SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2026
High Line Brewing: 1318 9 Ave SE, Unit #113
(access via Minh Chau parking lot off 9th Ave SE)
7-10pm, 18+, $20 cover at the door, CASH ONLY

Andrew MacKelvie....meets Calgary!

Halifax-based saxophonist, composer, and improvisor Andrew MacKelvie (New Hermitage, Andrew MacKelvie's Many Worlds, Slats) has been on Bug Incision's radar for sometime now, and we are fortunate to find him spending a little extra time in Calgary surrounding his western dates with Michael Cloud Duguay's Kingdom Come, Kingdom Go project. He will be joined in various configurations by some of Calgary's finest:

Simon Fisk, tenor guitar | Andrea Wong, guzheng | David Lavoie, trumpet
Jonathon Wilcke, saxophone | Eric Hamelin, drums/percussion | Jia Jia Li, flutes

More info about Andrew:
Andrew MacKelvie is an improviser, saxophonist, composer, and educator from Halifax, Nova Scotia. As a settler on this land, he would like you to know that Halifax was originally known as Kjipuktuk, and it is the unceded ancestral home and territory of the Mi’kmaq.

MacKelvie was the leader of the ambient improvised music ensemble, New Hermitage. New Hermitage has released five records including the award winning New Hermitage + Jeff Reilly. Their recording, Unearth, has received critical acclaim in publications such as Musicworks (Can), Salt Peanuts (Norway), The Quietus (UK), and Free Jazz Blog (US). Expect a new release from the ensemble this August. Doomsday Fantasias came out in September, 2024.

Currently, he leads the 8-piece minimalist-groove ensemble Many Worlds and the joyous quintet Borrowers. He is half of the duo Thoughts & Feelings with guitarist Ross Burns and performs solo as In Medias Res, his max/MSP-based ambient/minimalist electronic music project.

Outside of the creative music realm Andrew is a freelance saxophonist. Artists he has performed or recorded with artists that include Angel Bat Dawid, Lido Pimienta, Aquakultre, Erin Costelo, Michael C. Duguay, Major Funk, Roxy & the Underground Soul Sound, Bethany Fulde, the 6 Star Review, and many others.

He is part of the band SCIONS. Their 2024 release, To Cry Out in the Wilderness, has been receiving wide critical praise.

He co-runs the record label Watch that Ends the Night with Michael C. Duguay.

MacKelvie can be heard on ECMA winning albums by Erin Costelo and Jerry Granelli. He has garnered multiple Music Nova Scotia awards for his work as a session musician with a variety of Halifax artists across genres, including his own in the Classical Music Recording of the Year category for the record, New Hermitage + Jeff Reilly. He is also on the Juno nominated Jerry Granelli record, What I Hear Now, which featured Canadian saxophonist Mike Murley.

In January 2020, he was the inaugural recipient of Upstream Music Association’s Paul Cram Creation Award. The award came with a commission to write for Symphony Nova Scotia. MacKelvie's piece Treize Treize, debuted in 2023 and was a concerto for improvising saxophone and drum kit.

During the day, Andrew teaches primary to grade 12 music at the Shambhala School in North End Halifax. An independent school with a focus on mindfulness and experiential learning.

MacKelvie has a B.Ed in Music Education from Memorial University and a B.A. in jazz studies from another institution. He studied for over a decade with his mentor, Jerry Granelli. He has been involved with the Creative Music Workshop since he first attended in 2008 as volunteer, coordinator, and recently, as faculty.

You can read more about Andrew in Musicworks Magazine, issue # 147, Winter 2023-2024 edition.

UPCOMING DATES:

• Dec 13 @ High Line Brewing