FROM MUSIC TO POLITICS
Tommy Banks dies at 81
EDMONTON Tommy Banks — pianist, international conductor, former senator and beloved Edmontonian — has died of leukemia. He was 81.
A precocious musician as a child, Banks began his professional career at 14 in the band of jazz saxophonist Don Thompson. By 18, he was music director of the Orion Musical Theatre in Edmonton and co-ordinator of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. At age 32, Banks was host, pianist, conductor and arranger for the Gemini Award-winning Tommy Banks Show, which ran until 1974, and again from 1980 to 1983.
In a 2016 interview with Postmedia, Banks credited his parents with trusting him enough to let him begin his touring career at a tender age. He remained grateful for the opportunity to entertain audiences locally and around the world for more than 65 years.
“Entertain may be the wrong word, but you always have to somehow attract and maintain the attention of the audience, whether you’re playing background music at a cocktail party or a concert at the Winspear,” he said. “Early on, I had to make the choice of whether to be an artist or a craftsman. I wanted to play music for a living and every once in a while, craftspeople get to practise … art.”
Born in Calgary, Banks was a passionate Edmontonian, promoting the work of local musicians and those from across the province throughout his life. He aimed to make the city’s music scene better and volunteered large amounts of time to local musical projects, such as the Edmonton Concert Hall Foundation, which raised funds for the Winspear Centre, acting as its chair from 1989 to 1991.
In gratitude, the city named a street after him, Tommy Banks Way, near the Yardbird Suite jazz club where he performed countless times.
As a founding member of the Alberta Foundation for the Performing Arts, Banks toiled to ensure promising local musicians received exposure across the country.
He is a member of the Edmonton Hall of Fame. He has won numerous, major musical and cultural awards in Canada, including a Juno and a Gemini, and worked with international celebrities from Aretha Franklin to Tony Bennett.
Banks was involved in many aspects of the cultural sector. He provided musical direction for the XI Commonwealth Games, Expo 86, the World University Games and the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. He produced and conducted command performances for guests, including the Queen and U.S. president Ronald Reagan.
A member of the Canada Council from 1989 to 1995, Banks was an officer of the Order of Canada. He was appointed to the Senate in 2000 and served until 2011, shortly before his 75th birthday.
A feisty individual, Banks was known to speak his mind, and could be relied upon for a pithy quote, such as this one: “The only thing the CRTC ever did that was worth a damn was Canadian content regulation. It allowed the Canadian production industry to grow.”
Turning 80 in 2016 did little to slow Banks’ pace. He continued to play a range of dates nationwide.
Maclean’s magazine observed: “It would be easier to list the things he doesn’t do.”
As the Toronto Star once pointed out, Banks did “everything a musician could wish for.”