The Canadian Jazz Collective is kicking off the latest edition of the TD Niagara Jazz Festival’s Twilight Jazz & Blues Series at the Hare Winery Co. in Niagara-on-the-Lake on April 3.

The collective is a collaborative group of award-winning jazz artists who came together to celebrate live performance of original Canadian jazz.

The band is fronted by three of Canada’s most acclaimed and accomplished jazz musicians: saxophonist Kirk MacDonald, guitarist Lorne Lofsky and trumpeter Derrick Gardner.

Other members include clarinetist Virginia MacDonald, pianist Brian Dickinson, bassist Neil Swainson and drummer Bernd Reiter.

“The idea is to put together musicians with a similar aesthetic, who approach the music with openness and respectfulness of each other’s personalities, and to bring them to the forefront,” said MacDonald.

“It’s the idea that the whole should be greater than the sum of the parts.”

MacDonald, a two-time Juno Award winner and recipient of the Toronto Music Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award, is one of the most well-established Canadian musicians of his generation.

Gardner has performed with some of the most revered large ensembles in jazz, including the Count Basie Orchestra, Frank Foster’s Loud Minority Band and Harry Connick Jr.’s Big Band.

Lofsky is a master guitarist known for his pianistic voicings and virtuosic skill.

Other shows in the series include: April 17: Duncan Hopkins Quartet: A Tribute to Kenny Wheeler, featuring Reg Schwager, Ted Quinlan and Ted Warren; April 30: For International Jazz Day, Juno Award-winning vocalist Caity Gyorgy; May 15: Denielle Bassels Trio; June 5: Bentley Collective, four-piece electric blues.