Yvette Tollar is a Canadian jazz vocalist born in

Toronto, Ontario Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

. She has released two full-length CDs, ''Cactus Flowers'' (2001) and '' Ima'' (2008). ''Ima'' was a nominee for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year at the

2009 Juno Awards The Juno Awards of 2009 honoured music industry achievements in Canada in the latter part of 2007 and in most of 2008. These ceremonies were held in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada during the weekend ending 29 March 2009. Loverboy was inducte ...

. Yvette Tollar comes from a musical family. Her brother is Ernie Tollar, who is a Juno and Dora Award-winning saxophonist and woodwind player who has played with jazz vocalist

Holly Cole Holly Cole (born November 25, 1963) is a Canadian jazz singer and actress. For many years she performed with her group The Holly Cole Trio. Background Cole was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Her father, Leon Cole, was a noted radio broadcaster ...

and

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s an ...

NOJO and composed music for film, theatre and dance. Yvette's sister-in-law is Maryem Hassan Tollar, a Juno and Dora Award-winning World Music vocalist who sang the theme song for the TV show ''Little Mosque On The Prairie'' and a featured track on the Bollywood film, Maya Maya. Yvette was married to

electric bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low br ...

Rich Brown who has played with Steve Coleman, Rudresh Mahanthapa and James Blood Ulmer. Tollar studied jazz music with vocalist

Sheila Jordan Sheila Jordan (born Sheila Jeanette Dawson; November 18, 1928) is an American jazz singer and songwriter. She has recorded as a session musician with an array of critically acclaimed artists in addition to recording her own albums. Jordan pionee ...

in New York and with

Joe Lovano Joseph Salvatore Lovano (born December 29, 1952)"Joe Lovano." ''Contemporary Musicians''. Vol. 13. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 1994. Retrieved via ''Biography in Context'' database, May 5, 2017. is an American jazz saxophonist, alto clarin ...

Dave Holland David “Dave” Holland (born 1 October 1946) is an English jazz double bassist, composer and bandleader who has been performing and recording for five decades. He has lived in the United States for over 40 years. His extensive discography r ...

, and Kenny Werner at the

Banff Centre Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, formerly known as The Banff Centre (and previously The Banff Centre for Continuing Education), located in Banff, Alberta, was established in 1933 as the Banff School of Drama. It was granted full autonomy as ...

for The Arts. She is the recipient of awards and scholarships from The

Canada Council for The Arts The Canada Council for the Arts (french: Conseil des arts du Canada), commonly called the Canada Council, is a Crown corporation established in 1957 as an arts council of the Government of Canada. It acts as the federal government's principal in ...

, The

Ontario Arts Council The Ontario Arts Council (OAC) is a publicly-funded Canadian organization in the province of Ontario whose purpose is to foster the creation and production of art for the benefit of all Ontarians. Based in Toronto, OAC was founded in 1963 by On ...

, The Toronto Arts Council, The Banff Centre for The Arts and FACTOR. Tollar is a professor in The Faculty of Media and Creative Arts at

Humber College The Humber College Institute of Technology & Advanced Learning, commonly known as Humber College, is a public College of Applied Arts and Technology in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has two main campuses: the Humber North c ...

where she teaches music, voice, songwriting, directed study, master classes and leads ensembles as part of the Bachelor of Music, Music Composition Graduate Certificate and the Introduction to Commercial Jazz programs. She has acted as adjudicator at both the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

and Humber College.

Discography

*''Cactus Flowers'' - 2001 *'' Ima'' - 2008 ;Guest appearances *''I Love You'' by Kevin Breit *''The Universe of John Lennon'' by Michael Occhipinti and Shine On *''The Signal'' by Elizabeth Shepherd *''The Art of Breath Volume 1'' by John MacMurchy *''Simple Earnest Plea'' by Kevin Breit *''Muorica'' by Sicilian Jazz Project *''Sub Urban Gypsy'' by Dominic Mancuso *''The Henry's with Larry Towel Live at The Drake Hotel 2011" by The Henry's and Larry Towel *''Invented Reality'' by Jasna Jovicevic *''Choose'' by The Merlin Factor *''Weaving'' by The Toronto Tabla Ensemble *''Flowers of Forgiveness'' by Mernie

References

External links

Official website
Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Canadian women jazz singers Singers from Toronto 21st-century Canadian women singers {{Canada-singer-stub