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Kevin Turcotte

Kevin Turcotte (trumpet, flugelhorn) was born in 1964 in Ottawa, Ontario,Canada, but raised in Sudbury, Ontario. He recognized as one of Canada’s major trumpet talents with an impressive list of recording and touring credentials as a prominent player with the elite of Canadian jazz ensembles including time Warp, The Mike Murley Quartet, Rob McConnell and The Boss Brass, The Dave McMurdo Orchestra, Hemispheres New Music Ensemble, The Barry Elmes quintet, the Jazz Report All-Stars, The Kieran Overs Quintet, Andrew Downing’s Attention Span, The Jean Martin Trio, and NOJO.

Kevin Turcotte has been regarded as one of Canada’s most proficient performers for nearly two decades. He studied music at the prestigious Banff School of Fine Arts and later, at the University of Toronto, where he joined the faculty in the 1990’s. He is first call favorite among many leaders, and has performed on over 75 recordings and in countless club and concert appearances. He has toured extensively throughout North America as well as with the Dave McMurdo Jazz Orchestra on the band’s 1991 Russian tour, in south America with Time Warp, with Don Byron in Italy. In addition to the extensive list of bands in which he is a principal player, Turcotte has worked with hundreds of international luminaries, among them Tito Puente, Dave Holland, Kenny Kirkwood, Pat LaBarbera, Bill Grove, and Kenny Wheeleer.

Kevin Turcotte is also a dedicated jazz educator, with lengthy teaching tenure at the University of Toronto and as a lon- time adjudicator for MusicFest Canada. Since 1993, he has been named Jazz Trumpeter of the Year by Jazz Report Magazine and the National Jazz Awards multiple times, and was nominated again in the same category at the 2009 National Jazz Awards.

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5
Album Review

Steve Holt: Impact

Read "Impact" reviewed by Jack Kenny


To create a new album after a twenty-year gap is intriguing. In his long career Steve Holt has worked with Archie Shepp, Larry Coryell Eddie Henderson, Pat LaBarbera, James Moody and Michel Urbaniak. He studied with Kenny Barron, an experience that affected his keyboard style. Surrounding himself with some major Canadian musicians, he has produced some new vital work: a library of new themes for the group to work on. The main task of a composer is to ...

25
Album Review

Carn Davidson 9: Reverence

Read "Reverence" reviewed by Jack Bowers


The Carn Davidson 9 is a Toronto, Canada-based nonet co-led by trombonist William Carn and saxophonist Tara Davidson whose fourth studio album, Reverence, encompasses a pair of four-part suites, one written by Carn, the other by Davidson. What is most interesting --over and above the depth and quality of the music--is that the suites are not performed sequentially but interspersed, with the first two of Davidson's themes followed by a pair of Carn originals before alternating on the remaining four ...

6
Album Review

Laila Biali: Wintersongs

Read "Wintersongs" reviewed by Pierre Giroux


Laila Biali is an award-winning Canadian singer-songwriter and pianist whose recording Wintersongs offers an immersive journey into the delicate beauty and serene power of winter all through the lens of her jazz and classical roots. With two exceptions, all tracks were composed by Biali in a cabin surrounded by snow-capped mountains in the heart of Canada's Rocky Mountains. Many of Biali's usual collaborators participated in this production, including drummer Ben Wittman, renowned flutist and soprano saxophonist Jane Bunnett, accomplished trumpeter ...

30
Album Review

The Nimmons Tribute: Volume 2--Generational

Read "Volume 2--Generational" reviewed by Jack Bowers


If you live in Canada and are not familiar with the name Phil Nimmons, you probably have not been paying close enough attention. Nimmons, who surpassed the century mark in June 2023, is often referred to as the “Dean of Canadian Jazz," and listing his many accomplishments and awards would require far more space than is ordinarily set aside for a complete review. Suffice to say that Nimmons has been active as a composer, arranger, performer and educator longer than ...

5
Album Review

The Nimmons Tribute: Volume 2 - Generational

Read "Volume 2  - Generational" reviewed by John Chacona


Anyone who listened to Canadian radio after the adoption of the so-called Canadian Content requirement in the '70s probably heard a lot of Phil Nimmons' music. To be sure, the clarinetist, composer and arranger had achieved some recognition south of the 49th parallel through his RCA recordings of the '50s but, by choosing to base his career in Toronto, he became a living symbol of Canadian jazz. When the nation celebrated the 100th anniversary of Confederation in 1967, Nimmons was ...

35
Album Review

Noam Lemish: Twelve

Read "Twelve" reviewed by Jack Bowers


The number Twelve has several explicit meanings on Israeli-born composer/pianist Noam Lemish's eighth album as leader of his own ensemble, which is twelve members strong (well, thirteen on the first two numbers, on which Laura Swankey adds wordless vocals, and twenty-five if one counts the thirteen-member chorus on Track 3). Returning to the basic premise, Lemish composed his first piece of music at age twelve, and it has been twelve years since he relocated from San Francisco to Toronto, Canada. ...

29
Album Review

Carn Davidson 9: The History of Us

Read "The History of Us" reviewed by Jack Bowers


From north of the U.S. border comes The History of Us, a warm-hearted album by the Carn Davidson 9, a Toronto-based nonet co-led by trombonist William Carn and saxophonist Tara Davidson. The album consists of a pair of three-part suites, one by Carn, the other by Davidson, separated by Carn's amiable composition, “Goodbye Old Friend," a fond salute to his late and dearly loved cat, Murphy. Carn's “Finding Home" suite, which leads things off, was inspired by ...

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Concerts

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Impact

Self Produced
2025

buy

Haunted Melody

Self Produced
2025

buy

Magpie

TPR Records
2024

buy

Wintersongs

Self Produced
2024

buy

Reverence

Self Produced
2024

buy

Breath of Fresh Air

ZSAN Records
2024

buy

Impact

From: Impact
By Kevin Turcotte

Ladyfinger

From: Breath of Fresh Air
By Kevin Turcotte

Ladyfinger

From: Breath of Fresh Air
By Kevin Turcotte

Fire (For Oatts)

From: Reverence
By Kevin Turcotte

Part 1: The Road

From: Magpie
By Kevin Turcotte

Arf

From: Volume 2 - Generational
By Kevin Turcotte

Steals on Steeles

From: Twelve
By Kevin Turcotte

Stars

From: Old Flames Never Die
By Kevin Turcotte

Suspend Yourself

From: Life Force
By Kevin Turcotte

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