arts Centre
[ Mon-Oct-27, day: Toronto Masterclass @ Richview C.I. ]
Tue-Oct-28, 7pm: Barrie @ Tequilazzo
Wed-Oct-29, 7pm: Newmarket @ George Whiskey Lounge
Thr-Oct-30, 7pm: Hamilton @ Henry's On James
Fri-Oct-31, 8pm: Waterloo @ KW Jazz Room
Sat-Nov-01, 8pm: Toronto @ My House
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:: Brownman Ali - electric trumpet & spookiness
--> www.Brownman.com
:: Nick Maclean - keyboards & ghoulishness
--> www.NicholasMaclean.com
:: Matt Gruebner - electric bass & creepiness
--> www.facebook.com/mattgruebner
:: Adam Mansfield - drums & ghastliness
--> www.facebook.com/adam.mansfield.58
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Dress up if you like - it's Halloween!!!
See videos from the 2020 HALLOWEEN THRILLER show:
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFEa9tcDLHdLgeCGMKT5BfiWAv7IGymNv
Hear the BROWNMAN ELECTRYC TRIO at:
www.ElectrycTrio.Brownman.com
Videos of BROWNMAN ELECTRYC TRIO live:
www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFECA3E452FE2BC0D
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ABOUT BROWNMAN | www.Brownman.com
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Heralded as “Canada’s preeminent Jazz trumpeter” by NYC’s Village Voice, Brownman Ali - born on the small Caribbean island of Trinidad, & schooled in NYC - is a multiple award-winning NYC-schooled protégé to his teacher, Grammy-winning trumpet legend, Randy Brecker. Splitting his time between Toronto and New York, he tirelessly leads 8 unique ensembles of his own including the internationally acclaimed Miles Davis influenced BROWNMAN ELECTRYC TRIO, and the award-winning CRUZAO latin-jazz quintet. All these ensembles record under Brownman's own much lauded BROWNTASAURAS RECORDS label, established in 2009. In high demand in the studio world with over 300 CD appearances to date, Brownman delivers stylistically authentic horn playing over a wide range of styles from bebop to hiphop having worked with the likes of Guru's Jazzmatazz (replacing Donald Byrd in that primordial ensemble), Mos Def, KRS-1, Quincy Jones, Paul Simon, Jay-z, Missy Elliot, Mingus Dynasty Big Band, Gary Bartz, Chucho Valdes & far too many more to name here. He is considered to be one of the most unique and provocative improvising trumpet players in the nation today and is widely regarded as a vanguard for the evolution of Jazz in Canada.
"One of the next great voices in the new generation of jazz improvisers”
-- Randy Brecker
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AWARDS & ACCOLADES
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A highly decorated player, his awards & accolades include :
-- 2 National Jazz Awards (with 11 nominations over the years)
-- 10 Global Music Awards
-- Montreal Jazz Fest's "Grand Prix Du Jazz" award
-- a CBC Galaxie Rising Star award
-- a SOCAN composers award
-- 1st place in International Songwriting Competition (ISC), Jazz
-- an International Independent Music Award for "Album of the Year"
-- 3 Toronto Independent Music Award "jazz artist of the year" (8 nominations)
-- a Black Canadian Award nomination for "Jazz Musician of the Year"
-- an induction into the WHO'S WHO IN BLACK CANADA
-- a Black IMPACT Award for "Artists of the Year"
-- a Caribbean Music & Entertainment nomination for "Jazz Artist of the Year"
-- a BRAVO! channel documentary on his life
-- NOW magazine naming him "Toronto's Best Jazz Musician"
-- CBC Radio Canada named him "one of the most recorded trumpet players in Canadian history"
-- NPR in New York calls him "the new standard in electric jazz"
-- the Trinidad & Tobago Consulate General awarded him with a citation for being a "Distinguished National of Trinidad"
-- was once listed by Air Canada's in-flight magazine as "One of the Top 10 reasons to visit Toronto".
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Where is it happening?
Henry's On James (303 James St N, Hamilton), 303 James St N, Hamilton, ON L8R 2L4, CanadaEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
