BERNARD (BERNIE SENENSKY) (pianist, composer, pianist, etc.) was born December 31, 1944, in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Senensky is a well-known jazz musician in Canada and a leading jazz accompanist worldwide. His music and playing have been showcased at jazz festivals around the globe. He has eight albums to his credit, including two Juno Awards nominees. Senensky started playing piano when he was eight years old. He then began to take an interest in jazz at age 14, after studying with Bob Erlendson, a Winnipeg jazz legend. After he started playing in local Winnipeg bands, including Lenny Breau’s guitar and Dave Young’s bass, he eventually moved to Edmonton. He was a member of the Holiday Inn Hotel house band and eventually moved to Toronto. There he established himself as an accompanist, playing with and for a variety of musicians, including Sonny Stitt and Clark Terry, Kenny Wheeler and Joe Williams. He recorded with many of the most prominent names in the industry, including Marian McPartland and Oscar Peterson, as well as playing piano duets with them. In the early 1970s, he formed his own trio and took over the piano in The Moe Kofman Quintet’s 1979 small-scale jazz band. Prior to this, he had been a player with Moe and was “always impressed by his musicality and complete mastery over the flute, alto and soprano Saxophones.” Senensky was part of the Moe Koffman Quartet and had the chance to add many of his compositions to the band’s repertoire over the past 20 years. He continues to preserve the memory and music of Moe Koffman as the leader of the Tribute To Moe Koffman Band. AWARDS 1989 – nomination as “Best Jazz Album of the Year” for Friday the 14th 1993 – Juno nomination as “Best Jazz Album of the Year” for Wheel Within a Wheel from http://www.canadianjazzarchive.org
