“THORNHILL, ONTARIO, CANADA – Prolific Canadian jazz composer, educator and clarinetist Phil Nimmons has died at the age of 100 after a musical career that included Canada’s highest artistic honour.
His family said Wednesday that Nimmons died peacefully in his sleep on Friday at his Thornhill, Ontario home.
His daughter Holly Nimmons, who is CEO of the Canadian Music Centre, said news of her father’s death after a “solid hundred years” had triggered a “tsunami” of responses from fellow musicians, former students and teachers.
A statement from the family says the Nimmons ‘N’ Nine Plus Six group was a mainstay on CBC radio in the 1970s. His work in free jazz and other genres cemented his legacy and he helped to start music programs at the University of Toronto, the University of New Brunswick and elsewhere, it said.
Holly Nimmons said in an interview her father’s accolades included the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2002 — Canada’s highest honour for an artist — the Order of Canada and a Juno Award…”
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Phil Nimmons, ‘dean of Canadian jazz,’ dead at 100 | CBC Music
Obituary: Phil Nimmons, The Dean of Canadian Jazz | Billboard Canada
