Toronto has been, and continues to be, one of the most significant incubators of some of the best jazz musicians in the world. So many internationally famous greats got their start in the city. Toronto boasts enviable teachers and institutions of music and the arts, access to world-class experiences, and exposure, by way of international festivals and concert season rosters, that rival many of the best anywhere.
One of the artists, so nurtured and incubated in Toronto, is guitarist Lorne Lofsky. He has generously given back to the city many times over. He is on the faculty of two of the city’s prominent schools, York University and Humber College, and has given master classes, clinics and workshops at major schools in Canada.
Lofsky’s career has seen him perform with many who have also seen, and see, Toronto as their home base. The list is stellar and includes many international names: Clooney, Peterson, Bickert, McConnell, Baker, DeFrancesco, Sealy, McDonald and Holland, to name far too few.
His playing sounds like the city: alert, spirited, always yearning for new ways to express itself, while at the same time respecting what has laid foundations. Toronto has nurtured some of the best; Lorne has nurtured and played with so many of them, too.