Peter Appleyard & Sophisticated Ladies
Live at Koerner Hall, Toronto, June 26, 2012

As one of Canada's most celebrated jazz musicians and an Officer of the Order of Canada, Peter Appleyard is a true Canadian treasure.

In close to 70 years in music, he has impacted and influenced the jazz community in immeasurable ways, releasing over 20 albums and lending his talents to counless others. He's played with some of the best jazz bands in history as a member Benny Goodman's Jazz Sextet and shared stages with Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Miles Davis and Oscar Peterson to name a few.

This year, Peter came out of retirement releasing two albums; The Lost 1974 Sessions, recorded in Toronto in 1974 with the Jazz Giants — Hank Jones, Slam Stewart, Mel Lewis, Zoot Sims, Bobby Hackett and Urbie Green — and a new studio album of jazz standards called Sophisticated Ladies.

Recorded in Toronto with producer Anthony Montano, the album features the greatest female jazz singers in the country, including Jill Barber, Sophie Milman, Carol McCartney, Carol Welsman, Emilie–Claire Barlow, Molly Johnson, Diana Panton, Elizabeth Shepherd and Jackie Richardson. It is truly a celebration of jazz music's greatest songs performed by Canada's greatest living jazz artists.