Ed Bickert
Guitar

Canada's premiere jazz guitarist, Ed Bickert, was born in Manitoba in 1932 and was raised in Vernon, B.C. He moved to Toronto in 1952 and was soon performing and recording with some of Canada's most prominent composer/musicians including Phil Nimmons, Moe Koffman and Rob McConnell. He also worked frequently with numerous visiting U.S. artiists at Toronto's Bourbon St., including Zoot Sims, Red Norvo, and Lee Konitz, among many others. In the seventies he began touring internationally with the likes of Milt Jackson, Ray Brown, and, most significantly, Paul Desmond. His collaboration with Desmond, with whom he shared a remarkable rapport, produced four critically acclaimed recordings, one which was nominated for a Grammy Award and two which received five-star ratings in Downbeat.

Bickert 's duo recording with Don Thompson earned him a Juno Award for Best Jazz Recording of the Year in 1979. In 1983 he signed with the Concord Jazz label and recorded numerous albums both as a leader and as a sideman with, among others, Rosemary Clooney, Benny Carter, and the Grammy award-winning Boss Brass led by Rob McConnell.

Ed continues to live and work in Toronto and travels internationally to perform and record for Concord. In 1996 he was honoured by the Governor General of Canada for his outstanding contributions to the performing arts, and invested as a Member of the Order of Canada.