Ron Collier

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Ron Collier (July 3, 1930 – October 22, 2003) was a Canadian jazz trombonist, composer and arranger. He led bands and wrote orchestrations for Duke Ellington, even recording with him. Born in Coleman, Alberta, he grew up in Vancouver and studied in Toronto. He was the first jazz musician to win a Canada Council grant and studied orchestration in New York in 1961–62. Collier formed the Ron Collier Jazz Quartet, played at the Stratford Festival and on CBC, and in 1963 with the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Ellington performed with the Ron Collier Orchestra on the 1969 album North of the Border in Canada, which included Collier’s compositions. He also wrote film scores for Face-Off, A Fan’s Notes and Paperback Hero. In the 1970s he directed a student orchestra at Humber College, and his band won the Canadian Stage Band Festival in 1982. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2003. He died in Toronto at age 73.