Steve McDade
Biography
STEVE McDADE (trumpeter, flugelhornist) grew up in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, and began playing the trumpet at the age of 12 with the Burlington Teen Tour Band, touring Europe and North America to participate in band competitions, and at just 14, was featured as a soloist at Hamilton Place in Hamilton, Ontario. He played professionally throughout the area after that, and entered the Humber College Jazz Studies program when he was 18 years old.
McDade has been a member of Manteca and The Boss Brass since the ‘80s, touring the world with both bands and playing on their Grammy and JUNO Award-winning recordings. He has performed in major jazz festivals all over the world with Rob McConnell and The Boss Brass and more recently, as a member of The Rob McConnell Tentet. He led his own Steve McDade Quintet when they performed in the “Sound of Toronto Jazz” Concert Series on November 21, 1994, and appeared in the Series three more times after that: with Rob McConnell’s Jazz Band on October 19, 1998; as a member of the Ron Collier Orchestra on November 19, 2001; and with The Rob McConnell Tentet on March 8, 2004.
He has played and recorded with some of the biggest names, ensembles, bands, and orchestras on the arts and entertainment scene including Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, Doc Severinsen, Diana Krall, Frank Sinatra Jr., Mel Torme, Ella Fitzgerald, The Toronto Symphony, The National Arts Centre Orchestra, David Clayton-Thomas and Blood, Sweat, & Tears, Cleo Laine, Joan Rivers, The Lincolns, Regis Philbin, Bernadette Peters, Donna Summer, The Four Tops, The Temptations, Joe Williams, Tower of Power, Al Jarreau, Doug Riley, and The Manhattan Transfer.
As a commercial and jazz trumpet player, McDade has played in a variety of musical theatre productions including Les Miserables, Miss Saigon, Chicago, Fosse, Ragtime, Blood Brothers, Guys and Dolls, Sweet Charity, The Producers, The Rat Pack, and Ain’t Misbehavin’. Movie credits include playing lead trumpet in the Disney remake of The Music Man starring Matthew Broderick, the remake of South Pacific starring Glen Close, The Judy Garland Story, and The Stork Derby starring Megan Follows.
He has recorded hundreds of radio and television jingles and commercials, and themes for a lengthy list of important TV shows and features including Mansfield One on One, Canada Walk of Fame special starring Paul Anka, the CFL theme, Hockey Night in Canada, Blue Jays Baseball, the CBC’s Jazz Canada, Street Legal, Miss Canada and Miss Teen Canada pageants, Smith and Smith, Robo Cop, and all major Canadian award shows including The Geminis, The JUNOs, and The Genies.
Steve McDade has over 20 years experience as a teacher and clinician, and currently serves on the faculty of Humber College in Toronto instructing in Trumpet.
AWARDS:
Steve McDade has played with Rob McConnell and The Boss Brass on several Grammy and JUNO Award-winning recordings; with Manteca on a JUNO Award-winning album, and the JUNO-winning Rob McConnell Tentet.
