Bill McBirnie | |
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| Background information | |
| Born | May 23, 1953 Toronto, Ontario, Canada |
| Genres | Jazz, Latin, Improvised |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, Author |
| Instrument(s) | Flute, Alto flute, Piccolo |
| Website | extremeflute |
Bill McBirnie is a widely acclaimed jazz and Latin flautist, based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He was raised in the small town of Port Colborne, Ontario, Canada.
He studied with Canadian flautist and composer Robert Aitken, American classical flautist Samuel Baron, and Cuban charanga legend Richard Egues.
He has recorded several albums under his own name. He has also recorded extensively as a sideman, including with Junior Mance, Irakere, Four80East, Memo Acevedo, and Emilie-Claire Barlow. [1]
In an educational vein, he has been a longstanding contributor to the Woodwinds Column of the Canadian Musician magazine and, in addition, he was recruited personally by Sir James Galway to serve as his resident Jazz Flute Specialist. [1] [2] He is also author of the book, The Technique and Theory of Improvisation: A practical guide for flutists, doublers, and other instrumentalists. [3]
The Silent Wish (with Bernie Senensky), was nominated for a Juno Award as Best Instrumental Album of the Year in 2020.
McBirnie was featured with Four80East in the #1 Billboard magazine Smooth Jazz hit, "Cinco Cinco Seis", in 2019. He was again featured by Four80East in the subsequent Billboard hit, "Ba Ba Brazil", in 2020.
Find You Place won the Vox Pop award in the Jazz Instrumental category at the 14th Annual Independent Music Awards (IMAs) in the US in 2016.
Grain of Sand (with Bruce Jones) won the Best Instrumental album category at the Toronto Independent Music Awards in 2016.
The venerable American flute maker, William S. Haynes Flute Company, designated him a Haynes Artist in 2013.
Mercy (featuring Romani pianist, Robi Botos [4] ) was nominated in the Best Jazz Album category at the Independent Music Awards (IMAs) in the US in 2011.
Mercy (featuring Romani pianist, Robi Botos [5] ) also won a Toronto Independent Music Award (TIMA) in the Best Jazz Album category in 2010.
McBirnie was named Flutist of the Year by the Jazz Report Awards in 1999, and nominated as both Miscellaneous Instrumentalist of the Year and Best Album for "Paco Paco" at the National Jazz Awards in 2007.
McBirnie was solicited personally by Sir James Galway to serve as the resident Jazz Flute Specialist at his official website in 2005.
He is the only flutist to have won all three of the US National Flute Association's jazz flute Masterclass (2003), Big Band (2009) and Soloist (2012) Competitions. [1]
Severino Gazzellone, known as Severino Gazzelloni, was an Italian flutist.
Sir James Galway is an Irish virtuoso flute player from Belfast, nicknamed "The Man with the Golden Flute". After several years working as an orchestral musician, he established an international career as a solo flute player. In 2005, he received the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music at the Classic Brit Awards.
Emmanuel Pahud is a Franco-Swiss flautist.
"Spain" is an instrumental jazz fusion composition by jazz pianist and composer Chick Corea. It is likely Corea's most recognized piece, and is considered a jazz standard.
The Irish flute is a conical-bore, simple-system, wooden flute of the type favoured by classical flautists of the early 19th century, or to a flute of modern manufacture derived from this design. The majority of traditional Irish flute players use a wooden, simple-system flute.
Marc Rogers is a Canadian acoustic and electric bassist.
David Peter Valentin was an American Latin jazz flautist of Puerto Rican descent.
Emilie-Claire Barlow is a Canadian singer, arranger, record producer, and voice actress. She has released several albums on her label, Empress Music Group, and has voiced characters for animated television series. She performs in English, French, and Portuguese.
Robi Botos is a Hungarian-Canadian jazz pianist. He has recorded several albums as a leader and was the winner of the TD Grand Jazz Award at the 2012 Montreal International Jazz Festival. In 2016, Botos won the JUNO Award for Best Jazz Album of the Year (Solo) for his recording of Movin' Forward.
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