About

Canadian jazz legend Tommy Banks has had a long, distinguished career in music. Since his 1950 professional debut, he has, as the Toronto Star pointed out, “…..done everything a musician could wish for.” MacLean’s Magazine observed that “It would be easier to list the things he doesn’t do.” He is the recipient of the Juno Award, the Gemini Award, the Grand Prix du Disques-Canada, several ARIA Awards, and is a member of the Edmonton Cultural Hall of Fame.

Tommy Banks made his jazzplaying debut in 1950 in the touring band of saxophonist Don (D. T.) Thompson. Since then, he’s played jazz throughout North America, Western and Central Europe, Japan, and Southeast Asia. In 1983 his quintet became the first jazz band to tour in continental China since the 1949 revolution. He has appeared with such luminaries as Clifford Jordan, Sonny Stitt, John Handy, Zoot Sims, Mark Murphy, Anita O’Day, Nat Adderly, Al Cohn, Pepper Adams, Joe Williams, Art Farmer, and many other greats, in clubs, concert halls, and on radio and television.

“Tommy Banks has done so many other things in music, and so many of them more visibly, that it’s easy to overlook the fact that he plays damn fine jazz piano.” - Globe and Mail