John Roney has degrees from the University of Toronto and from McGill University where he now teaches. A very active member of the Montreal jazz community since 2001, he has worked with many local and international jazz artists in his current home town. He has hosted the jam sessions at the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal since 2006. His trio recording for Effendi in 2006 "Rate of Change" was highly-acclaimed. Budd Kopman of allaboutjazz.com describes Roney as "an amazing improviser who never seems to run out of ideas". Demonstrating his versatility, he subsequently released a CD of chamber music for strings with the Silverbirch String Quartet which was nominated for a Juno award.