Paul Tarusov, trombonist, educator, and composer/arranger is among a new wave of musicians seeking to bring together and exploration of original music with a sound steeped in tradition. He is highly in demand as a freelancer in the Toronto area playing in a variety of genres – theatre, world music, rock, funk, and classical.

As a jazz musician Paul has had the honour of performing and/or recording with jazz artists such as Benny Golson, Danilo Perez, Ron Westray, Han Bennink, Valery Ponamarev, John McLeod, Dave Young, and Christine Jensen. In 2007 & 2008 Paul was invited to tour Ireland as a guest artist with the David Lyttle Trio, performing at J.J. Smyth’s in Dublin as well as at the Belfast Jazz Festival.

Paul has also been busy in the Salsa scene (Maelo Ruiz, Willie Gonzalez, Roberto Linares Brown), and the Ethopian scene (Fantahun Shewankochew, Netsanet Melese) as well as in the Canadian Pop scene. He toured with “Stars”, a Juno-nominated Canadian Indie darling pop/rock group in 2004-2005, as well as with the legendary Canadian super-band “Lighthouse” in 2015-2016. His recorded credits include horn work on singer-songwriter Jon Davis’s album “Open Shores”, and is featured on Quique Escamilla’s “500 Years of Night”, which received a Juno award in 2015.

During his time in New York City he studied with trombone greats Steve Turre, Wycliffe Gordon, Elliot Mason, and Vincent Gardner. Paul Tarusov is a graduate of The Julliard School and a specialist in embouchure research at the University of Toronto.