December 13, 2005 Source: University of Toronto:
http://www.news.utoronto.ca/bin6/051213-1913.asp Nimmons receives lifetime achievement award Jazz musician also recognized as an outstanding educator
Dec 13/05
by Michah Rynor (about) (email) Considered one of the greats of jazz, Professor Emeritus Phil Nimmons of the Faculty of Music received the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada at the society’s annual awards ceremony held Nov. 21. And on Dec. 12, Nimmons joined Canada’s leading large jazz ensemble, the Dave McMurdo Jazz Orchestra, at the Isabel Bader Theatre for an evening of his greatest hits. Proceeds from the event will support the orchestra’s performance of Nimmon’s new SOCAN commissioned work at the International Association for Jazz Education conference in New York City in January. The society noted that Nimmons, a graduate of the Royal Conservatory of Music and the Juilliard School of Music, "was largely responsible for bringing jazz into the mainstream of Canadian music." Nimmons, who has composed more than 400 original jazz and contemporary classical works for radio, theatre, film, stage and television, is a co-founder of the Canadian League of Composers and has taught at U of T for over 30 years. "In addition to Phil’s many other accomplishments, he was singly responsible for developing the program in jazz at the Faculty of Music starting back in the 1960s," said Professor Gage Averill, dean of the Faculty of Music.
Professor Emeritus Phil Nimmons
Professor Emeritus Phil Nimmons
"It was Phil’s vision that jazz education shouldn’t be restricted to the commercial music programs in colleges but that it should demand a place at the table in university faculties of music. He put that vision in place here at U of T and our program in jazz studies, which now includes a master’s degree, follows the outlines of Phil Nimmons’ model: quality training in arranging, composing and improvisation; a commitment to musicianship; a desire to play outside of the university at festivals and in jazz clubs; a balance among big band, combo and solo performance; and an emphasis on understanding the place of jazz in society." Born in Kamloops, B.C. in 1923, Nimmons has recorded for such labels as RCA Victor, Verve, Sackville Recordings and CBC and received both the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario in 1994.
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