Cole Birney-Stewart (b. 1988, Vancouver, Canada) is a Montreal-based bassist, composer, improviser, and bandleader. In 2011, Birney-Stewart moved to Montreal where continues to play an active rool in the jazz and improvised music scene. In 2019, he completed a master's degree in Jazz Performance from McGill University. His latest project is the Rhi Zome Quintet. As a bassist, he has performed and/or recorded with ensembles led by artists such as John Hollenbeck, Jean-Michel Pilc, Remi Bolduc, Marianne Trudel, Christine Jensen, and Claire Devlin.
His own numerous projects have included members such as Erik Hove, Samuel Blais, Rafael Zaldivar, Jonathan Lindhorst, Michel Lambert, Marie-Fatima Rudolf, Roman Munoz, Aaron Dolman, Sarah Rossy, Gentiane MG, Guillame Pilote, Simon Millerd, Claire Devlin, Evan Shay, Jules Payette, Thomas Morelli-Bernard, Maxime Tremblay-Rheault, Daniel Arthur, Matt Choboter, Andrew Thomson, and Louis-Vincent Hamel.
His debut album, "Champlain Bridge", was released in 2017. Featuring music for sextet, it was the second place winner for the Julian Award of Excellence, a Canada-wide prize awarded for best debut jazz album. A unreleased recording, "The-World-Without-Us", featuring an album length multi-movement suite for nonet was recorded in 2019.
He is a 2019 recipient of the Graduate Mobility Award, as well as the Graduate Excellence Fellowship in 2018 and 2019. He plays an Upton Bass with Evah Pirazzi Slap strings.