Devin Patten is a Toronto-based bassist and composer. He has studied double bass with Canadian luminaries Neil Swainson (George Shearing, Joe Henderson) and Don Thompson (Jim Hall, Paul Desmond), and composition with Glen Hall (Billy Hart, Gill Evans) and Gabriel Kahane (Oregon Symphony, Roomful of Teeth). He has performed with AHI, Adrean Farrugia, Juno award winner Allison Au, Grammy Nominated Luis Deniz and Order of Canada's Terry Clarke and Reg Schwager, and many others. He leads a group called the Afton Project featuring core member vocalist/composer/improviser Laura Swankey performing original compositions and reimaginings of songs from various singer-songwriters in a lyrically impressionistic soundscape with abstract elements and improvisation. Short, often simple songs stretched out into larger vehicles with a focus on emotional content. Their first record, "the ardent companion to your own most daring emotion" (2024), an independent release, features vibraphonist Michael Davidson, guitarist Andrew Marzotto and drummer Eric West—produced by Jean Martin of Barnyard Records—as well as readings and lyrics adapted from the poetic stylings of the great 20th-century Austrian author Rainer Maria Rilke.