Renee Rosnes

Renee Rosnes

Irene Louise Rosnes, "Renee,"jazz pianist (b at Regina 24 Mar 1962). She studied in Vancouver and Toronto for a career in classical music, but turned to jazz circa 1982 and moved to New York in 1985. She toured in the late 1980s with such leading US musicians as Joe Henderson and Wayne Shorter and was a member of the New York band OTB. Rosnes continued to work with major jazz figures in the 1990s, most notably J.J. Johnson, but also participated in the co-operative groups Free Trade (a quintet comprising fellow expatriate Canadians in New York) and Native Colors and was increasingly active with her own bands.

Rosnes, who brings grace and great technical assurance to the hard-bop idiom, completed 8 CDs to 2000 under her own name and has appeared on many others as an accompanist. Her recordings For the Moment and Ancestors received Juno awards in 1992 and 1997, respectively, as did Free Trade's Free Trade in 1995. In 1997, she received the Best Mainstream Jazz Album Juno for Ancestors.