OLD About us

When Cory Weeds released his very first recording on Cellar Live in 2001, featuring the late great Vancouver jazz saxophonist and pianist Ross Taggart, Weeds couldn’t have predicted how far the record label would go. At that time, having opened his Cellar Jazz Club the year before, Weeds was just rolling the tape at his club and trying his hand at releasing albums in the tradition of the great jazz labels.

Fast forward more than 17 years later. Cellar Live has gone on to release more than 120 dynamic recordings, many of which were captured live but at his club.  While the label has showcased Vancouver’s finest jazz players, such as Oliver Gannon, Brad Turner, Jesse Cahill, Bruno Hubert, Miles Black and Weeds himself, it has also featured master musicians from New York and elsewhere. David “Fathead” Newman, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Peter Bernstein, Mike LeDonne, Lewis Nash, Tardo Hammer and One For All are among the artists who have led sessions released on Cellar Live.

Along the way Cellar Live has earned three Juno nominations (for Weeds’ “Up a Step," Jodi Proznick’s “Foundations” and Curtis Nowosad's "Dialectics"), and one Juno win (for Metalwood "Twenty") in 2017, the Canadian National Jazz Award for label of the year and best album (“Foundations”), and numerous high rankings on the JazzWeek charts.

While Weeds closed the Cellar Jazz Club in February 2014 after more than 14 highlight-filled years, Cellar Live keeps going strong. The label released The Louis Hayes Cannonball Adderley Legacy Band – Live @ Cory Weeds’ Cellar Jazz Club that reached #1 on the Jazz Week Charts for 2 weeks in a row and also top charting albums by Champian Fulton (Change Partners), Joshua Bruneau (Bright Idea), Curtis Nowasad (Dialectics), Grant Stewart (Trio) Jeb Patton (Shades & Tones) and Steve Kaldestad (NY Afternoon). In May, 2015 Cellar Live reached a milestone releasing his 100th record on the label. Condition Blue reached as high as #3 on the Jazz Week Charts.

Weeds has recorded fourteen albums as a leader, including: Little Big Band Explosion (with Gary Smulyan, Steve Davis, Joe Magnarelli, PJ Perry), Let’s Groove - The Music OF Earth Wind & Fire (with Mike Ledonne, reached #3 on the Jazz Week Charts) Dreamsville (with The Jeff Hamilton Trio), It’s Easy To Remember (with David Hazeltine, Joe Magnarelli, Paul Gill and Jason Tiemann, reached #1 on the Jazz Week Charts) This Happy Madness, (with The Jeff Hamilton Trio, reached #1 on the Jazz Week Charts), Condition Blue, The Music Of Jackie McLean (with Peter Bernstein, Mike LeDonne, and Joe Farnsworth)., As Of Now(with the Harold Mabern Trio), Let’s Go (with Steve Davis), the Juno-nominated Up A Step(Cory Weeds Quartet), With Benefits (with Lewis Nash and Peter Washington), Just Like That(with the Tilden Webb Trio), The Many Deeds of Cory Weeds (with Joey DeFrancesco), Everything’s Coming Up Weeds (with Jim Rotondi), and Big Weeds (with Peter Bernstein, Mike LeDonne, and Joe Farnsworth).

Upcoming releases include Joe Magnarelli - If You Could See Me Now, Cory Weeds Quintet featuring Terell Stafford & Harold Mabern - Live @ Frankie's, Alyssa Allgood - Exactly Like You and many more. 

Cellar Live is distributed worldwide by Music Video Distributors.