The Dog Ears is composed of four experienced, Vancouver-based musicians with a wide range of musical backgrounds and influences.

Les Toth: GUITAR
Les has had a life-long passion for music, starting to play guitar in his teens. He studied jazz at Capilano College and over three decades was the music director at West Van Secondary School. He’s played countless gigs in a variety of genres.

KEN LEEDHAM: DRUMS
Ken has been playing drums and percussion for over 45 yrs with a wide variety of projects from pop, rock, Latin and now bringing his rudiments and passion to the Jazz/Blues genre with The Dog Ears.

LIBOR MICHALAK: BASS / CLARINET / SAX
Graduated from Toronto Music School with a B.Mus. played in many recording sessions for radio, several CDs with Swing2Beat, performed in numerous festivals and local bands. Started on horns and learned upright bass as a second instrument.

GLENN ROWLEY: BASS
If music be the food of love… Ever since Glenn first viewed the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show he knew this was what he wanted to do. He took up guitar at an early age and switched to bass to play rock and roll. How many years and musical genres later playing bass in the Dog Ears is musically rewarding as well as so much fun.

The band plays a mixture of Jazz Standards, Swing, R & B and Blues.

Join MAD JAZZ LIVE at Brasserie Coquette!

Dane Warren has had the privilege of travelling the world, bringing his love of big band music to thousands, through concerts, tours, and as a performer and entertainer aboard Holland America and Princess Cruise Lines. He has had the pleasure of performing with some of Canada’s most talent jazz musicians, such as Juno Award winning legend Rick Kilburn. He has also performed with the likes of Tom Arntzen, Dan Brubeck, Roy Styffe, Diane Lines, Joe Poole, Derry Bird, Dean Thiessen and many more…

With style and an air of cool, Dane definitely exudes the presence, talent and excitement that harkens back to an earlier era. Dane had great success with a world premiere concert series tour of
“Christmas with Sinatra” in 2018 in Victoria, Nanaimo, and Campbell River on Vancouver Island, and in 2019 in 6 different citites throughout the lower mainland bringing his love of vintage music, the big band era, and the iconic style of Frank Sinatra to a Christmas setting which received high praise from concert goers and critics alike. Recently he wrote, co-produced, co-directed with his lovely partner Mandy Rushton (the ‘M’ in MAD JAZZ LIVE), and starred in a “Bio-Musical” of the life of Frank Sinatra entitled “Ol’Blue Eyes” which was arrranged and scored by Dean Thiessen and a six piece little big band. The show had historic film, radio clips, multimedia and featured a live duet with Frank in his last performance of MY WAY generated through a mix of AI, voice isolation, and live band!

At Coquette Brasserie in Kitsilano on Thursday, July 17th Dane will be accompanied by his long-time friend and collaborator Aaron Pang (The ‘A’ in MAD JAZZ LIVE). Aaron Pang is a classically trained jazz pianist from Vancouver, BC. After graduating from the University of Victoria with a Bachelor of Music, Aaron has delved deep into the Vancouver music scene, playing in countless bands spanning multiple genres from blues, funk, soul, indie, country, pop, and hip hop. After performing numerous shows for almost a decade, he has returned his focus to his dearest musical love, jazz. Since their inception in 2020, he has been the arranger and pianist for MAD Jazz LIVE, performing all over BC and through online streaming platforms. Aaron hopes to continue entertaining communities, family, and friends, and inspire the livelihood of those around him with his music.

The Lesley Branton Trio brings fresh interpretations of jazz standards within an acoustic framework. Based in Vancouver, this trio features Lesley Branton (vocals), Tamami Maitland (piano) and Emilio Suarez (bass). Tamami has an extensive jazz education from Berklee College of Music (MA, USA) and Capilano University. She has developed her unique musical style that blends various genres such as jazz, pop, R&B, and soul. Musician and composer, Emilio completed his studies and was awarded his bachelor of music in Jazz Studies at Capilano University. Emilio’s style is a dynamic range from jazz and bebop to contemporary, classical, and pop. The Lesley Branton Trio plays a variety of jazz standards and Bossa Novas which are as diverse as their audiences.