As a follow-up to Extreme Flute (A Bruce Jones/Bill McBirnie Collaboration), "Desvio", Bill McBirnie has released his first self-produced CD, "Scratch It!", in which he single-handedly executes every facet of the work from composition and performance through to engineering and mixing. The most striking element of the production is, of course, his remarkable flute playing which includes performances on the entire family of flutes--C flute, alto flute, bass flute and piccolo. The repertoire co …

After contributing as a sideman to a wide range of recordings (including works by Junior Mance, Memo Acevedo, Irakere and Da) and, in addition, after producing his own more recent EXTREME FLUTE projects, flutist Bill McBirnie is now cast in a straight-ahead acoustic jazz setting. This first recording under his own name teams Bill up with one of the most formidable rhythm sections in Canada--if not the most formidable--namely, The Mark Eisenman Trio (with Mark Eisenman on piano, Steve Wa …

Canadian jazz flutist, Bill McBirnie, is a winner in the National Flute Association's (NFA) Jazz Flute Master Class Competition which was held in August, 2003 at the NFA's Annual Convention in Las Vegas, Nevada. Also in attendance at this year's NFA Convention were American jazz flutist, Hubert Laws, as well as Canadian classical flutist and composer, Robert Aitken. Both Hubert Laws and Robert Aitken received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the NFA for their longstanding contributions to th …

Fluid and melodic--yet a hard swinger. This is but a partial description of the accomplished musicianship of Bill McBirnie, one of Canada’s finest flutists. At an early stage in his studies, Bill became restless with the piano and announced to his parents that he wanted to play the flute--without knowing precisely what a flute was. However, this capricious request was soon followed by an uncommon devotion to the instrument. Bill’s ability as a classical performer earned him a place in th …

The Bill McBirnie Duo/Quartet (Featuring Robi Botos) Mercy Following up on his two previously acclaimed acoustic projects (Nature Boy with Mark Eisenman and Paco Paco with Bernie Senensky), "extreme flutist", Bill McBirnie, has come out swinging and scintillating once again with yet another exceptional acoustic flute release, Mercy. On Mercy/