On April 14, 2018 at 8pm The Victoria Jazz Orchestra will be paying a musical tribute to Ross Taggart. Ross was born and raised in Victoria, BC and was known as a jazz saxophonist and pianist and was active at a high level from the time he was a teenager on Canada’s West Coast. A consummate mainstream jazz player who was equally formidable on both of his instruments, Taggart accompanied such legendary players as Benny Golson, Dr. Lonnie Smith, Phil Woods, Clark Terry, and Fraser MacPherson. He taught at Capilano University and was married to pianist Sharon Minemoto.

Taggart became hooked on jazz at 14, and once said that hearing an Oscar Peterson album prompted him to trade all his rock records for jazz albums. He began playing clarinet at age nine or 10 and switched to saxophone at 14, and had played piano from a very young age. His musical heroes included Bill Evans, Dexter Gordon, Duke Ellington and fellow Vancouver saxophonist Campbell Ryga.

After losing his battle with kidney cancer in 2013, two of Ross' closest friends, bandleader and composer Jill Townsend and her husband, guitarist Bill Coon took it upon themselves to pay a musical homage to Ross by orchestrating a number of his compositions for a large jazz ensemble. The product of their endeavor became the album "Legacy" featuring many of Vancouver's finest jazz musicians, and of course Ross Taggart's wonderful compositions. The Victoria Jazz Orchestra will be joined by Jill Townsend and Bill Coon on April 14 at Hermann's Jazz Club to perform this music here in Victoria.