Bill McBirnie is a distinguished and internationally recognized jazz and Latin flute specialist who was solicited, personally, by the renowned classical flutist, Sir James Galway, to serve as his Resident Jazz Flute Specialist. 

In addition to his extensive recordings as a sideman for the likes of Junior Mance, Irakere, Four80East, Emilie-Claire Barlow, Diana Panton, Memo Acevedo, and many others, Bill has produced several acclaimed and award-winning albums under his own name, including Mercy (with Robi Botos), Paco Paco (with Bernie Senensky), Nature Boy (with Mark Eisenman), Grain of Sand (with Bruce Jones), and The Silent Wish (with Bernie Senensky which was nominated for a 2020 JUNO award in the “Best Instrumental Album of the Year” category). 

The Jazz Report Awards named him Flutist of the Year, and the National Jazz Awards nominated him for Instrumentalist of the Year, and Album of the Year (for Paco Paco, featuring Bernie Senensky). In addition, his album, Mercy (featuring Romani pianist, Robi Botos), won in the Best Jazz Album category at the Toronto Independent Music Awards. Bill also won a Vox Populi Award for the Best Jazz Album at the USA Independent Music Awards for Find Your Place (an organ trio album, featuring Bernie Senensky). The Silent Wish (with Bernie Senensky) received a nomination in the Instrumental Album of the Year category at the JUNO awards.

Bill is also the only flutist ever to have attained “triple-crown” status at the National Flute Association (NFA) convention in the USA by winning all three of the Jazz Flute (1) Soloist, (2) Master Class and (3) Big Band Competitions. 

Further to his ongoing teaching and workshop activities, Bill has published an outstanding and highly regarded book, The Technique and Theory of Improvisation, a practical guide for flutists, doublers and other instrumentalists. 

Bill has also been designated a “Haynes Artist” by the venerable flute maker, Wm. S. Haynes Co.
BIOGRAPHY Bill McBirnie has achieved something decidedly unlikely for a Canadian flutist who was raised in the small town of Port Colborne, Ontario. Despite an uneventful musical beginning, Bill has succeeded in attaining an international standing as one of the foremost flutists in jazz today—all whilst rarely setting foot outside of his native city, Toronto, Ontario. What has made his slow but steady progress possible has been his long and diligent study of both jazz and classical techniques which he combined with a patient determination to make the instrument sound entirely natural and, at the same time, entirely convincing in jazz and other non-classical formats. As a jazz and Latin flute specialist, his exceptional skill led to a personal solicitation from the world renowned classical flutist, Sir James Galway, to serve as his Resident Jazz Flute Specialist. At Sir James' further urging, Bill finally wrote and published his widely acclaimed book, The Technique and Theory of Improvisation, a practical guide for flutists, doublers and other instrumentalists. Bill has studied with renowned American flutist Samuel Baron, distinguished Canadian flutist and composer Robert Aitken, and Cuban charanga legend Richard Egües.

Although Bill is well known for his outstanding technique, he is also recognized as an outstanding improviser, demonstrated by his numerous recordings as a sideman with the likes of Junior Mance, Irakere, Memo Acevedo, Emilie-Claire Barlow, and Four80East. Needless to say, Bill performs and records extensively with Toronto's finest musicians, and has been a longstanding charter member of Bernie Senensky's, Moe Koffman Tribute Band. 

Here are just a few illustrative comments regarding Bill's work: - "Dear Maestro McBirnie, ...This just blew me away. Great, great playing...Innovative...I have never heard anyone play like this...Great technique and music making. The scales are so even it sounds like you wrote the Taffanel scale book...Bill, when you read this, I have to take my hat off to you. This is great playing by any standard." SIR JAMES GALWAY (Galway-Flute-Chat) 

- “In both duo and quartet formats, McBirnie dazzles...In every instance, his technique is flawless, dynamic and often simply jaw-dropping...McBirnie has been called Canada’s standout jazz flautist. I maintain he is one of the top two or three in the world." MARK E. GALLO (JazzReview.com) 

- "A distinguished flutist with a devotion that shows up in the airy sweetness of his sound at ballad tempos and in the remarkable control he can bring to rapid-fire, skittering runs on up-tempo, Coltrane-inspired material." STUART BROOMER (Editor, Coda magazine) - "McBirnie has always handled bop exceptionally well. You can hear his years at the conservatory in his sound, a pure, transparent tone at rest, that brightens with exertion. Yet he swings like someone who grew up with a large collection of Blue Note and Prestige LPs down in the basement. He's entirely idiomatic, but also effortlessly inventive." MARK MILLER (The Globe and Mail) 

- "...All beautifully recorded, unclassifiable, and virtually timeless..." MICHAEL STEINMAN (Cadence Magazine) Bill has released five straight-ahead acoustic jazz recordings under his own name, including The Silent Wish (with Bernie Senensky which garnered a 2020 Juno nomination as Best Instrumental Album), Find Your Place (an organ trio featuring Bernie Senensky which won the 14th annual Vox Populi jazz album award at the Independent Music Awards in the USA), Mercy (featuring Robi Botos which won a Toronto Independent Music Award and earned a nomination at the USA Independent Music Awards), Paco Paco (featuring, Bernie Senensky which was nominated at the National Jazz Awards for Album of the Year), and Nature Boy (featuring The Mark Eisenman Trio which attained a Top 40 spot in Bob Parlocha's USA syndicated jazz program, receiving regular spins on that show, year after year. All of these albums have garnered consistently excellent reviews internationally. 

In addition, Bill was chosen Flutist of the Year by the Jazz Report Awards, and nominated as Miscellaneous Instrumentalist of the Year at the National Jazz Awards. He bears the singular distinction of being the only triple-crown winner in all three of the National Flute Association’s (1) Jazz Flute Soloist, (2) Jazz Flute Masterclass and (3) Jazz Flute Big Band Competitions. Bill is also a Designated Hayes Artist with the venerable flute maker, W. S. Haynes Co., a longstanding contributor to the Woodwinds column of Canadian Musician magazine, and an active teacher/clinician.