RealTracks Artist Bio: Tom Keenlyside

Tom Keenlyside′s musical career has spanned four decades, featuring performances and recordings throughout North America and Europe. His saxophone and flute playing have been featured at many major festivals, including the Newport Jazz Festival, the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and the Montreux Detroit Jazz Festival. He has performed with many of the biggest names in the music business: Diana Krall, Harry Connick Jr., Natalie Cole, Dizzy Gillespie, Mel Torme and Tom Jones. In November 2006, Tom was inducted into the B.C. Entertainment Hall of Fame.

Tom spent his formative years playing trumpet and flute, studying and performing in both the Jazz and Classical idioms. In the 1970 he joined Sunshyne, taking up the saxophone and playing a mix of Pop, Jazz, and Rock inspired by Chicago, Blood Sweat & Tears, and James Brown.

Tom has recorded with some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry, including Paul Anka, Natalie Cole, Sheena Easton, Bruce Hornsby, and Tom Jones. He toured with Jones and was featured on the Tom Jones television show. As lead alto sax for the Don Costa orchestra, Tom Keenlyside played a 26 show season with Paul Anka. In the Rock ′n′ Roll world, Tom has toured and recorded with Prism, Bachman-Turner Overdrive (BTO). Alice Cooper, Blue Oyster Cult, Foghat, Alvin Lee, and Styx. He received a Juno award as producer of "That River" for Jim Byrnes.

On the Vancouver Jazz scene, Tom has performed regularly with his own group, the Tom Keenlyside Quartet, Renee Rosnes, The Westcoast Jazz Orchestra, Hugh Fraser, Vancouver Ensemble of Jazz Improvisation, the New Orchestra Workshop, Phil Dwyer, Dave Robbins, and many more.

In addition to his vast discography as a session musician, Tom has had releases with The Tom Keenlyside Quintet, Synergy – a series of Jazz duets for flute and piano with Miles Black, the Bob Murphy Quartet, and Altered Laws – a Juno nominated contemporary Jazz quartet featuring originals by Tom and Miles Black.

The Tom Keenlyside official web site is at tomkeenlyside.com

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