Featured Release

Album Overview

On Exit 10, saxophonist and composer Ally Fiola builds a musical portrait of Nova Scotia’s Annapolis Valley by bringing her groove-oriented jazz language into contact with the sounds she associates with home. Alto saxophone and brass sit alongside fiddle, accordion and tap dancing, while the arrangements move between funk-driven rhythm, East Coast traditional colors and a larger brass-band vocabulary. Each composition takes its starting point from a location connected to Fiola’s upbringing, turning the album into a sequence of musical places rather than simply a collection of tunes.

That sense of geography also shapes the ensemble. Donald MacLennan’s violin and Mary Beth Carty’s accordion bring traditional timbres into Fiola’s writing, while Simon Oakey’s trombone, Addison Sowery-Quinn’s sousaphone and the rhythm section give the music its lower-register weight and groove. Tap dancer Michele King adds another rhythmic voice. The result is an ensemble language in which jazz improvisation, brass-band sonority and East Coast traditions occupy the same musical landscape.

From the album…

“Valley Drive In” sits near the center of that musical map. Like the other compositions on Exit 10, its title points toward the Annapolis Valley landscape that shaped Fiola’s early life. Here the album’s idea of place becomes less about describing scenery than translating memory into rhythm, ensemble color and improvisation. Fiola’s alto saxophone remains at the center, while the band’s groove-based framework gives the piece a contemporary jazz footing. Heard within the complete sequence, “Valley Drive In” provides a musical entry into the album’s central idea: familiar places revisited through the musical language Fiola developed after leaving the Valley and eventually returning home.

Listen to the album

Recommended listening: start with “Valley Drive In” for the groove-centered core of Ally Fiola & The Next Quest, then move to “The Lookoff” for the album’s fiddle, accordion and tap-inflected East Coast vocabulary; continue with “Scott’s Bay” for its connection to the Valley’s coastal landscape, and close with “When Things End,” where Jah’Mila’s vocal and Fiola’s tenor saxophone bring the record’s narrative back toward reflection and transition.

Album Details

Artist: Ally Fiola & The Next Quest
Album: Exit 10
Label: Self-Released / Independent
Release Date: October 16, 2026

Personnel

Ally Fiola — alto saxophone; tenor saxophone (7)
Evan Mahaney — tenor saxophone (1)
Donald MacLennan — violin (1, 3, 5, 6)
Simon Oakey — trombone
Addison Sowery-Quinn — sousaphone; trombone (6)
Tom Richards — keyboards; trombone (6)
Mary Beth Carty — accordion (3, 5)
Larry Bjornson — electric bass (4–7)
Lowell Whitty — drums
Clare Macdonald — drums (7)
Jah’Mila — vocals (7)
Michele King — tap dancing (2, 3, 6)

All music composed by Ally Fiola.

Track Listing

1. English Mountain — 5:22
2. Cumberland — 3:19
3. The Lookoff — 4:30
4. Valley Drive In — 5:37
5. Scott’s Bay — 6:08
6. Wolfville — 5:25
7. When Things End (feat. Jah’Mila) — 4:38