Patrick Boyle is a versatile musician, composer, and improviser. Primarily known as a trumpeter and guitarist in the jazz idiom, he also doubles on flugelhorn, dobro, electric bass, ukulele and harmonica at a professional level.
Andy Sheppard, host of CBC Radio After Hours says “"Patrick has a sharp wit, a round tone, and a wide-open musical sensibility. His music is filled with playfulness, humour, intelligence, and light. Think Dave Douglas meets Yes meets The Chieftains over a few shots of Newfoundland Screech and a good time was had by all. Patrick Boyle breathes new life into the trumpet, teaching it to sing Celtic reels and African chants as if it was born to do so."
Hold Out, his debut CD as a leader, was nominated for a 2006 ECMA for Best Jazz Recording in addition to 4 MusicNL Award nominations. It features Curtis Andrews (drums, mbira, udu) Brian Way (B3 organ) Duane Andrews (guitar) Bill Brennan (vibraphone) and Jenny Gear (vocals on ‘Always On My Mind’).
As an improviser, his full tone and fierce technique combine to create moments of reckless abandon and solemnity – all in the service of the composition. Without words, Patrick is capable of expressing a variety of human experiences and conditions. The core sound on "Hold Out" is an adapted organ trio of trumpet, B3 organ, and drums. The range of timbres and textures is so great, it is sometimes difficult to believe that there are only three people playing together.
With a B.Mus. (Trumpet Performance) from the MUN (Memorial University of Newfoundland) School of Music and an M.A. (Ethnomusicology) from York University, Patrick successfully balances his academic and performing strengths. His graduate work at York explores how performers negotiate degrees of spontaneity in their improvisations. Patrick was awarded the Pantaleoni Prize for Best Student Paper at the 2001 meeting of the Mid-Atlantic Chapter for the Society for Ethnomusicology (University of Pittsburgh). His research interests also include improvisation and linguistic forms, jazz history/pedagogy, and bluegrass music. He has taught courses in theory, musicianship, and jazz at the MUN School of Music.
Patrick Boyle has studied trumpet with Dr. Donald Buell and Kevin Turcotte; guitar with Gary Davis; improvisation with Casey Sokol; and composition with David Mott. Patrick has been awarded funding from the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, Music Industry Association of Newfoundland, and FACTOR to study, record, and tour. He has performed at the Montreal International Jazz Festival, Sound Symposium, St. John’s Jazz Festival, the Atlantic Jazz Festival, Harvest Jazz & Blues Festival, North American Folk Alliance, Canadian Music Week, SXSW, Contact East, Halifax Celtic Feis, Great Canadian Music Dream, East Coast Music Awards & the Juno Awards. He attended the 2004 Banff International Workshop in Jazz & Creative Music (artistic director: Dave Douglas).
Growing up on an island (Newfoundland, Canada), Patrick has developed a range of talents in order to stay productive as a musician. As an in-demand session player, he appears on over 30 recordings that span a variety of musical styles. Patrick has been commissioned to compose and arrange music for several theatrical and television productions including the 2002 Juno Awards broadcast with Great Big Sea, To The Wall by actor/playwright Andy Jones, c2c production of Authobahn, and the NL Arts Council Awards Show.
There are several contrasting sides to Patrick Boyle. Sometimes he is the sharp-tongued, flamboyant guitarist known as Reverend Cornbread in Trimmed Naval Beef: a suburban, rap ‘n' roll band who amaze audiences with their cunning blend of musicianship and humor. As trumpeter with funk/hip-hop/dance floor favorites The Discounts, Patrick consistently adds poignant melodic statements and ankle-busting dance moves. Patrick's musicianship is never constricted by instrument or style. As a result is a desirable sideman, supporting swing guitarist Duane Andrews (trumpet/guitar), singer/songwriter Mark Bragg (trumpet), vocalist Jenny Gear, Sherry Ryan, Colleen Power and fiddler Danette Eddy (trumpet/dobro) with subtlety and lyricism. In addition, Patrick has performed with, recorded with, and/or supported a diverse assortment of people including Mike Murley, Jean Martin, Doug Riley, Andrew Downing, Great Big Sea, Mickey Dolenz (The Monkees), Bill Frisell, Bill Brennan, Casey Sokol, Dani Oore, Ron Hynes, Jesse Zubot, Bedouin Sound Clash, David Usher, Joel Plaskett, Shaggy, Snow, Finger Eleven, The Novaks, I Mother Earth, Tickle Harbour, The Black Auks and the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra among many others.
Patrick is the founder and artistic director of Active-Vision, a monthly film/concert series that combines live improvised performance with classic silent film presentations. He is currently working on an album of traditional Newfoundland material, and will also record a duet record with percussionist Curtis Andrews in 2006. Patrick enjoys writing music for that unites written and non-written parameters. He has a voracious appetite for all types of music, including Astor Piazzolla, Mahler, Beck, Joe Zawinul, Bach, Wayne Shorter, Sigur Ros, Bartok, Freddie Hubbard, Clifford Brown, Stevie Wonder and Don Cherry. Aside from music, his other interests include in-line skating (when weather cooperates) and collecting vintage video games (when it doesn't).
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