| Ron Collier | |
| Background: | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| Birth Name: | Ronald William Collier |
| Birth Date: | 3 July 1930 |
| Birth Place: | Coleman, Alberta, Canada |
| Death Place: | Toronto, Ontario |
| Genre: | Jazz |
| Occupation: | Musician, composer, arranger |
| Instrument: | Trombone |
Ron Collier, (July 3, 1930 - October 22, 2003) was a Canadian jazz trombonist, composer, and arranger.[1] [2] He performed in and led a number of jazz groups, and created orchestrations for and recorded with Duke Ellington.
A native of Coleman, Alberta, Collier began his musical training in Vancouver. He was a member of the Kitsilano Boys' Band.[3] He studied music privately in Toronto with Gordon Delamont.[4] The first jazz musician to receive a Canada Council grant, he studied orchestration in New York in 1961 and 1962.
Collier formed the Ron Collier Jazz Quartet, which performed in the 1950s at the Stratford Festival[5] and on CBC's Tabloid with Portia White,[6] and in 1963 with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra.[7] [8]
Duke Ellington performed with the Ron Collier Orchestra on the 1969 album North of the Border in Canada.[9] [10] The album included compositions by several Canadian composers, including Collier.[11] Collier created orchestrations for a number of Ellington's concerts and recordings.[12]
Collier composed the scores to the films Face-Off (1971), A Fan's Notes (1972), and Paperback Hero (1973). In the 1970s, he began directing a student orchestra at Toronto's Humber College.[13] His band won the big Band Open Class at the Canadian Stage Band Festival in 1982 .[14]
In 2003, he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.[15] He died in October that year in Toronto, aged 73.