Jim Blackley
Catagory: history
It was obvious from an early age that he possessed an excellent ear and singing voice and became a featured soloist with a famous children’s choir singing in such major concert halls as the Usher Hall in Edinburgh and the McEwan Hall in Glasgow.
He studied violin from the age of 9-13, but gave up the violin to pursue an inner passion for pipe band drumming. This ultimately led to his winning a 4th, 3rd, and 2nd place in the World Solo Drumming Championship, and in graduating with the post graduate Diploma from the S.P.B.A. College of Drumming. In addition to his drumming talents, Jim and his wife were ballroom dancing champions which afforded them the opportunity to travel the U.K. dancing in contests and team matches.
Blackley served as an instructor with the R.C.A.F. Pipe Band in Ottawa. During his stay with the R.C.A.F. (1953-56), he won numerous Solo Drum and Drum Corps championships in North America.
A chance meeting in 1953 with the Max Roach-Clifford Brown Quintet touched Jim so deeply, that he turned his focus to jazz drumming performance.
He went on to open a number of successful percussion schools in canada and the United States. His students have gone on to play or record with such world renowned artists as: Duke Ellington, Dizzie Gillespie, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Leonard Berstein, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Dexter Gordon, Oscar Peterson, Jim Hall, Clarke Terry, George Shearing, Frank Sinatra, Chick Corea, Mel Torme, Junior Mance, Joe Henderson, Zoot Sims, Kenny Wheeler, John Handy, Art Pepper, George Coleman, Herb Ellis, Fred Hersh, Norma Winstone, Joe Williams, Helen Humes, George Benson, Charlie Hayden, Sonny Greenwhich, Diana Krall, Don Thompson, Ed Bickert, Paul McCartney, The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Brian Ferry, Elton John, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Todd Rundren, The Fifth Dimension, Linda Ronstadt, Hall and Oates, Elvis Costello, B.B. King, Diana Ross, The Supremes, Loreena McKennitt, Nellie Furtado, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Gladys Knight, Roberta Flack, Smokey Robinson, The Four Tops and Patti Labelle, among others.