BIO

Andrew Ibanez was born in Ottawa Ontario in 1968. He began playing the guitar at a young age and then more seriously at about 12, taking guitar lessons and playing in local school groups. In 1989 he began formal Jazz Performance studies at Humber College in Toronto Ontario, graduating with Honors in 1993. There he had the opportunity to study with such luminaries as Pat Labarbera, Peter Harris, Oscar Peterson, Memo Ascevedo, Peter Leitch, Jim Hall and Rik Emmett. In 1996, Andrew moved to Banff Alberta to work at the Banff Centre for the Arts, eventually settling down in Canmore Alberta, with his wife Nicki and son Jaxson.

In 2017 Andrew was recognized by his community and was awarded a Mayors Arts Spotlight Award. 

Mayor’s Awards 2017 – Canmore AB

 

Bo Diddley 2007

Andrew’s music encompasses many guitar styles including Rock, Jazz, Blues, Latin, Classical, Folk and Reggae. This has afforded him the opportunity to appear on stage with many great musicians of note including Bo Diddley, Dutch Mason, Murray Mclauchlan, Amos Garret, Nana Mclean, Russell Jackson and Sam Cockrell to name a few. Andrew’s present and former bands have also opened for or appeared on stage with many great Canadian acts such as Trooper, Kim Mitchell, The Headpins, Streethart, 54 40, Randy Bachman, Big Wreck, Widemouth Mason and April Wine to name a few.

Andrew’s bands have also appeared at many music festivals including the Toronto Blues Festival, Canmore Folk Festival, Calgary Jazz Festival, C – Jazz Calgary, Fort Mcmurray’s Interplay Festival, Expo Latino and many more festivals throughout Alberta and British Colombia

As a recording artist, Andrew has two CD’s. His first solo CD entitled ‘Sueños’ was released in 2002 and then he released ‘Sangria Blanco’ in 2005 with DeMayo, his four piece Latin group now called ‘Los Del Fuego’. Both of Andrew’s CD’s have been aired on Calgary radio stations ‘CKUA’ and the ‘Breeze’ and have been featured on CBC radio show’s and television.

Sangria Blanco – DeMayo

In 2012 Andrew performed for the ‘Celebrity Sports Invitational Event’ at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel.  This was an annual fundraiser for the Waterkeeper Alliance and was attended by many famous stars like Alec Baldwin, Pierce Brosnan, Cheech Marin, Fran Drescher,  and Allan Thicke to name a few.