Bass trombonist Sharman King (BMus’70) has enjoyed a long and varied career in Western Canada. While attending UBC he was a member of the legendary Cave Theatre Orchestra house band under Fraser MacPherson. After graduating from The University of British Columbia in 1970 Mr. King joined the Buddy Rich Orchestra. While with “Buddy’s Band”, Mr. King toured 34 states and performed at the Newport, Monterey and Concord Jazz Festivals.After a year playing tuba in a sing-along band in the “Your Father’s Mustache” club, Mr. King joined the faculty of The University of Calgary where he taught Music Theory and Stage Band. The U of C Stage Band featured performances with jazz notables Woody Shaw, Oliver Gannon and Ian McDougall and is believed to be the first “for university credit” stage band course in Canada.

While in Calgary Mr. King joined the Edmonton Symphony as bass trombonist and started an association with Edmonton’s Tommy Banks which continues to this day. On his return to Vancouver Mr. King joined the faculties of The University of British Columbia (trombone and stage band) and Capilano College (trombone and “the business of music”) and resumed his playing career. He is currently bass trombonist of the Vancouver Opera Orchestra and was previously bass trombonist of the CBC Vancouver Orchestra. Mr. King has been privileged to perform with singers Diana Krall, Tony Bennett, Frank Sinatra, Sarah Vaughan, Paul Anka, Jack Jones, Tom Jones, Ray Charles, Burt Bacharach and Luciano Pavarotti. He has appeared in over three hundred television programs in international distribution, including MacGyver, the ITV “In Concert” series, the Tom Jones series, the Paul Anka series, Celebrity Review with Tommy Banks and numerous CBC-TV series. Mr. King is proud to have been a part of many CBC jazz radio shows with prominent Canadian musicians including Tommy Banks, Bobby Hales, Ian McDougall, Dave Robbins, Ray Sikora, Rob McConnell, Guido Basso, Moe Kauffman and Fred Stride.Mr. King is also active in “legitimate” and theatre music. He has been a member of the Vancouver Opera Association Orchestra since its inception in 1977, and has performed extensively in the Queen Elizabeth Theatre orchestra pit for many ballet and musical theatre companies, including Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera, West Side Story, Hello Dolly and Miss Saigon. Sharman King was the founder and President of Book Warehouse, B.C.’s popular chain of discount bookstores. He is currently active as a board member of The National Youth Orchestra of Canada, Turning Point Ensemble, EasyPark, Downtown Vancouver Association, Performing Arts Lodge, Canadian Music Centre and the UBC Library Advisory Committee. He is Vice-President of the Vancouver Musicians’ Association and is a member of the Audit Committee for Vancouver Opera. He is also a voting member of the Academy of Recorded Arts and Sciences.

Sharman King has performed on numerous Juno award winning recordings, most recently Changing Seasons with Phil Dwyer and Mark Fewer (Best Contemporary Jazz Recording, 2012) Also, in 2012 Sharman King was honoured to receive both the Mayor’s Award for Business and the Arts and a Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal.