Biography

His name is Doc Fingers, but you can call him Doc.

It was in the early seventies, during a stint with the Ronnie Hawkins Band that Bruce Gallagher acquired that handle. "They initiated me as a Doctor of Fingerology and ever since then I've been known to everyone as Doc".

If the name fits

The Doctor, with his trio, including Chris Nordquist on drums and Kim Nishikawara on sax, clarinet and flute, has treated crowds of partiers from the peaks of ski slopes in British Columbia, Canada, and the French and Swiss Alps, to the smokey jazz bars in Paris, from Hawaii to Greece. Doc also plays every October at the Kinsale Jazz Festival in Ireland, and has performed with his band at the Cannes Jazz Festival on the Cote D'Azur, and for the Montreux Jazz Festival's 3Oth anniversary in Switzerland.

Doc has played the VIP lounge for the International Olympic Committee at the Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Atlanta, and Nagano, and will be again part of the IOC marketing team in Sydney 2000, Salt Lake 2002, and Athens 2004, entertaining and meeting people from around the globe.

Wherever music therapy is recommended, the Doctor is the cure.

Neil Hall, Vancouver Sun Music Critic, says "GOOD TIME MUSIC - IT'S WHAT THE DOCTOR ORDERED --- When it comes time for that therapeutic, good time, boogie woogie blues, jazz and rock and roll, there's no-one that can tickle the keys quite like the Doctor"

Doc Fingers has been a member of the Vancouver music scene for 27 years, playing with his 5-piece band. Rene Worst on bass, and Lindsay Mitchell on guitar, an incredible array of styles from Jazz/Blues to Rock and Roll, Rhythm and Blues to Funk) Folk and Country to Swing.

Doc's musical influences include some of the greats like, Ray Charles, Randy Newman, Duke Fllington, Floyd Cramer, Fats Waller, Dr. John, The Beatles, Leon Russell, Bob Dylan, Otis Spann, Muddy Waters, McCoy Tyner, Meade Lux Lewis, Oscar Peterson, Jay McShann, Professor Longhair, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Little Feat. ---- And the list goes on.

Doc has played with Chuck Berry, Ronnie Hawkins, John Lee Hooker, David Gilmour, Millar Anderson, Mississippi John Hurt, Phil Dwyer, Lowell Fulson, Charlie Musselwhite, Lee Oscar, Bo Diddley, Jim Byrnes, and practically every gigging musician in Vancouver BC where he makes his home.

Armed with an astounding repertoire of songs, Doc is ready to stay up all night, mixing musical potions to cure any crowd of the Blues.

The Doc Fingers Trio, formed in 198O in Vancouver, B.C., Canada, is an international trio of wide diversity and talent. The trio consists of Doc Fingers on Piano, keyboard bass, and Vocals--Chris Nordquist on Drums and Vocals, and Kim Nishikawara on Alto and Tenor Saxophones, flute, clarinet, and vocals.

Doc Fingers has been a founding member of the Vancouver music scene for 26 years, playing an incredible variety of styles from free-form jazz, rock and roll, rhythm and blues, funk, and traditional jazz. He has played with many musical greats including Chuck Berry, John Lee Hooker, David Gilmour, Millar Anderson, Phil Dwyer, Rita Coolidge, Frank Zappa, David Clayton-Thomas, Mississippi John Hurt, Lowell Fullson, Charlie Musslewhite, Bo Diddley, Jim Byrnes, --to name only a few. His musical influences include Ray Charles, Professor Longhair, Jay McShann, Lloyd Glen, Fats Waller, Pete Johnson, Meade Lux Lewis, Otis Spann, Dr. John, McCoy Tyner, Marvin Gaye, The Brecker Brothers, Oscar Peterson-------and the list goes on.

If you ask Doc to describe his musical style he would probably say something like--"A little bit of everything and a whole lot of nothing." In one set his repertoire may include a be-bop jazz tune, some modern jazz, Randy Newman, Rock and Roll, latin sambas, original ballads, and a Benny Goodman swing. You never know what songs Doc will pick out of his extensive song-list of over a thousand numbers covering a 70 year period of musical history-but you can be sure that it will be different every night.

Chris Nordquist began his professional drumming career in 1969, and has performed with a long list of musical legends including Dorothy Donegan, Jay Mcshann, Lloyd Glen, Sammy Price, Bo Diddley, The Shirelles, Jim Byrnes, Sunnyland Slim, Big Joe Duskin, Laffayette Leake, Hugh Fraser, Guitar Shorty, Big Mama Thornton, Pee Wee Crayton--and many others Chris is the first call on everyones list for television, radio, and other recording sessions in Vancouver because of his amazing sensitivity and ability to play any and all styles with a flexibility very rare in the world of drummers. He is a drummer's drummer, and the heart and soul of the Doc Fingers Trio.

Kim Nishikawara is a multi-instrumentalist (tenor, alto and soprano saxophones, clarinet and flute) whose talent keeps him in demand on the performance and recording scene in Vancouver and beyond. Trained at Berklee College of music in Boston in Jazz Performance and Composition, his experience in a wide range of venues including gigs, theater, and recording studios has presented him to a broad and appreciative audience, and honered his skill in many musical styles. He has performed with Downchild Blues Band, Kelly Crowe Ensemble, Al Forman Big Band, Chris Fletcher Big Band (in London, England), Al La Carte, Razzle Jazzle Ensemble, and heads up his own 21-piece swing band in Vancouver. Kim Nishikawara on the stand means the room will swing.