Inducted in 2014
Responsible for the TD Toronto Jazz Festival, Patrick Taylor serves as Executive Producer and CEO of Toronto Downtown Jazz. Since co-founding the Festival in 1987, Taylor has been Toronto’s primary jazz impresario and has co-produced other notable events that include the Unique Lives and Experiences Lecture Series and Massey Hall’s 100th Anniversary. A tireless promoter of jazz, Taylor is also actively involved with Jazz Festivals Canada and is a board member of the Ken Page Memorial Trust, the Humber College Advisory Committee and served on the Sponsorship Marketing Council of Canada for the past eight years.
From its modest beginnings with only three official venues, the Toronto Jazz Festival has grown in 27 years to become one of the country’s largest music festivals attracting over 500,000 people annually to more than 40 venues, clubs and stages all across the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). With a rich tradition of presenting the young lions, the jazz greats and tomorrow’s rising stars, the Festival has woven its way into the very fabric of Toronto and become the sound of the city. Since its inception, the Festival has hosted over 27,000 artists, contributed over $500 million to the local economy, welcomed over 9.5 million people, and presented over 3,000 free public concerts.
The Festival has drawn some of the biggest names in jazz over the years including internationally renowned artists such as Miles Davis, Sarah Vaughan, Dizzy Gillespie, Cab Calloway, Sonny Rollins, Ray Charles, Sun Ra, Tony Bennett, Rosemary Clooney, Dr. John, Dave Brubeck, Herbie Hancock, Oscar Peterson, McCoy Tyner, Harry Connick Jr., Etta James, Diana Krall, Pat Metheny, Mavis Staples, Roy Hargrove, Keith Jarrett, Wynton Marsalis, and many more.