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Composer Quinsin Nachoff Jazzed up for New York Trip

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The coming year promises to be a very good one for local saxophonist and composer Quinsin Nachoff.

The musician was recently awarded a $35,000 Ontario Arts Council Chalmers grant to spend a year immersed in New York's bustling jazz community. That news would be a boon for any performer, but it is particularly welcome for Nachoff, who has spent the past few years touring and teaching at Humber College and the University of Toronto.

“One of the reasons for the fellowship is so that artists can undergo a period of renewal and revitalization," he said. “I've been so busy with everything that it will be nice to get focused again on writing my own stuff."

Nachoff grew up in the Yonge Street and Lawrence Avenue area, which is where he first became interested in music. He was raised in a musical family, with both of his parents on the cutting edge at the time.

“My parents made electronic music in the '70s, back when people were still trying to figure out how to use those sounds to create music, so it was normal to hear complicated and intense music around the house," he said. “My dad had an old tenor sax lying around, and I got into it back when I was in Grade 5."

Nachoff benefited greatly from the tutelage of his old music teacher Alex Dean, who encouraged and nurtured a love of complex jazz. As a youth, the North Toronto-based musician would often stop by North York Central Library and borrow as many works of sax virtuosos as he could get his hands on.

His hard work and passion for the music has more than paid off. Nachoff has garnered plenty of praise from jazz aficionados and has toured across Canada and the United States, as well as in such far-flung destinations as Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and China.

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