Although Canada has produced some top-tier jazz talent over the years, no musician did a greater job of promoting or developing their craft alongside their fellow Canadians as Rob McConnell. In addition to his skills as an instrumentalist and arranger, McConnell's continuous use and promotion of Canada's finest musicians showed that although jazz may have been an American invention, the United States' neighbors to the north were no slouches in their own right.

McConnell was born in London, Ontario in 1935. His tight-knit family had a deep affinity for music; his mother and siblings all played instruments and sang in their church's choir. As a teenager, McConnell began studying the slide trombone, eventually switching to its valved counterpart after a sojourn to New York in the 1960s introduced him to the music of Bob Brookmeyer. His interest in composition was spurred by his studies with Toronto-based educator Gordon Delamont, from whom he learned theory and orchestration.

Working primarily as a studio musician at first, McConnell's first big break as a bandleader came in 1968, where a deal with radio executive Lyman Potts led to the formation of the first version of the band he would lead on-and-off for the rest of his life, the Boss Brass. The initial lineup of this group earned its name from its unique instrumentation: five trumpets, five trombones, two French horns, and rhythm section. The band would eventually expand to include a saxophone section, making it the perfect vehicle for McConnell's highly intricate writing style. Although the band initially focused on more pop-oriented material, their 1976 album "The Jazz Album" would establish the sound that would come to define the group for the rest of its existence.

The Boss Brass would briefly take a break in the late 1980s when McConnell moved to Los Angeles to teach. Homesickness quickly set in, however, and he soon returned to Canada, where he would stay for the rest of his life. The Boss Brass would eventually see their working opportunities dwindle a bit, forcing McConnell to occasionally downsize the ensemble to a tentet, but his energy and enthusiasm for the music never did, as he continued to perform, arrange and teach all the way until his passing from liver cancer in 2010.

In addition to the legacy he left behind as an instrumentalist and arranger, McConnell cultivated an extensive discography featuring some of Canada's finest jazz musicians. Tenor saxophonist Rick Wilkins, trumpeter Guido Basso, trombonist Ian McDougall, guitarist Ed Bickert, bassist Don Thompson and drummer Terry Clarke are just a few of the musicians who achieved notoriety serving in the ranks of the Boss Brass over the years.