Patricia Duffy

Patricia was born and raised in suburban Toronto, Canada, and, as a child, found herself reluctantly entertaining her parents' friends and family on the piano whenever they'd stop by for visits. But what she found sometimes tedious in childhood and walked away from when high school beckoned (much to her parents' dismay, having paid for six years of piano lessons), she returned to as a teenager, when she discovered an Elton John music book and began playing her favourite tunes, by both sight and ear. It is on the piano as an adult that she has written over eighty songs. Patricia has been a fixture on the Toronto music scene for twenty-five years, having played the lounge, wedding, private, corporate and country club circuit for much of that time. A highlight of this period was accompanying the wonderful R&B vocal group The Temptations on piano during an impromptu hotel lounge jam session one evening in Basel, Switzerland during her 1993 gig there. In 1991 she joined Toronto's Hurricanes Dance Band, an eighteen-piece swing big band, with whom she continues to sing to this day. She also fronts a jazz trio for more intimate engagements, covering the beautiful standards of the 30's and 40's, in addition to having guested with other bands and small combos. Patricia's son Adam shares her love for making music; he is founder/frontman of the multi-platinum-selling rock band Three Days Grace. She has been an actress as well, appearing in productions of “Oliver!”, “Fiddler on the Roof”, “The Odd Couple” (Gwendolyn Pigeon), “The Real Inspector Hound” (Felicity) and others, in addition to credits as Musical Director on the shows “Nunsense” and “The Paisley Sisters Christmas Special”, for which she also played the role of Lonnie Paisley. Notable achievements include the role of Anne Shirley in the classic Canadian musical “Anne of Green Gables” and the Outstanding Vocalist Award for three consecutive years at the Canadian Big Band Dance Festival in Ontario. She has also performed pop, as vocalist with The Third Degree Band, as Frida in an ABBA tribute band, and as session vocalist on the recordings of others. Patricia finds a particular joy in writing jazz, and this collection of songs is completely original, a relative rarity in the contemporary vocal jazz genre. “Please Don't Tell Me” was recorded at Inception Sound Studios in Toronto in the spring of 2007, and engineered, edited, mixed and mastered by the brilliant Chad Irschick.

Featured on the CD are the best of the best in the Toronto jazz community: the legendary Archie Alleyne on drums, the incredible Robi Botos (recent winner of the 2008 Great American Jazz Piano Competition and National Jazz Award nominee for Keyboardist of the Year) on piano, the extremely talented Jeff King on saxophones and gifted Hurricanes colleague David Bell on 17th Century French accoustic bass. Archie, Robi and Jeff are members of Toronto's premier jazz ensemble Kollage. Patricia is thrilled to have had these players participate in the recording of this CD, which is dedicated to the memory of the wonderful saxophonist Doug Richardson, with whom she was lucky enough to have had the chance to work. Patricia ideally envisions a publishing contract, with her songs being recorded by others. In the meantime, writing and recording her own material will always be her first joy. "Please Don't Tell Me" is available for purchase at www.cdbaby.com/cd/patriciaduffy, and at www.itunes.com. Show less