Jazz musician Phil Nimmons is presented with the Governor General's Performing Arts Award by Gov.-Gen. Adrienne Clarkson during a ceremony at Rideau Hall Nov. 1, 2002. Nimmons died peacefully in his sleep on Friday at his Thornhill, Ontario home, his family says. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Fred Chartrand
Prolific Canadian jazz composer, educator and clarinetist Phil Nimmons has died at the age of 100 after a musical career that included Canada’s highest artistic honour.
His family says Nimmons died peacefully in his sleep on Friday at his Thornhill, Ontario home.
His daughter Holly Nimmons, who is the CEO of the Canadian Music Centre, says news of her father’s death after a “solid hundred years” has triggered a “tsunami” of responses from fellow musicians, former students and teachers.
She says her father’s accolades included the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2002, the Order of Canada and a Juno Award.
She says her father’s career took him around the world, his influence felt among generations of players, as he was constantly evolving his approach to music and education, starting music programs from “coast to coast to coast.”
Phil Nimmons was born in Kamloops, B.C., in 1923 and raised in Vancouver, and the clarinetist’s education included stints at the University of British Columbia, the Juilliard School of Music in New York, and the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto.
He’s survived by his three children and several grandchildren. His wife Noreen Nimmons died in 2002.
Holly Nimmons said her father’s spirit lives on through his namesake website and legacy fund, as well as through all the musicians he worked with and taught over his decades-long career.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 10, 2024.
