Amanda Tosoff is a B.C-raised, Toronto-based pianist, composer, and educator with six albums to her credit. As a bandleader and side-woman, she has performed with internationally-recognized artists such as Emilie-Claire Barlow, Ingrid and Christine Jensen, Brad Turner, Phil Dwyer, and many more. Her own groups have been featured at festivals across Canada and abroad, and have opened for jazz luminaries such as Bobby Hutcherson, Renee Rosnes, Oliver Jones, and Luciana Souza. Amanda has received various honours, including the Montréal Jazz Festival Grand Prix de Jazz, and the Toronto Arts Foundation Emerging Jazz Artist Award – and most recently, a Juno nomination and mention on the Polaris Prize "Longer List,” for her album Words.
Through her richly varied body of work, Amanda has gained recognition as “an assured, forward-thinking voice” (Greg Buium, Vancouver Sun) on the Canadian jazz scene and beyond – not only as a composer and performer, but also as an educator. She is on faculty at Humber College, and has been a featured artist and clinician at universities and conferences, including the 2020 Canadian Jazz Summit at the University of Manitoba. Amanda is also co-artistic director of online education company, Music Arts Collective, alongside bassist and educator Jodi Proznick and arts-administrator Francesca Fung.
In Amanda’s artistry, one hears a rigorous, deeply felt command of the jazz piano lineage as well as an eagerness to push beyond labels, finding inspiration from various sources and disciplines. This is most evident on Amanda’s recording Words, which featured highly- regarded singer Felicity Williams (of such bands as Broken Social Scene and Bahamas). Blending poetry, jazz, art-song and folk-pop, Words garnered great acclaim and revealed “a well-developed knack for animating her material with fine counterpoint and colourful sonic combinations” (Peter Hum, Ottawa Citizen). It also landed Amanda her first Juno nomination (Canada’s equivalent of the Grammys).
With Amanda’s sixth release as a leader, Earth Voices, she continues to pursue the creative and stylistic leap she began on Words, once again drawing on poetry with a deep personal and emotional connection. Along with strings and guest saxophonists Allison Au and Kelly Jefferson, she invites Alex Goodman, fellow Canadian and now one of New York’s most vital young guitarists, to work wonders and broaden her ensemble texture. She also enlists a sterling and versatile cast of singers — Emilie-Claire Barlow, Robin Dann, Michelle Willis, Alex Samaras, Laila Biali, Lydia Persaud and Felicity Williams — to give new life to words by Edgar Allan-Poe, Pablo Neruda, Rumi, Marjorie Pickthall and Walt Whitman, among other original material and inventive arrangements of songs by Joni Mitchell, Luciana Souza, Chris Thile and Mike Ross of Soulpepper Theatre. With a “calm demeanor and complete confidence” (Cadence), and with an honest, genuine and giving spirit, Tosoff stands poised to share with the world the next stages in her evolution.
Emilie-Claire Barlow is an award winning and critically acclaimed Canadian jazz singer, arranger, record producer and voice actress. A two time Juno Award winner and 6 time nominee, she has released 12 self-produced albums on her own label, Empress Music Group.
Her performing career spans over 24 years in venues ranging from Toronto’s storied Montreal Bistro & Top of the Senator, to Tokyo’s Cotton Club and more recently concerts with symphony orchestras at Toronto’s Massey Hall and Montreal’s Maison Symphonique. She has performed at the Montreal Jazz Festival on seven occasions including a 2015 performance on the Main Stage with 50,000 people attending.
Ms. Barlow has lead bands featuring the finest musician’s in Canada. Her work as a band leader and producer has been recognized with a Juno Award nomination for “Producer of Year” for her recording “Clear Day” (2015) — notable for being only the 2nd Jazz recording nominated in this category. Ms. Barlow is also one of a very women to be honoured as “Producer of the Year”.
Ms. Barlow’s all francophone recording “Seule ce soir” won a Juno and Felix Award in 2013 representing an unprecedented achievement in Canadian bilingualism.
After releasing her second holiday album Lumières d'hiver in 2017, Emilie-Claire turned her attention to her duo project with Steve Webster, Bocana. Bocana has released 8 singles over the last couple of years in the electro-pop, lounge, world muic genres, amassing a healthy following on streaming platforms. ECB has also released a collection of James Taylor covers as part of her JT Project.
Up next is her 13th full album, due for release in early 2023. And in the meantime, a holiday single is due to be released on December 10th.
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