Kevin Turcotte is a

trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...

player based in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada. Turcotte is also on faculty at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

Early life and education

Turcotte grew up in

Sudbury, Ontario Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury, is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the List of the largest cities and t ...

, He is a graduate of the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

, attended Humber College for one year and has participated in multiple summer jazz workshops at the

Banff School of Fine Arts Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (formerly Banff Centre) is an arts and culture educational institution in Banff, Alberta. It offers arts programs in the performing and fine arts, as well as leadership training. It was established in 193 ...

Career

Turcotte has performed and recorded with Mike Murley,

Rob McConnell Robert Murray Gordon McConnell (14 February 1935 – 1 May 2010) was a Canadian jazz trombonist, composer, and arranger.Jeff Sultanof. Experiencing Big Band Jazz: A Listener's Companion'. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers; 8 November 2017. . p ...

and The Boss Brass, Dave Young, Rich Brown,

Michael Occhipinti Michael Occhipinti is a Canadian jazz guitarist and composer. A founding member of the Neufeld-Occhipinti Jazz Orchestra, he is most noted as a three-time Juno Award nominee for Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year, receiving nominations at the Ju ...

, Andrew Downing, Barry Elmes, Jean Martin Trio, and Barry Romberg (his playing was praised for its intuitiveness on ''

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

''). Turcotte was a member of the first jazz band to perform live on the Junos. (

Juno Awards of 1993 The Juno Awards of 1993, representing Canadian music industry achievements of the previous year, were awarded on 21 March 1993 in Toronto at a ceremony in the O'Keefe Centre. Celine Dion was the host for the ceremonies, which were broadcast on C ...

) They were introduced by Celine Dion and the band included PJ Perry (1993 Juno winner), Ed Bickert, Rick Wilkins, Don Thompson, Oliver Jones and Rob McConnell. He was also a member of Memo Acevedo's Jazz Cartel when they hosted the first Latin Jazz Summit at Massey Hall in Toronto allowing him the opportunity to play with Johnny Pacheco, Tito Puente and Gonzalo Rubalcaba. In 2001 Turcotte joined the group

Great Uncles of the Revolution Great Uncles of the Revolution is a Canadian band that consists of Jesse Zubot, a violinist/mandolinist, and Steve Dawson Steven "Dobby" Dawson (born 24 February 1952) is an English bass guitarist and a founder of the heavy metal band Saxon ( ...

. Their album ''Stand Up'' won a West Coast Music Award. Their second album, ''bLOW tHE hOUSE dOWN'', for which Turcotte composed two of the tracks, won a 2004 Juno Award as Contemporary Jazz Album of the Year. In 2002, Turcotte was named trumpeter of the year in Canada's inaugural National Jazz Awards. (an award he would go on to win at least 10 more times)Associated Press (26 February 2002)
"Krall Tops Canada's National Jazz Awards"
''Billboard''. Retrieved 01 November 2017. while that summer, the Uncles would be awarded the Grand Prix du Jazz at the Montreal International Jazz Festival. In 2004 he and drummer Jean Martin created and improvised a live 60 minute set of duo music for the TVO film series "Duos:The Jazz Sessions" by filmmaker Daniel K. Berman at the Du Maurier Theatre Centre in Toronto. Martin and Turcotte are also featured in a Trio with Justin Haynes called "Get Together Weather"https://www.allaboutjazz.com/get-together-weather-jean-martin-page-music-review-by-glenn-astarita In 2014, Turcotte provided the trumpet tracks for

Chet Baker Chesney Henry "Chet" Baker Jr. (December 23, 1929 – May 13, 1988) was an American jazz trumpeter and vocalist. He is known for major innovations in cool jazz that led him to be nicknamed the "Prince of Cool". Baker earned much attention and ...

's (

Ethan Hawke Ethan Green Hawke (born November 6, 1970) is an American actor, author, and film director. He made his film debut in ''Explorers (film), Explorers'' (1985), before making a breakthrough performance in ''Dead Poets Society'' (1989). Hawke starr ...

) performances in the biographic film '' Born to Be Blue'' about the late American jazz musician.

David Braid David Braid (born 25 March 1975 in Hamilton, Ontario) is a Canadian composer and pianist. Biography Canadian composer and jazz pianist, David Braid, is "considered one of his country's true renaissance men when it comes to music." (The Ottawa Ci ...

's soundtrack with Turcotte would go on to win Canadian Screen Awards for best soundtrack and original song. In 2016 Turcotte played on the soundtrack to the critically acclaimed video game

Cuphead ''Cuphead'' is a 2017 run and gun video game developed and published by Canadian developer Studio MDHR. The game follows its titular teacup-headed character and his brother Mugman, as they make a deal with the Devil to pay casino losses by r ...

which received praise for its art style, gameplay, soundtrack, and being one of the hardest video games ever created. In 2020, Turcotte was member of the John Clayton led Keorner Hall Orchestra that performed the World Premiere of

Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest Jazz piano, jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordin ...

's "Africa Suite". He was featured with the rhythm section consisting of Christian Mcbride, Benny Green and Lewis Nash.

References

External links

Allmusic biography AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turcotte, Kevin Canadian jazz trumpeters Canadian male trumpeters Living people Musicians from Greater Sudbury Musicians from Toronto Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Canadian trumpeters 21st-century Canadian male musicians Canadian male jazz musicians