Tommy Banks — musician, former senator — dead at 81

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 the age of 18, he was music director of the Orion Musical Theatre in Edmonton, and coordinator of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. At age 32, Banks was host, pianist, conductor and arranger for the Gemini Award-winning Tommy Banks show,