Ken Fornetran was born and raised in the border city of Windsor, Ontario. It was there he had opportunity to hear and study with some of Detroit's finest jazz musicians. While still in his teens, Ken was able to immerse himself in the deep tradition of Detroit jazz with the likes of Donald Waldon, Phil Lasley, Roy Brooks, Marcus Belgrave, Hugh Lawson, Charles McPherson and many others.
 
In 1985 Ken moved to Toronto to study with Pat LaBarbera at Humber College.  While at Humber, he performed many concerts with the college's
big band under the direction
of Ron Collier.

Ken first came to attention of Toronto's jazz community in 1990 when he formed and co-led Norman Marshall Villeneuve's Sextet. The band  performed regularly in Toronto clubs as well as Canada's major jazz festivals. It was also with Norm that he performed a week-long engagement with legendary trombonist Curtis Fuller.

Since that time, Ken has performed with some of Canada's best known musicians including Bob Mover, Bernie Senensky, George McFetridge, Jerry Fuller, and Roy Styffe to name a few.  Ken has also performed with bassist Rodney Whitaker (Lincoln Center Orchestra, Kenny Garrett, etc.) and his quintet for club dates in Detroit Michigan.

In late 2004 Ken released his debut CD "Shadow's and Short Stories".  The CD is mostly in duo format with award winning pianist  Dave Restivo and also features guest vocalist Thyron Lee Whyte.  In mid 2005 the CD was reviewed in DownBeat magazine, where it received an impressive 4 out of 5 stars and was later listed in DownBeat as "one of the best CDs of 2005" .


    " Emotionally open and given to sudden turns of lush romanticism, the Toronto based duo of Ken Fornetran and Dave Restivo find numerous ways to combine their voices on this deeply compelling recording"
                - James Hale - DOWNBEAT magazine July 2005


    "...worth hearing again and again for the kaleidoscopic shifts in style, mood, texture and colour.....an ambitiously intimate disc that may well raise eyebrows," 
                  - Geoff Chapman - Toronto Star