Yvette is a JUNO Award Nominated jazz vocalist. (Best Vocal Jazz Album Of The Year 2009) who has recorded and performed
on three continents with Jazz and World Music Acts such as:
~ Her own self titled modern jazz project
~ Rich Brown’s National Jazz Award Nominees, Rinsethealgorithm
~ JUNO Winning modern jazz band, The Merlin Factor.
~ Maryem and Ernie Tollar’s Arabic-Jazz Ensembles
~ The Robi Botos Trio
~ Saxophonist, Jasna Jovicevic’s Serbian Modern Jazz Project
~ Kek Duna (Hungarian-Jazz Group)
~ JUNO nominees, The Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band
~ Vespera Women’s Choir
~ The Toronto Tabla Ensemble
~ Imagine
~ Syreeta Neal
Vocalist, Yvette Tollar, was born and raised in Toronto, Canada and began singing professionally at 16.
Yvette’s expressive vocals are rich and soulful, her delivery of lyrics mature and her technique flawless. For Yvette, music is what brings her closer to the source of all things and her earnest performances showcase that passion.
Her main focus has always been Jazz but coming up in Toronto’s multi-cultural society, Yvette was exposed to a myriad of roots and folk music from all over the world.
By remaining open to the world of influences that surrounded her, Yvette sports immense versatility by lending her talents to Hungarian, Arabic, Yiddish, Brazilian, Jamaican, African and Indian projects. She has sung, in 9 different languages and at least a dozen different genres including Traditional and Modern Jazz, R&B, Classical, and Klezmer music.
Ima and
Cactus Flowers
are Yvette’s two Modern Jazz offerings. Many of the songs are self-penned but in Ima other songwriters such as Joni Mitchell, brother, Ernie Tollar, and Kevin Breit, also take the spotlight. The arrangements are mainly piano trio and voice but also draw on instruments as diverse as bamboo flute, mbira (African thumb piano), mandolin and tabla.
Yvette has performed at dozens of Jazz and World Music Festivals while touring across Canada, Europe and South America. She has written music for film, sung for television and radio and has released two Modern Jazz albums under her own name.
The recipient of several scholarships and grants, Yvette has studied with Jazz legends Sheila Jordan, Joe Lovano, Kenny Werner and Dave Holland. She studied voice at The Royal Conservatory of Music, and with Bill Vincent. As well, she has studied theory, jazz improvisation, composition, Arabic singing, organ and piano.
Yvette is part of one of Toronto’s most musical families.
Her husband is Rich Brown who has played with the likes of Steve Coleman, Andy Milne’s Cosmic Dapp Theory, Bruce Cockburn, Rudresh Mahanthappa, Jane Siberry, and James Blood Ulmer. Yvette sings with Rich’s solo project, rinsethealgorithm and together they co-produced Ima, Yvette’s latest CD.
Big brother, Ernie Tollar, (Tasa, Maza Meze, Trichy Sankaran, Holly Cole, NOJO, Dave Restivo and the Scicillian Jazz Project) introduced Yvette to jazz and world music and they continue to take part in each other’s musical projects and are best friends.
Her singing sister-in-law, Maryem Tollar, is well known in the world music community for her three successful CD’s and for her appearances in Christos Hatzis’, Constantinople and with guitarist, Jesse Cook. She is also featured vocalist on the lead song of the Bollywood Blockbuster,
GURU. Yvette has appeared as back-up singer and featured vocalist on two of Maryem’s CDs and live performances.
The youngest member of the family is Yvette’s sister, Allison Long who grew up on rock, pop and folk music but is venturing into the world of jazz via her studies at Humber College. Allison writes her own beautiful tunes and sings backups on Yvette’s latest CD, Ima.
Brother-in-law, Rob Brown is a proficient drummer who plays with rinsethealgorithm. He has organized drumming festivals in and around Toronto and is well known in the church’s musical communities.
Cousins, Reg Brown and Jeff Brown, who grew up next door to Yvette, are both rock musicians and have toured extensively through Canada for the last 20+ years.
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