John Stetch Music

Stetch grew up in the clean and cold suburbs of Edmonton, Canada, and was heavily involved in the Ukrainian community which is so rich in the prairies. Half a century ago, his Grandmother Savella wrote the definitive Ukrainian cookbook, and Grandfather Julian wrote the definitive Ukrainian Grammar textbook which was used in many universities. At age 9, John was given his father Myron's clarinet along with some lessons. There were many jazz records in the home and his dad tuned in to the local jazz radio station whenever they drove anywhere. Later, Stetch became fascinated by the rhythmic and harmonic possibilities and overall beauty of the piano, and in his late teens, switched to it and managed to attain a music degree from McGill University. Soon after he moved to NYC where he played in Rufus Reid's band, while living with roommate Seamus Blake. He found the teacher that changed his life - Burton Hatheway, (now 87 years old) who studied with Dora Zaslawski at the Manhattan School of Music. Burton's students of note include 3-time Grammy winner Lisa Kaplan and rising star Felix Jarrar. When recording albums or booking tours in the 90's, Stetch hired many greats such as Jeff Ballard, Mark Turner, Chris Cheek, Joe Martin, Jorge Rossy, Mike Murley, Rodney Green, and Bill McHenry. Out of 15 CDs, 6 were Juno nominated, including “Off With The Cuffs” which features Stetch’s radical re-interpretations of Chopin, Bach, Mozart and Shostakovich. In 2011, John lost his wife Susan to cancer. They were married for 12 years, mostly living in Ithaca, NY where John taught at Cornell and Ithaca College. Steinway Artist Stetch now divides his time between Vancouver, where his partner Joanna is, and NYC where his flagship group is – “VulneraVille", featuring Steve Kortyka, Ben Tiberio and Philippe Lemm. Says Stetch: "Never before have I had such great chemistry and devotion".