Yvette Tollar is a Canadian jazz vocalist born 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 ...

. She has released two full-length CDs, ''Cactus Flowers'' (2001) and ''

Ima IMA or Ima may refer to: Education * Indian Military Academy, Dehradun * Instituto Miguel Ángel, a school in Mexico City Galleries and museums * Indianapolis Museum of Art, Indiana, US * Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France * Islamic Mus ...

'' (2008). ''Ima'' was a nominee for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year at the

2009 Juno Awards The Juno Awards of 2009 honoured music industry achievements in Canada in the latter part of 2007 and in most of 2008. These ceremonies were held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada during the weekend ending 29 March 2009. Loverboy was induct ...

. Yvette Tollar comes from a musical family. Her brother is Ernie Tollar, who is a Juno and Dora Award-winning saxophonist and woodwind player who has played with jazz vocalist

Holly Cole Holly Cole (born November 25, 1963) is a Canadian jazz singer and actress. For many years she performed with her group The Holly Cole Trio. Background Cole was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her father, Leon Cole, was a note ...

and

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

NOJO and composed music for film, theatre and dance. Yvette's sister-in-law is Maryem Hassan Tollar, a Juno and Dora Award-winning World Music vocalist who sang the theme song for the TV show ''Little Mosque On The Prairie'' and a featured track on the Bollywood film, Maya Maya. Yvette was married to electric bassist Rich Brown who has played with Steve Coleman, Rudresh Mahanthapa and James Blood Ulmer. Tollar studied jazz music with vocalist

Sheila Jordan Sheila Jordan (born Sheila Jeanette Dawson; November 18, 1928) is an American jazz singer and songwriter. She has recorded as a session musician with an array of critically acclaimed artists in addition to recording her own albums. Jordan pionee ...

in New York and with

Joe Lovano Joseph Salvatore Lovano (born December 29, 1952)"Joe Lovano." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 13. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 1994. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, May 5, 2017. is an American jazz multi-instrumentalist. T ...

Dave Holland Dave Holland or David Holland may refer to: *Dave Holland (bassist) David Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English double bassist, bass guitarist, cellist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has ...

, and Kenny Werner at the

Banff Centre Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity (formerly Banff Centre) is an arts and culture educational institution in Banff, Alberta, Banff, Alberta. It offers arts programs in the Performing arts, performing and fine arts, as well as leadership trai ...

for The Arts. She is the recipient of awards and scholarships from The

Canada Council for The Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It is Canada's public arts funder, with a mandate to foster and promote the study a ...

, The

Ontario Arts Council The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is a publicly funded Canadian organization in the province of Ontario whose purpose is to foster the creation and production of art for the benefit of all Ontarians. Based in Toronto, OAC was founded in 1963 by O ...

, The Toronto

Arts Council An arts council is a government or private non-profit organization dedicated to promoting the arts; mainly by funding local artists, awarding prizes, and organizing arts events. They often operate at arms-length from the government to prevent pol ...

, The Banff Centre for The Arts and FACTOR. Tollar is a professor in The Faculty of Media and Creative Arts at

Humber College The Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, rebranded as Humber Polytechnic since 2024, is a public Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has three mai ...

where she teaches music, voice, songwriting, directed study, master classes and leads ensembles as part of the Bachelor of Music, Music Composition Graduate Certificate and the Introduction to Commercial Jazz programs. She has acted as adjudicator at both 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 ...

and Humber College.

Discography

*''Cactus Flowers'' - 2001 *''

'' - 2008 ;Guest appearances *''I Love You'' by Kevin Breit *''The Universe of John Lennon'' by

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 ...

and Shine On *''The Signal'' by Elizabeth Shepherd *''The Art of Breath Volume 1'' by John MacMurchy *''Simple Earnest Plea'' by Kevin Breit *''Muorica'' by Sicilian Jazz Project *''Sub Urban Gypsy'' by Dominic Mancuso *''The Henry's with Larry Towel Live at The Drake Hotel 2011" by The Henry's and Larry Towel *''Invented Reality'' by Jasna Jovicevic *''Choose'' by The Merlin Factor *''Weaving'' by The Toronto Tabla Ensemble *''Flowers of Forgiveness'' by Mernie

References

External links

Official website
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian women jazz singers Canadian jazz singers Singers from Toronto 21st-century Canadian women singers {{Canada-singer-stub