Tara Davidson
She/Her
Applied Saxophone
Small Jazz Ensemble
Instrumental - Saxophone (Music Education)
A leading voice in Canadian jazz for over two decades, JUNO Award-winning alto and soprano saxophonist Tara Davidson has established and distinguished herself through her work as a performer, bandleader, composer, arranger, and educator.
​
As a bandleader, she has released eight albums since 2004, with six JUNO nominations for “Jazz Album of the Year” (solo and with Carn Davidson 9). Davidson garnered her first JUNO nomination in 2008 for her sophomore recording, “Code Breaking”. She has also contributed to dozens of recordings as a side musician, earning eight additional JUNO nominations, and winning the 2020 JUNO for Jazz Album of the Year: Group with Ernesto Cervini’s Turboprop.
​
Some of Davidson’s other honours include being selected as the lead alto saxophonist for the Canadian National Jazz Orchestra in 2022 and for the European Broadcasting Union’s European Youth Jazz Orchestra in 2008, and being selected as one of five finalists in the Mary Lou Williams Women in Jazz Saxophone Competition in 2008. In 2013, Davidson was awarded the Ontario Arts Council’s Chalmers Professional Development Grant to study with saxophone legend, Dick Oatts, in New York City.
​
Davidson also enjoys a diverse freelance career as a woodwind player (saxophones, clarinets, flute, and piccolo). She has worked with musical theatre companies such as Mirvish Productions in Toronto, the Stratford Festival, and the Musical Stage Company, and with such symphonies as the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and the National Ballet Orchestra. Studio and performance opportunities have allowed Davidson to perform alongside such artists as Oliver Jones, Joel Frahm, Tommy Banks, Jens Lindemann, Jazzmeia Horn, Emilie-Claire Barlow, Wycliffe Gordon, Dave Douglas, Shirley Bassey, Ingrid Jenson, Christine Jensen, and The Yellowjackets.
​
Davidson is an active educator on faculty at the University of Toronto and York University.
Tara Davidson is proud to be a Yamaha Artist and plays their Custom Z alto saxophone.
