Blue Standard: Raoul Bhaneja & Jesse Whiteley

Combining the talents of singer/actor Raoul Bhaneja and pianist/arranger Jesse Whiteley, Blue Standard has built a stellar reputation in Toronto since the release of their debut recording “A Good Thing” in January 2019. Inspired by some of the great male vocalists of jazz like Nat King Cole, Joe Williams, Jimmy Scott, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles and more, Blue Standard performs a selection of some familiar and many not so familiar classics digging into the core materials of top notch presentation… true melody, deep interpretation and most importantly, a real good time. Ottawa raised Bhaneja is known to audiences across Canada for this work on stage and screen and for his three decades of fronting Maple Blues Award winners Raoul and The Big Time. Whiteley who also performs in The Big Time is from the first family of Canadian roots music, is a pianist, arranger, songwriter and singer in his own right, who works night after night in Toronto both on his own projects and as an in demand side man spanning blues, jazz, swing and even country music. “It does not take much to become entranced by this disarmingly natural and eloquent performance by the duo” – Raul de Gama, The Wholenote