Biography
Paul Read lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is a composer and arranger, a pianist, saxophonist, and educator.
He has directed, composed and arranged for his own big band, the Paul Read Orchestra and for 20 years served as pianist and arranger with the Trish Colter Sextet. He recorded a quartet with bassist, Kieran Overs and drummer, Barry Elmes CD with guest soloist, Scott Robinson.
From 2018 to 2020 he curated the blog for the International Society of Jazz Arrangers and Composers (ISJAC). Though retired from academic life, he continues to work as a freelance composer and arranger.
In 1991, he founded degree programs in jazz studies at the University of Toronto (BMus, MMus and DMA) where he was Professor of Music and Director of Jazz Studies and following that, Director of Graduate Jazz Studies. Prior to that Paul was a member of the Humber College Music Faculty in Toronto from 1979 to 1991, where he taught and served as Program Coordinator (1982-1987), and Director of Music (1987 to 1991). Additionally, he served as Canada’s Representative on the Executive Board of the International Association for Jazz Education (IAJE) from 2002-2008, and was the founding Director of the National Music Camp (NMC) Jazz Program (1987 to 2006). He served for many years on the faculty of other summer jazz camps such as the Ken Kistner Jazz Camp (Fort Qu’Appelle, Saskatchewan) and the Prairielands Jazz Camp (Regina, Saskatchewan).