bio

Jim Blackley was born in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1927.

It was obvious from an early age that he possessed an excellent ear and singing voice and became a featured soloist with a famous children’s choir singing in such major concert halls as the Usher Hall in Edinburgh and the Mc Ewan Hall in Glasgow.

He studied violin from the age of 9-13, but gave up the violin to pursue an inner passion for pipe band drumming. This ultimately led to his winning a 4th, 3rd, and 2nd place in the World Solo Drumming Championship, and in graduating with the post graduate Diploma from the S.P.B.A. College of Drumming. In addition to his drumming talents, Jim and his wife were ballroom dancing champions which afforded them the opportunity to travel the U.K. dancing in contests and team matches.

In 1952 Jim and his family moved to Montreal, Canada.

In 1953 he became a drumming instructor with the R.C.A.F. Pipe Band in Ottawa. During his stay with the R.C.A.F. (1953-56), he won practically every Solo Drum and Drum Corps Championship in North America. Although Jim had heard many fine dance band drummers during his dancing years and knew hundreds of
standard tunes and their lyrics, he had never been inspired to pursue drum set performance, but a chance meeting in 1953 with the Max Roach-Clifford Brown Quintet and an opportunity to hear them live touched Jim so deeply, that he knew there was no other path his heart could follow than that of jazz drumming performance.

After completing his duty with the R.C.A.F., he moved to Vancouver, B.C. where from 1957-1967, he operated a school of modern drumming - performed with the C.B.C. Jazz Workshop, a weekly Jazz Show which commissioned and performed original works from international composers. He led his own band in one of the local night clubs and performed for the extended period with the late Wilf Wylie, one of Canada's most influential jazz pianists.

In 1960, the Charles Mingus quintet came to a local Vancouver Jazz Club for a weeks performance. This afforded Jim and Danny Richmond the opportunity to come together. So impressed was Danny with Jim's approach to musical performance, he openly stated that Jim was one of the most original players he had ever heard, and begged Jim to put his ideas into a course of study. This resulted in the highly acclaimed Syncopated Rolls Vol. 1 & 2 being published in 1961 and 1962 respectively.

During his years in Vancouver, Jim made periodic trips to New York City to listen and consult with various jazz artists as a means of expanding his musical horizons. In 1967, he moved to N.Y.C., where from 1967-1973, he operated a drum studio and performed with a variety of musicians. He was invited by Saul Goodman to lecture at the Julliard School of Music, and was also a guest clinician at the New York branch of the Percussive Arts Society.

In 1973, Jim and his family moved to Toronto, and from then to the present, he has operated a drum studio attracting students from various parts of the globe. As a means of keeping his jazz performance at a high level, he holds regular sessions at his studio contributing to the development of the many talented young musicians in this area.

Jim's students have gone on to find success playing or recording with such world renowned artists as: Duke Ellington, Dizzie Gillespie, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Leonard Berstein, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Herbie Hancock, Dexter Gordon, Oscar Peterson, Jim Hall, Clarke Terry, George Shearing, Frank Sinatra, Chick Corea, Mel Torme, Junior Mance, Joe Henderson, Zoot Sims, Kenny Wheeler, John Handy, Art Pepper, George Coleman, Herb Ellis, Fred Hersh, Norma Winstone, Joe Williams, Helen Humes, George Benson, Charlie Hayden, Sonny Greenwhich, Diana Krall, Don Thompson, Ed Bickert, Paul McCartney, The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Brian Ferry, Elton John, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Todd Rundren, The Fifth Dimension, Linda Ronstadt, Hall and Oates, Elvis Costello, B.B. King, Diana Ross, The Supremes, Loreena McKennitt, Nellie Furtado, Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, Gladys Knight, Roberta Flack, Smokey Robinson, The Four Tops and Patti Labelle, among others.

Although 79 years young, there are many who regard Jim as one of the most inspiring and inventive players on the scene today.