Bernie Senensky

A versatile pianist whose contributions have enriched countless recording sessions across the decades, Bernie Senensky has long ranked among Canada’s premier jazz musicians. He began classical piano studies at the age of nine and encountered jazz roughly five years afterward. While still a teenager he appeared in local settings with Lennie Breau and Dave Young, fronted house bands at Holiday Inns throughout Canada, and made Toronto his home in 1968. Over the years Senensky has shared stages with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers, Elvin Jones, Maynard Ferguson’s Big Band, Rob McConnell’s Boss Brass, Phil Woods, Dizzy Gillespie, Terry Gibbs, Buddy DeFranco, Art Pepper, Scott Hamilton, Bill Watrous, and numerous other visiting Americans. During the 1980s he held a steady position in the Moe Koffman Quintet. Leading his own ensembles, he has recorded for RCI, PM, Unity, and Timeless; as a sideman he has appeared on sessions with Moe Koffman, Gillespie, Eugene Amaro, Peter Appleyard, Herbie Spanier, and Ted Moses.