Ed Bickert
| Ed Bickert | |
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Ed Bickert and Fraser MacPherson. Photo courtesy of the Fraser MacPherson estate
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Edward Isaac Bickert |
| Born |
November 29, 1932 Hochfeld, Manitoba, Canada |
| Genres | Jazz |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | guitar |
| Associated acts | Moe Koffman, Boss Brass |
Edward Isaac "Ed" Bickert, CM (born November 29, 1932) is a Canadian jazz guitarist.
Bickert was born in Hochfeld, Manitoba, the second youngest of his family. Soon after he was born, the family moved to Vernon, British Columbia. Although their occupation was farming and orchard work, his mother was a pianist and his father a fiddler. Bickert learned basic guitar chords from his older brother. On weekends during the 1940s, he joined his parents playing at country dances. After high school, he worked briefly before driving across Canada to Toronto, Ontario with an aspiring writer friend, in 1952. After a few non-paying jobs and formal guitar lessons, he became the guitar player for one of the leading jazz groups in Toronto.
By the sixties, he was a first-call studio musician. Notable for his long association with the late Moe Koffman and Phil Nimmons' recordings, Bickert became a charter member of Rob McConnell's Boss Brass. He also played in local gigs with American musicians who employed Toronto rhythm sections. He played regularly at George's Spaghetti House with fellow members of Moe Koffman's band, with and without Koffman. Bickert married, and eschewing the road, stayed at home and raised a family.
In the 1970s Jim Hall, a friend of Bickert, recommended him to Paul Desmond, who was forming a band. Desmond felt a rapport with Bickert and Don Thompson. They appeared at the now-defunct Bourbon Street club in Toronto, with two different drummers. Recordings from those sessions were released as Paul Desmond Quartet Live in LP format by A&M Records. Additional tracks were released much later on CD by Telarc. Desmond's enthusiasm for Bickert's style persuaded him to record with Bickert in the United States at Rudy Van Gelder's studio. They played with Connie Kay (drums) and Ron Carter (bass) and recorded the album Pure Desmond.
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