Bio!Every note that he plays seems to have a purpose and a place, and both purpose and place usually have something to do with melody.” – The Globe and Mail“Patterson….a perfectionist with a big, round and dominating sound that turns every tune into a stimulating experience.” – The Toronto StarNova Scotia born guitarist/composer/educator Roy Patterson began his career as a teenager touring with dance bands in Atlantic Canada until 1978 when he made the move to Toronto. Since then, Roy’s playing has taken him to Finland, Istanbul, Italy, Poland, Taiwan, U.S.A., and across Canada.Credits include the Jazz Report magazine award for Guitarist of the Year for 2000 and a biographical profile in a book called, “The Great Jazz Guitarists: The Ulti- mate Guide” by Scott Yanow. (Backbeat Books, 2013) In 1996 the RoyPatterson Quartet won the coveted Prix de Jazz at Montreal’s Festival International de Jazz, the first Toronto based band ever to win this competition. The notoriety gen- erated from this award led to national and international touring, the release of ‘Inland Passages’ on Justin Time Records, a one-hour special for Bravo and subsequent broadcasts on TFO, repeat festival appearances, and national radio broadcasts for the CBC. To date, seven CDs have been released under his own name.Along the way, Roy earned a Master of Music degree and has taught at McGill Uni- versity, the University of Toronto, workshops in Poland and Italy, and is currently an adjunct faculty member at York University. For decades he was a regular contributorto the US quarterly, !Just Jazz Guitar.”His current focus is on instrumental americana music: part of an evolving trend thatincludes Bill Frisell, Julian Lange, Victor Krauss, Jim Campilongo, the Henrys, et al.His recording, “Songs From My Father”s House” (2014), was drawn from impres-sions of the music he heard on a daily basis on the radio growing up in rural Nova Scotia. Continuing in this direction, Roy is composing music for a new project: Roy Patterson’s String Band: ‘a modern realization of early and mid-century musical concepts with at- mospheric noir undertones.’
