Bill McBirnie
International Jazz Flute Soloist
Q Fusion Flute
purchased from Long & Mcquade
Bill McBirnie, author of The Technique and Theory of Improvisation, is a jazz and Latin flute specialist whose exceptional skill led to a personal solicitation from Sir James Galway to serve as his resident Jazz Flute Specialist.
Bill has studied with renowned American flutist Samuel Baron, distinguished Canadian flutist and composer Robert Aitken, as well as Cuban charanga legend Richard Egües.
Although Bill is well known for his outstanding technique, he is also recognized as an outstanding improviser, demonstrated by his numerous recordings as a sideman with the likes of Junior Mance, Irakere, Memo Acevedo, Emilie-Claire Barlow and Four80East. Needless to say, Bill performs and records extensively with Toronto's finest musicians, and has been a longstanding charter member of Bernie Senensky's, Moe Koffman Tribute Band.
Here are just a few illustrative comments regarding Bill's work:
- "Dear Maestro McBirnie, ...This just blew me away. Great, great playing...Innovative...I have never heard anyone play like this...Great technique and music making. The scales are so even it sounds like you wrote the Taffanel scale book...Bill, when you read this, I have to take my hat off to you. This is great playing by any standard." SIR JAMES GALWAY (Galway-Flute-Chat)
- “In both duo and quartet formats, McBirnie dazzles...In every instance, his technique is flawless, dynamic and often simply jaw-dropping...McBirnie has been called Canada’s standout jazz flautist. I maintain he is one of the top two or three in the world." MARK E. GALLO (JazzReview.com)
- "A distinguished flutist with a devotion that shows up in the airy sweetness of his sound at ballad tempos and in the remarkable control he can bring to rapid-fire, skittering runs on up-tempo, Coltrane-inspired material." STUART BROOMER (Editor, Coda magazine)
- "McBirnie has always handled bop exceptionally well. You can hear his years at the conservatory in his sound, a pure, transparent tone at rest, brightening with exertion, yet he swings like someone who grew up with a large collection of Blue Note and Prestige LPs down in the basement. He's entirely idiomatic, but also effortlessly inventive." MARK MILLER (The Globe and Mail)
- "...All beautifully recorded, unclassifiable, and virtually timeless..." MICHAEL STEINMAN (Cadence Magazine)
Bill has released five straight-ahead acoustic jazz recordings under his own name entitled, The Silent Wish(with Bernie Senensky which garnered a 2020 Juno nomination as Best Instrumental Album), Find Your Place (an organ trio featuring Bernie Senensky which won the 14th annual Vox Populi jazz album award at the Independent Music Awards in the USA), Mercy (featuring Robi Botos which won a Toronto Independent Music Award and earned a nomination at the USA Independent Music Awards), Paco Paco(featuring, Bernie Senensky which was nominated at the National Jazz Awards for Album of the Year), and Nature Boy (featuring The Mark Eisenman Trio which attained a Top 40 spot in Bob Parlocha's USA syndicated jazz program, receiving regular spins on that show, year after year). All of these albums have garnered consistently excellent reviews internationally.
In addition, Bill was chosen Flutist of the Year by the Jazz Report Awards, nominated as Miscellaneous Instrumentalist of the Year at the National Jazz Awards. He bears the singular distinction of being the only triple-crown-winner in all three of the National Flute Association’s (1) Jazz Flute Soloist, (2) Jazz Flute Masterclass and (3) Jazz Flute Big Band Competitions. Bill is also a Designated Hayes Artist with the venerable flute maker, W. S. Haynes Co., an active teacher/clinician, and a longstanding contributor to the Woodwinds column of Canadian Musician magazine.
Albums: https://billmcbirnie-extremeflute.bandcamp.com
Book: Available at all Amazon websites