 Media Credit: Louis Jacques Louis Metcalf and his International Band at the Café St-Michel in 1947.
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 Media Credit: Lew McAllister
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Every summer, thousands of tourists flood the streets and concert halls of Montreal for the International Jazz Festival. These fans are continuing a time-honoured tradition that extends beyond the jazz festival's 24-year existence. While Montreal has become renowned for its massive outdoor concerts and highly-publicized showcases, many tourists and residents are unaware of jazz's rich history in the city.
"The Corner," formerly located at the intersection of Rue St-Antoine and Mountain streets, was the focal point of jazz during the 1940s-what many consider a golden era. Walk around the area today and you won't see much. But 60 years ago, the streets were alive with bebop sounds pouring out of the two major clubs, Rockhead's Paradise and Café St. Michel.
Mairuth Sarsfield invokes this era in her 1997 novel
No Crystal Stair, discussing the theme of high and low culture through music in 1942. Two characters in Sarsfield's novel debate the style of Oscar Peterson, who was emerging as a renowned jazz pianist in the early 1940s. A white character feels that Peterson's talent comes from the influence of European composers such as Liszt, while a black character argues that Duke Ellington and the black community served as an inspiration for one of Montreal's most famous musicians.
In his autobiography,
A Jazz Odyssey, Peterson points out that jazz, unlike classical music, has not garnered the respect it deserves as an art form. He believes that whites have been unable to accept the artistic talent and achievement of blacks.
"The treatment of jazz is deeply indicative of society's values, and also its fears and prejudices."
Not about the music, man
Self-professed jazz musicians played music to entertain patrons of clubs across the city. While musicians preferred to play their own brand of jazz, they provided backup for showgirls, comedians and singers while taking requests for music to dance the jitterbug or the mambo.
The nightclubs of the time were not like Upstairs and other jazz spots of today. The owners usually employed two bands, one for the shows and the social dancing afterward, and another to provide background music during breaks. It was during the social dancing part of the evening that musicians incorporated some bebop influences. However, they did so slyly, careful not to go overboard and draw the wrath of the nightclub owner.
Jazz musicians often devised other outlets for their creative energy that might have been suppressed by the need to cater to a certain clientele. After-hours jams at clubs-Aldo's on Crescent Street was one of the more popular venues-gave players a chance to expand their horizons. With the clubs open until early in the morning, club patrons had the opportunity to hear amazing sessions, while the owners took full advantage of the musicians' willingness to play without monetary compensation.
"The jam sessions also served as clearing houses for work and proving grounds for younger musicians and new arrivals in town," writes John Gilmore in
Swinging in Paradise.
Gilmore, a jazz historian, says that Aldo's was the hangout of Steep Wade, one of Peterson's greatest influences. Wade took the young Peterson under his wing and made sure that he did not get into any trouble, reminding Peterson that he had the expectations of the black community riding on his success.
Jazz transcends divisions-somewhat
The jazz scene was one of the first areas of employment to achieve some integration of race. Peterson and his peers would not have been accepted to play in classical orchestras, so jazz offered musicians a chance to make a living playing music.
"In all my days in Montreal and Toronto I cannot recall seeing a single black seated in any of the orchestras," recalls Peterson.
Gilmore notes that Rufus Rockhead, the owner of Rockhead's Paradise, had a policy of having only blacks play in his bandstand. Sometimes he allowed mixed groups for his smaller cocktail lounge downstairs.
Despite openness in the show business area of jazz, white musicians dominated the local big bands, which became popular near the beginning of the Second World War. Gilmore believes that only four known black musicians played in the dozen or so big bands in the city. Although big band traces its roots to black American music, in Montreal, it was "white musicians playing a derivative, more commercial version of black music [that] achieved wider exposure and greater financial success."
Scene dies out, yet the music lives on
Eventually, his jazz scene lost its cohesiveness and popularity. Gilmore points to the election of mayor Jean Drapeau in 1954 as the major turning point. The former lawyer came to office pledging to rid the city of organized crime. He was relatively successful, reducing the nightclubs' revenue by a fair amount. The budget for live entertainment was cut to meet the changes.
Societal changes further weakened the Montreal jazz scene. According to Gilmore, the advent of television allowed suburbanites to stay home for entertainment. In the nightclubs, desperate owners banked on one act to lift the bottom line: stripping. Chez Parée, which still exists today, was at one time the most popular nightclub until it became a strip club.
"With the almost total disappearance of the jazz clubs that abounded in the 1950s and 1960s, the training grounds have gone," writes Peterson. "There is nowhere to learn one's craft and hone it nightly in an undiluted, dedicated, and competitive milieu."
Peterson does not paint a rosy picture for the future of jazz in Montreal. Without these clubs, great and cutting-edge talent will not emerge. We will be left solely with the yearly appearance of the jazz festival for quality performances.
However, a few clubs in town still offer jazz on a regular basis like Lion d'Or or L'aire du Temp. Jazz will continue to be played live in this city, but it will not have the same social significance as it did in the 1940s. A return to the golden era of jazz is unlikely any time soon.
