Newfoundland born trumpeter Patrick Boyle is Assistant Professor of Jazz Studies at the University of Victoria. CBC Radio calls Patrick a “trumpet personality” and “one of Canada’s top trumpet players and jazz musicians in general.” He blends a range of influences into a compelling original voice.
Patrick is an in-demand session player not bound by genre thanks to a highly adaptive and fluid sense of musicianship. He can be heard on more than 45 recordings and three critically acclaimed solo albums: “Rock Music” (2010) with percussionist Curtis Andrews; “Still No Word” (2008); and “Hold Out” (2005). Patrick performed at Carnegie Hall with tabla virtuoso Zakir Hussain and drummer Steve Smith in 2009. He has also performed with Duane Andrews, Curtis Andrews, Mike Billard, Bill Brennan, Uri Caine, Bill Coon, Mickey Dolenz, Mike Downes, Andrew Downing, Mark Duggan, Bill Frisell, Fur Packed Action, Great Big Sea, Hey! Rosetta, Ingrid Jensen, Jeff Johnston, Kirk MacDonald, Jon McCaslin, Mike Murley, John Nugent, Fred Penner, Plants and Animals, Tim Ries, Casey Sokol, Ernie Tollar, Tom Van Seters, Oliver Swain, Jim Vivian, and Ken Whitely in styles ranging from gospel to rock to bluegrass. He is a regular member of the Kelby McNayr Quintet, Oliver Swain’s Big Machine, Duane Andews Quartet, The Discounts, Neil Conway & The Something Family, and Mark Bragg & The Butchers. Patrick has performed across North America, Europe and Australia.
Patrick balances his life as a performer with a strong dedication to teaching and education. He successfully defended his Doctoral dissertation Improvisation and the Politics and Error at the University of Toronto (supervisor Dr. Russell Hartenberger) in September 2011. Improvisation is his primary research interest, particularly how collective improvisation in organizations can help students negotiate situations of tension and anxiety, inside and outside of music. Patrick earned an M.A. in Ethnomusicology (2002) from York University and a B.Mus (2000) from Memorial University. His teaching experience includes graduate and undergraduate courses at Memorial. At the University of Victoria, Patrick currently teaches courses in Jazz Theory, Arranging and Jazz History in addition to directing both the Jazz Orchestra and Jazz Band. Patrick is also a regular columnist for Canadian Musician magazine. An active clinician, Patrick has adjudicated music festivals across Canada. He has received grants from the Canada Council, the NL Arts Council, and Music NL to study, record, and tour.
Using jazz and improvised music as a point of departure, Patrick engages many musical cultures in pursuit of full and creative musical life in which music supersedes genre. He studied gajde (goatskin bagpipe) at the Croatian Folkloric Summer School in Brac, Croatia. Patrick is one of the few brass players to interpret traditional Newfoundland and Irish tunes. As a founding member of the “rap and roll” band Trimmed Naval Beef, he combined comedy and music to reflect the Newfoundland suburban experience under the stage name Reverend Cornbread.
As a composer, Patrick has worked in film, television, radio, and theatre. In 2010, he was commissioned by the CBC to compose and record ‘Well Enough Alone’, a multi-movement jazz suite which acknowledges the 60th anniversary of Newfoundland’s confederation with Canada. The concert is available through CBC’s ‘Concerts on Demand’. A new work for percussionists Ed Squires and Rob Power will premiere at Sound Symposium 2012 in St. John’s, NL. Patrick regularly creates original live soundtracks for silent films and video game presentations.
He has studied trumpet with Chase Sanborn, Kevin Turcotte, and Donald Buell; guitar with Nathan Hiltz and Gary Davis; composition with Andrew Downing and David Mott; and improvisation with Casey Sokol. While trumpet is his main instrument, Patrick can also be heard on guitar, dobro and bass. And, if you’ve ever heard him chat with an audience between tunes, you’ll know that his real calling is stand-up comedy. Really. No, seriously. Patrick’s hard to find e-book is Raising Hackles: Emotional Agriculture in the Me First Century, is the follow-up to the tremendously unheralded Life Coach Coaching: Map Your Personal BestQuest™ Today.
photo credits: William Suarez
