BIOGRAPHY
Primary Colours is a Canadian piano trio that builds from the traditions of jazz, with influences from modern acts like Robert Glasper, GoGo Penguin, Tigran Hamasyan and Herbie Hancock. Blending acoustic and electric elements, the trio flows between head-nodding grooves and soulful melodies,discovering the unexpected through their improvisational virtuosity. With an eclectic harmonic pallet inspired by traditional music from their respective cultures the band focuses on keeping the music accessible and singable.
The trio features Deniz Lim-Sersan on keys, Chris Pond on bass and José Hernández García on drums.
Chris Pond
Chris Pond is a Canadian bassist, songwriter and producer originally from St. John’s, Newfoundland. Growing up playing in punk and metal bands, Chris eventually shifted his focus to jazz in high school before moving to Nova Scotia to complete his BMUS from St. FX University in 2016. During that time Chris had a lot of great performance opportunities with local musicians in Antigonish and Halifax, and was even asked to be part of the national band “Jazz Youth Summit” as part of the Ottawa Jazz Festival. Chris moved to Ottawa in 2019 where he has become an important member of the Jazz community, performing and with many local jazz icons such as Roddy Elias, Kellylee Evans and Petr Cancura as well as several new creative groups such as Primary Colours, Side-eye & Grace, NitroTurtle, Amateur Painter and Internet Celebrities.
Deniz Lim-Sersan
Deniz Lim-Sersan is a Canadian multi-instrumentalist and producer. Since his youth Deniz has been recognized for his unique voice on the piano which has seen his burgeoning success from holding the piano spot at the Yamaha National All Star Jazz band and getting invited to attend Humber College on scholarship to attending the Banff International Workshop in Jazz and Creative Music under Vijay Iyer and studying under some of the greatest Canadian pianists such as Brian Browne, Bernie Senesky, Brian Dickinson, Robi Botos and Dave Restivo, continues his own Now Deniz is touring across Canada playing with different bands and acts like the Commotions, Fatal Visions, as well as directing his own projects, the Primary Colours trio and his funk band Nitro Turtle.
José García
José Hernández García is a second generation Canadian born to Honduran parents, and an award winning drummer, composer, and educator living in Ottawa. In 2016, he obtained a Bachelor of Music in performance from Humber College, in Toronto, where he studied with many contributors to Canadian music and culture such as Hilario Duran, Kirk MacDonald, Larnell Lewis, Shannon Gunn, and Gord Sheard. As a professional artist José has many years of experience performing at festivals and cultural events such as the TD Ottawa Jazz Festival, Ottawa Bluesfest, the Toronto Undergraduate Jazz Festival. José's versatility has enabled him to work with many artists from diverse genres including the National Capital Concert Band, Michelle Treacy, Anjali Ranadive, Sreerama Chandra, Kellylee Evans, Miguel de Armas, Roddy Ellias, Marc Copland, Ryan Devlin and many more.
