Curtis Nowosad is a JUNO-nominated, NYC-based jazz drummer, composer, educator and recording artist. Having made his home in NYC for over a decade, the native of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada has established himself as an integral part of the NYC and international jazz scene, both as a bandleader and a sideperson.
Curtis has played in the bands of many top jazz artists of multiple generations, including Jazzmeia Horn, Jane Monheit, Brianna Thomas, Jocelyn Gould, Marc Cary, Philip Harper, Steve Nelson, Sasha Berliner, Craig Harris, Bria Skonberg, Sarah Elizabeth Charles, Brent Birckhead, Jacques Schwarz-Bart, Bruce Barth, David Berkman, Andrew Renfroe and Braxton Cook, with whom he has toured extensively in Europe, Asia and North America and performed on ABC’s Good Morning America and NPR’s groundbreaking video series Tiny Desk Concerts. He has also played with four NEA Jazz Masters: Candido Camero, Dave Liebman, Jimmy Owens and Ron Carter, and recorded with a fifth, Kenny Barron. He has led bands at many notable clubs and festivals, including The Blue Note, The Jazz Standard, Dizzy’s and every major jazz festival in Canada and several in the US. He holds a monthly residency at the world-renowned Smalls Jazz Club in NYC.
Curtis’ forthcoming release on La Reserve Records, I Am Doing My Best, is his fourth full-length album and his first to feature all-original music and lyrics. Co-produced by Joey Landreth of the two-time JUNO winning group The Bros. Landreth, the album is a radically honest journey through healing and self-reflection in an increasingly demanding world. His previous releases include: If I Had (2023), a trio EP featuring the music of Nick Drake, Pete Seeger, Jim Webb and Stevie Wonder which has amassed nearly 2 million streams to date; the collaborative EP PRIMORDIAL (2024), co-led with Andrew Renfroe, which explores the underutilized medium of duo guitar and drums; his critically acclaimed social justice-driven eponymous third album, co-produced by Marc Cary and featuring guest vocalists Michael Mayo and Brianna Thomas; its companion remix EP CNRMXD (2022), which features remixes by nine celebrated producers from the USA, Canada and Europe; the WCMA-winning and JUNO-nominated Dialectics, which made Downbeat Magazine’s “Best of 2015” list and spent ten weeks on the JazzWeek charts; and his debut The Skeptic & the Cynic, which topped Canadian jazz radio charts and features GRAMMY-winning and nominated artists Taylor Eigsti and Jimmy Greene.
Curtis holds a Master of Music from Manhattan School of Music, where he serves on the Precollege jazz faculty. He is an endorser of Yamaha drums, Zildjian cymbals and Vic Firth sticks, brushes & mallets.
