Mr Quartet+

Mr Quartet was founded by Canadian bassist Al Richardson and pianist Mark Meitine in 2006.

They first met during the show of the late and great blues guitarist Mel Brown, and Al was a bass player in his band, “The Homewreckers”. Mark somehow got up on the stage and played a couple of tunes with them. This occasional meeting turned out in a 20-something years of musical collaboration.

The repertoire of Mr Quartet consists of mostly original tunes written by Al and Mark. These are catchy tunes that you would remember, where every tune is a story, and each solo is a storytelling. 

There were exceptions, such as the “16 Shades of Blues” show - a tribute to the blues from different eras of jazz, featuring music of Duke Ellington, Horace Silver, Charles Mingus and other greats. 

Mr Quartet released its first album “Seven Miles to Heaven” in 2008.

It features David Rodenburg on tenor saxophone and flute, Howard Southwood, Jimmy Boudreau and Peter Grimmer on drums.

Later the band members included Toronto-based saxophonists Joe Amato and Frank Pincente, and drummers Michael Kawabe and Kevin Coady.

Mr Quartet played in Toronto's famous jazz clubs such as The Rex, Gate 403, Trane Studio, and in Kitchener-Waterloo-Guelph area.

Most recent 2023 album "Random Art of Kindness" was a result of a magical chemistry between current members of Mr Quartet (Al Richardson, Mark Meitine, Frank Pincente, Kevin Coady) and a guitar virtuoso Oleg Neiman.

Oh, wait a minute... that's a quintet already!

Al Richardson - Bass

'Doctor Al' Richardson has been playing bass on the blues scene for more than 25 years, while keeping one foot firmly rooted in the jazz world. He has recorded or performed with Snooky Pryor, Mel Brown, Kim Wilson, Shawn Kellerman, The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra and many more. Along the way he has played at many exciting venues, including the Montreal Jazz Festival, the Cisco Ottawa Bluesfest, the Cognac Blues Passion festival and the Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival among others.

Mark Meitine - Piano, Keyboards

Both classical and jazz trained pianist. Mark's vision of music was strongly influenced by Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, Thelonius Monk and Chick Corea. He inherited the motto "Back to Beethoven" from his teacher, jazz composer Yuri Markin and he became a huge supporter of this motto by writing the tunes that respect the music form and create the emotions from almost any audience. Mark is frequent at jam sessions in Toronto's jazz clubs.

Frank Pincente - Saxophone, Flute

Toronto Saxophonist Frank Pincente has actively pursued his artistic calling with an eclectic array of musical experiences spanning the last 20 years. As a young teen, he was drawn to playing the saxophone and immediately realized that music would be an integral part of his life.

Frank has performed and toured across Canada with The Philosopher Kings and is featured on their recording “One Night Stand”. He was also a member of the Dominicanada Show band and plays on their recording “Subiendo” which was nominated for a Juno award. Frank has performed at the Toronto Jazz festival with the Joshua Brown Sextet, Montreal and Ottawa Jazz festivals with Dr. Pop and the Noise and the Guelph Jazz festival with the Steve Byfield Group.

In 2008 he became a member of the Jazz Mechanics Big Band and has shared the stage with Phil Nimmons, Pat Labarbera, Don Thompson, Hilario Duran and Jane Bunnett.

Kevin Coady - Drums

Kevin hails from Newfoundland, where he began a love affair with things that make noise at an early age. He hasn’t stopped since, experimenting with the textures of percussion and playing with Big Rude Jake, Jack Zorawski and Joel Miller. He studied music with Andre White at McGill University and has performed at the prestigious Montreal Jazz Festival and the Sound Symposium in St. John’s. Kevin is interested in time travel, perpetual motion (it’s what he does best) and tricycles.

Oleg Neiman - Guitar

Oleg is known by his performances in jazz clubs through the city of Toronto and New York as member of various music bands and as a leader of his own jazz band.
He shared stage with famous and internationally recognized musicians, such as Gene Bertoncini,  Darmon Meader, Bill McBirnie, Bernard Senensky, Don Naduriak, Valeri Abramov, Igor Shirokov, Victor Dvoskin, and others.