# data[].attributes.headline
Music and Black History Month: A grade 6 research project. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Music and Black History Month: A grade 6 research project. 

# data[].attributes.body
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1q_gIyBUwjr87HXCprbxsQYrAADqB_BNJGMoTgLktgJU/edit?usp=sharing

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Music and Black History: Assignment - Listed on TpT - Do Not Delete

# data[].attributes.body
An article which explores how Rae Spoon, Witch Prophet and other LGBTQ2SIA artists are radically reimagining the business of music in Canada.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Queering the Canadian music industry | CBC Music

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
How Rae Spoon, Witch Prophet and other LGBTQ2SIA artists are radically reimagining the business of music.

# data[].attributes.headline
Women’s Empowerment Through Music: A Teaching and Learning Module for Middle and High School

# data[].attributes.subject
Women’s Empowerment Through Music: A Teaching and Learning Module for Middle and High School

# data[].attributes.body
This teaching and learning module contains four units of study. Each unit is divided into sessions of approximately 50 minutes in length. Many of the learning activities are music-based and are integrated across the curriculum. The lessons are written mainly for Grades 7-12 but can be adapted for use in lower grades.

# data[].attributes.body
A resource guide for bringing Canadian Indigenous culture into the classroom.

# data[].attributes.body
The purpose of this kit is to use the songs from Queer Across Canada to invite students and educators to reflect on and discuss perspectives and stories related to gender, sexuality, bodies, and relationships, as well as issues of homophobia, transphobia, cisheteronormativity, and cisgenderism. It is also meant to invite students to discuss their own identities in relation to the songs, and to celebrate gender and sexually diverse people, families, and communities. The songs and the activities in the kit may also encourage students to consider how they might carry this learning forward into their lives and communities. The songs and activities in this kit can be used in the following curricular areas: Health and Physical Education, Social Sciences and Humanities, English, and Canadian and World Studies, as well as in any courses related to anti-discrimination and equity.

# data[].attributes.body
"Hi, I’m Rich Coburn, and I’m leading the BIPOC Voices project. I’m a multi-faceted musician—pianist, organist, vocal coach, music director, composer and arranger—in Montréal, Canada."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
We recognize that many cultural groups have been discouraged by or excluded from opera and other adjacent industries. As a result, many BIPOC composers who are interested in writing for voice and instruments may have struggled not just to get performances, but to get orchestral recordings of their work.

And so, as well as featuring extant recordings, BIPOC Voices will create and showcase, completely free of charge to the composers, orchestral recordings of previously-unrecorded works or excerpts.We will use live singers and industry-leading MIDI libraries to produce high-quality recordings at a fraction of the price of hiring a live orchestra.

The deadline for our first recording has already passed. We anticipate subsequent rounds of recordings, thought we have no concrete plans to initiate one at this moment. To be notified of upcoming deadlines, please join our mailing list, or submit your works to the database.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
We recognize that many cultural groups have been discouraged by or excluded from opera and other adjacent industries. As a result, many BIPOC composers who are interested in writing for voice and instruments may have struggled not just to get performances, but to get orchestral recordings of their work.

# data[].attributes.headline
10 Great Indigenous Musicians to Listen to in 2021

# data[].attributes.subject
10 Great Indigenous Musicians to Listen to in 2021

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
10 Great Indigenous Musicians to Listen to in 2022 - RAVEN

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Listen to these hot Indigenous bands - and solo artists - and find out why the buzz is so strong around First Nations music in 2022!

# data[].attributes.body
An annotated listing - for teachers.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In the fall of 2019 Canadian Art Song Project released our podcast discussion with composer Ian Cusson and mezzo-soprano Marion Newman about the appropriation of First Nations, Inuit and Métis songs and stories in Canadian art song and chamber music.

At the time, I believed it to be a topic that needed to be challenged and explored institutionally but also at the grass roots level of music making - in the practice room, studio and concert stage. Raising the questions around how to approach the canon of existing repertoire that contains appropriated content is something that still has not entirely been answered, though there does now seem to be a general consensus not to perform repertoire devoid of collaborative involvement by Indigenous and Métis peoples.

However, looking at the past is only part of the conversation that is being had now around Indigenous peoples and newly composed Canadian art music. We are culturally at a moment where significant attention is being given to racialized artists. Students, teachers, performers and consumers of all kinds of music are wanting to inquire about the composers who can give voice to the diverse experiences within our society.

This summer (2020) I posted about what I was able to find out about Canadian Black composers of art song. I thought it was important to use this same space to highlight active Indigenous composers of art song / vocal music.

I want to be clear that I do not think of myself or Canadian Art Song Project as arbiters of who is, or who is not a composer. Writing music rooted in or in dialogue with a Classical tradition implies having access to institutions and education that have been established by a systemically discriminatory colonial system. However, for the sake of beginning this conversation and in hope of being a resource for potential artistic allies of Indigenous writers of music and song, I would like to suggest exploring the music of the individuals below.

I initially reached out to Marion Newman and Ian Cusson again as well as Rebecca Hass and Rebecca Cuddy, and we shared thoughts on who might be among this community of composers and song writers:

****

Andrew Balfour is a prominent Winnipeg composer of Cree descent. Though he has no works for solo voice (to my knowledge) at this time, his choral and instrumental works are widely known and he has been commissioned by symphonies and choral ensembles across Canada.

A proud member of the Manitoba Métis Federation, Elliot Britton completed his PhD in music research and composition at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University under the supervision of Prof. Sean Ferguson. Dr. Britton is co-director of Manitoba's Cluster New Music and Integrated Arts Festival and continues to produce music for a variety of labels, companies and music houses. His upcoming projects include a commission from the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra titled "Heirloom Bison Culture" as well as a collaboration with Red Sky Dance Company and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra.

T. Patrick Carrabré is a Canadian composer of Métis heritage living in Vancouver. His best known works include Inuit Games, for throat singers (katajjak) and orchestra, which was a recommended work at the International Rostrum of Composers (2003), Sonata No. 1, The Penitent, for violin and piano, and From the Dark Reaches, which were nominated for JUNO awards (in the category of Best Classical Composition). A Hammer For Your Thoughts... won a Western Canadian Music Award (Best Classical Composition). Commissioners have included pianists Megumi Masaki, Janina Fialkowska, and Alexander Tselyakov, the Gryphon Trio, the Winnipeg Singers, cellists Caroline Stinson and Shauna Rolston, as well as the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra and the Eckhardt-Gramatté National Music Competition.

Odawa First Nation composer Barbara Croall is a very well established classically-trained composer with music degrees and diplomas from Centre Acanthes (France), the Musikhochschule in Munich (Germany), The Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto), and the University of Toronto. She has had commissions and performances from leading orchestras, ensembles and soloists across Canada, the US, the UK, Europe, Latin America and Asia. As a musician Barbara also plays, performs, and composes on the pipigwan and for voice in the traditional Anishinaabe way.

At 16, Gregory Borton, a young Métis (Abenaki) composer, has already achieved a success with the premiere of his Sinfonia Fantasia at the Boris Brott Music Festival in 2020. His music can be found at musescore and although he does not appear to have any vocal works at the moment, it will be exciting to see where his future takes him.

Ian Cusson is of Métis and French-Canadian descent. His work explores Canadian Indigenous experience including the history of the Métis people, the hybridity of mixed-racial identity, and the intersection of Western and Indigenous cultures. He has had vocal works commissioned by the Canadian Opera Company and the NACO among others and he has recently been announced as a 2020-21 faculty member of the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity

Spy Dénommé-Welch (Anishnaabe) is a multi-disciplinary scholar, composer, producer, and librettist/playwright. He wrote and co-composed the Dora Mavor Moore-nominated opera Giiwedin. Spy is Artistic Director of Unsettled Scores, an Associate Composer with the Canadian Music Centre, a member of the Canadian League of Composers and the Playwrights Guild of Canada, and an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Brock University.

Deantha Edmunds is an Inuk classical singer and composer who is currently composing a collection of songs that reflect her Inuk and Newfoundland heritages. Her most recent recording, My Beautiful Home is available through Spotify and other streaming services.

Sonny-Ray Day Rider is a contemporary indigenous composer and pianist studying music at the University of Lethbridge's faculty of Fine Arts. He is a Blackfoot sound artist who is currently involved in research that integrates his traditional sound world with western art song practices. Sonny-Ray has a broad musical palate working with many disparate genres of music and sound.

Juno nominated Cris Derksen is an internationally respected Indigenous cellist and composer. Originally from Northern Alberta, she comes from a line of chiefs from NorthTall Cree Reserve on her father's side and a line of strong Mennonite homesteaders on her mother's. Derksen braids the traditional and contemporary, weaving her classical background and her Indigenous ancestry together with new school electronics to create genre-defying music. Her 2019 compositions include Maada'ookii Songlines, a Mass Choral piece for 250 singers commissioned by Luminato Festival. I am unaware of additional vocal works to date.

A member of Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick, Jeremy Dutcher's work bringing to life modern interpretations of the traditional songs of his home has brought him international recognition as an artist, composer, musicologist and activist. I am not aware of any published vocal solo or choral compositions to date, but this may be only a matter of time and opportunity.

Beverley Mckiver is an Ottawa-based pianist, composer, music educator and storyteller. Her works explore themes of connection to the land, identity and recovery of Indigenous knowledge. She has composed for singers, instrumental ensembles and solo piano.

Melody Mckiver is a musician and composer from Sioux Lookout, Treaty #3 / Northwestern Ontario. They are a violinist/violist, drummer/percussionist, and producer whose musical work integrates electronics with Western classical music to shape a new genre of Anishinaabe compositions. I am not aware of any published vocal solo or choral compositions to date.

Jessica McMann is a Cree (Cowessess, SK) musician, contemporary dancer and choreographer. She is also a classically trained flutist with a Bachelor of Music from the University of Calgary and an MFA in Contemporary Arts from Simon Fraser University. Her recent compositions and soundscapes explore Indigenous identity and history. She is also co-founder and co-director Wild Mint Arts, an Indigenous arts company. Currently her personal experience, Two-Spirit identity, Cree and Blackfoot language, history of powwow and hoop dancing, and the strength of Indigenous women guide her current contemporary dance work. She works regularly with Elijah Wells, a Blackfoot animator to bring the stories of Transgender, Two-Spirit and Queer persons alive.

Jesse Plessis is a Canadian pianist and composer of Métis heritage who was born in Sparwood, British Columbia. He studied piano with Deanna Oye and composition with Arlan Schultz at the University of Lethbridge, and later piano with Megumi Masaki and composition with Patrick Carrabré at Brandon University. He completed a doctorate in piano performance at the Université de Montréal in the class of Paul Stewart. He currently attends the Schulich School of Music at McGill University, where he is pursuing a doctorate in composition. His compositions have been broadcast on CBC Radio, and have been performed by the Land's End Chamber Ensemble, Lethbridge Symphony Orchestra, Musaeus String Quartet, Global Drums Percussion Ensemble, University of Lethbridge Singers, Canadian soprano Lisa Mulgrew, and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra. Jesse is a currently developing a new work as part of the CASP Chung-Wai Chow and John Wright Art Song Mentorship Programme for Composers.

Olivia Shortt (They/She): Anishinaabe, Nipissing First Nation) is a Tkarón:to-based artist. They work as an artist manager as well as a performer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, improviser, composer, sound designer, theatre artist, teacher, activist, curator, and producer. They are currently working with the JACK Quartet as a commissioned composer in the inaugural JACK Studio. The premiere was intended to be performed on May 2, 2020 at the Kaufman Center, NYC as part of the Ecstatic Music festival but has been postponed to 2021 due to COVID-19.

Karen Sunabacka (Métis and Scottish heritage) is Associate Professor of Music at Conrad Grebel University College at the University of Waterloo. In January 2018 she was a Mentor Composer for the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra's Composers' Institute. An active member and past board member of the Canadian New Music Network she continues to be on the board of Groundswell, Winnipeg's New Music Series (she is currently serving as President) and NUMUS, Kitchener-Waterloo's New Music Series. She founded Pressure Waves in Winnipeg, a regular part of Groundswell's Emerging Composer program. Her music has been performed in Canada, the USA, Brazil and the United Kingdom.

Russell Wallace is a composer, producer and traditional singer from the Lil'wat Nation in British Columbia. Commissions include the formation of Nunavut Gala in 1999, the Vancouver Peace Conference in 2004 which hosted the Dalai Lama and other international dignitaries, and various chamber ensembles and choirs. Currently Wallace works and teaches at the Native Education College.

****

Please contact CASP if you know of other composers who should be added to this list or if you want to be in touch with us regarding this topic. Updated July 2, 2021

Lawrence Wiliford
Co-Artistic Director of Canadian Art Song Project

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In the fall of 2019 Canadian Art Song Project released our podcast discussion with composer Ian Cusson and mezzo-soprano Marion Newman about the appropriation of First Nations, Inuit and Métis songs and stories in Canadian art song and chamber music.

# data[].attributes.headline
12 Black Canadians Who Changed the Music Scene

# data[].attributes.subject
12 Black Canadians Who Changed the Music Scene

# data[].attributes.body
Student-friendly click-through article.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Here is just a taste of the innumerable Black Canadians who have had a major positive impact on the music scene in Canada. These artists overcame adversity, racism (both overt and systemic), and discrimination to leave their mark on the charts and on our hearts.

CP Images

This famed contralto was born in Truro, Nova Scotia, in 1911 to parents who had been slaves in Virginia. She started singing in the church choir and was so determined to be a singer that she walked 10 miles every week for music lessons. White won the Helen Kennedy Silver Cup at the Halifax Music Festival in 1935, 1937, and 1938, and then became the first Black Canadian concert singer to win international acclaim. She is considered one of the best classical singers of the 20th century. As a voice teacher, she counted among her pupils actress Dinah Christie, jazz singer Anne Marie Moss, Lorne Greene (one of only two Canadians to top the charts in the '60s), and actor Don Francks. She also taught actor-singer Robert Goulet, who is a Grammy and Tony Award winner. In 1964, she performed for the Queen and Prince Philip at Charlottetown's Confederation Centre of the Arts. And she got a stamp! Canada Post issued it in 1999.

CP Images

CP Images

Getty Images

CP Images

CP Images

CP Images

Getty Images

CP Images

CP Images

CP Images

Previous Slide 1 of 12 Next Slide

Latest Galleries

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
12 Black Canadians Who Changed The Music Scene

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Here is just a taste of the innumerable Black Canadians who have had a major positive impact on the music scene in Canada. These artists overcame adversity, racism (both overt and systemic), and discrimination to leave their mark on the charts and on our hearts.

# data[].attributes.body
One of the most influential rock guitarist, Link Wray was born on May 2, 1929, in Dunn, North Carolina, to Fred Lincoln Wray, Sr., who was born in Indiana, and his wife, Lillian Mae Wray (née Coats), born in North Carolina, whom her son identified as being Shawnee.[4]

# data[].attributes.body
Fulford Street in Montreal's Little Burgundy neighborhood - today it is called blvd. Georges-Vanier.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Fulford Street Romp (feat. Reg Schwager, Fraser MacPherson, Michel Donato & Jim Hillman)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Childhood and Education

Oliver Jones was born to Barbadian parents with a strong appetite for music in Montreal's Little Burgundy neighbourhood. The area is the birthplace of many musicians, including Oscar Peterson, who became Jones's friend and mentor. From an early age, Jones was fascinated by music. He was a child prodigy; by the time he was three, he could take songs he had heard on the radio and play them from memory on the piano. At five years old, he played at Union United Church in Montreal; when he was nine, he performed solo works at Café St-Michel as well as in other clubs and theatres in Montreal, including Rockhead's Paradise.

Jones studied classical piano, first with Madame Bonner and then with Daisy Peterson Sweeney, the elder sister of his idol, Oscar Peterson. When Jones asked Sweeney if she would help him perfect his art as a pianist, she accepted but warned him that he would need to devote significant time to this challenging discipline. Mastering the piano became his greatest passion. He was soon performing in the United States as part of the touring show The Bandwagon, which was also staged at Café St-Michel. Jones studied theory and composition with Sweeney in 1959 and 1960.

Career Highlights

After working in the Montreal area between 1953 and 1963 and touring Quebec with Richard Parris, Al Cowans, Allan Wellman and other musicians, Jones settled in Puerto Rico. He became music director (1964-80) of a calypso orchestra, the Kenny Hamilton Show Band. The group frequently toured in the Caribbean and the United States, mainly playing Top 40 hits. When not onstage, Jones went to see jazz musicians play, often joining in to accompany them.

He returned to Montreal in 1980, at which time the bassist Charles Biddle suggested they collaborate. They performed together in nightclubs and hotel bars. Jones became the in-house pianist at Biddle's club, Jazz and Ribs (now The House of Jazz), from 1981 to 1986. It was at this time that he began to make a name for himself as a jazz pianist. From then on, he dedicated himself to that style of music. He performed in the second annual Festival international de jazz de Montréal (FIJM) in 1981 and played the festival every year after that until 1999; he participated in the opening and closing ceremonies seven times. In 1985, he and Biddle recorded the album Oliver Jones et Charles Biddle for Spectra Scène at the FIJM.

When playing at Biddle's club, Jones caught the eye of record producer Jim West, who was about to launch the jazz label Justin Time. A contract was quickly signed, and the following year Justin Time released Live at Biddle's Jazz and Ribs. On this album, Oliver Jones directed for the first time what would become his preferred kind of ensemble: a trio, in this case featuring Charles Biddle on bass and Bernard Primeau on drums. Jones released his first solo album, The Many Moods of Oliver Jones, in 1984. His appearances at Biddle's club became less frequent as his national and international careers took off.

Jazz bassist Charlie Biddle.

(photo by Lois Siegel)

Jones was the rising star among 1980s Canadian jazz musicians, surpassing his only rivals, the Shuffle Demons. In 1985, he travelled throughout Canada, performing in concerts, festivals and clubs, as a solo artist or as part of a trio with the following musicians: bassists Michel Donato, Skip Beckwith, Dave Young and Steve Wallace; and drummers Bernard Primeau, Jim Hillman, Nasyr Abdul Al-Khabyyr and Archie Alleyne. In 1986, Jones toured Australia, New Zealand and the Fiji Islands. He also gave his first concerts in the United States, including at the Newport and Greenwich Village jazz festivals.

In 1987, he embarked on his first of many European tours; he performed in Great Britain, France, Spain, Ireland, Scotland, Portugal, Germany and Switzerland. He was also invited to perform at major jazz festivals in The Hague, Netherlands (North Sea, 1987); Monterey, California (MJF, 1988); and New York (JVC, 1989). Between 1987 and 1989, he found fame playing concerts with renowned orchestras, such as Symphony Nova Scotia; the Orchestre métropolitain de Montréal; the Orchestre symphonique de Québec; the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra; and the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal during the FIJM.

As his international tours continued, Jones performed in Cuba and Brazil in 1988, and in Egypt, the Ivory Coast and Nigeria in 1989. That year, the National Film Board filmed the documentary Oliver Jones in Africa (1989). Jones also travelled to Namibia in 1990.

Albums and Recordings

From 1982 to 1999, Oliver Jones recorded more than 15 albums, including Lights of Burgundy (1985), Cookin' at Sweet Basil (recorded in 1988 at New York's Sweet Basil nightclub) and Just in Time (1998).

During the 1990s, he performed over 130 times a year. In 1992, in celebration of Montreal's 350th anniversary, he appeared alongside Vic Vogel and his Big Band as well as the Montréal Jubilation Gospel Choir at an FIJM closing event. In 1993, he recorded his second solo album, Just 88; it included his compositions "Blues for Laurentian U" and "Dizzy-Nest" and earned him the 1994 Félix Award. That same year, at the invitation of the Canadian government, he gave a concert series in China. In 1995, he released From Lush to Lively, his first recording with a full orchestra. In 1997, he recorded another trio album, Have Fingers, Will Travel, with bassist Ray Brown and drummer Jeff Hamilton, at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles.

Jones announced his retirement on New Year's Day in 2000. He had built a reputation as one of the best-known and most talented Canadian jazz pianists of all time. His retirement was short-lived, however, as he returned to the studio with bassist Skip Bey in 2002 to complete the album, Then and Now, begun in 1986. That same year, he also became artistic director of the jazz section of the Montreal Chamber Music Festival. Two years later, during the FIJM, he played at the Place des Arts, in his first public performance with his role model and childhood idol, Oscar Peterson.

In 2005, Jones released Just You, Just Me, recorded with Ranee Lee; the album was publicly and critically acclaimed. That same year, he headlined the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival and was named artistic director of Montreal's House of Jazz (formerly Biddle's Jazz Club). Jones released three more recordings in 2006: One More Time (with bassist Dave Young and drummer Jim Doxas); From Lush to Lively (with a "big band" and a string orchestra); and Serenade (DVD). The album Just for My Lady came out in 2013.

Having experienced health problems in 2015, Jones announced his official retirement in January 2016, on the occasion of the 10th annual Port-au-Prince International Jazz Festival.

Style

Oliver Jones's late rise to fame placed him in the shadow of Oscar Peterson, with whom he shared cultural and stylistic origins - the Black community of the Saint-Henri district of Montreal, and an idiomatic fusion of swing and bebop - as well as remarkable technical prowess. Rather than downplaying their similarities, Jones seemed to encourage such comparisons, going so far as to play and record with some of Peterson's former colleagues, such as Ray Brown, Clark Terry, Herb Ellis and Ed Thigpen. IN a 2004 interview, Jones called Peterson "my greatest source of inspiration."

Thanks to his experience with classical and popular music, Jones had phenomenal technique as well as an intuition about what the public wanted to hear and what limits to work within. He would lose himself in complex improvisations on the piano; but he also mastered the art of restraint and knew how to bring out the expressive quality of a melody without overwhelming it in virtuosity.

As is typical of a pianist influenced by Bach and Chopin, Jones preferred ballads and found bebop to be repetitive and lacking in terms of its potential for development. This did not stop him, however, from injecting into his music the kind of rhythmic energy and vigour that was characteristic of an avid bebop artist. In a review of one of Jones's concerts at the Positano club in New York, John S. Wilson wrote: "One hears light-fingered reminders of the facility of [Art] Tatum and [Oscar] Peterson, but it is done in a context that is reminiscent of the big, buoyant melodic structures that were created by Erroll Garner" ( New York Times, 23 April 1987). Critics often praised Jones's technical agility and frequently compared him to Oscar Peterson.

Compositions

Jones's recorded compositions, a number of which are dedicated to friends and colleagues - particularly "Blues for Chuck" and "Big Pete," for Chuck and Oscar Peterson, respectively - include: "Gros Bois Blues," "Lights of Burgundy," "Snuggles," "Fulford Street Stomp," "Here Comes Summer Again," "Dumpcake Blues," "Hilly," "The Sweetness of You," "Looking for Lou," "Bossa for CC," "Stay Young," "Blues for Hélène," "Last Night in Rio," "Sophie," "Abunchafunk," "What a Beautiful Sight," "Jordio," "Katatura," "Mark My Time," "Tippin' Home from Sunday School," "Stan Pat" and "Peaceful Time."

Teaching

Jones taught at Laurentian University from 1987 to 1995 and at McGill University from 1988 to 1995.

Jazz pianist Oliver Jones.

(photo by Mark Miller)

Honours and Awards

In 1984, Jones received the PROCAN award for his contributions to jazz. In 1990, the FIJM awarded him the Oscar Peterson Award, presented by Charles Dutoit (then director of the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal). That year, he also received the Golden Ducat during the Mannheim Film Festival in Germany for the documentary Oliver Jones in Africa. In 1992, he received the Martin Luther King Jr. Award for his contributions to the Black community in Canada and in his hometown of Montreal.

Jones was named a Knight of the Ordre national du Québec in 1993 and an Officer of the Order of Canada the following year. In 1992, Laurentian University awarded him an honorary doctorate. Three other universities soon followed suit: McGill University (1995), St. Francis Xavier (1996) and Windsor (1999). He received the 1997-98 Opus Hommage award from the Conseil québécois de la musique and the Governor General's Performing Arts Award in 2005. At the 2006 National Jazz Awards, his album Just You, Just Me won Recording of the Year, and he was named keyboardist of the year.

In 2010, the borough of Montreal North paid tribute to Jones by naming an auditorium at the Maison culturelle et communautaire after him. Throughout his career, Jones won several Félix Awards (1989, 1994, 2007, 2008) and two Juno Awards: one in 1986 for Lights of Burgundy (Best Jazz Album) and one in 2009 for Second Time Around (Traditional Jazz Album of the Year). Two of his albums, Pleased to Meet You and Live in Baden, Switzerland, were nominated for a Juno in 2010 and 2012, respectively.

For Black History Month in February 2013, Canada Post issued a stamp featuring Jones. In 2015, the Board of Trade of Metropolitan Montreal named him a "Great Montrealer." He also won the 2015 RIDEAU Hommage award from the Réseau indépendant des diffuseurs d'événements artistiques unis for being an enduring figure in the Quebec music scene.

A version of this article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Music in Canada.

Discography

Live at Biddle's Jazz and Ribs (1983). Justin Time JUST 1.

The Many Moods of Oliver Jones (1984). Justin Time JUST 3.

Oliver Jones et Charlie Biddle - FIJM (1985). Spectra Scène SS-1708 and Justin Time JTR 8405.

Lights of Burgundy (1985). Justin Time JUST 6.

Speak Low/Swing Hard (1985). Justin Time JUST 17.

Requestfully Yours (1986). Justin Time JUST 11.

Cookin' at Sweet Basil (1988). Justin Time JUST 25.

Just Friends (1989). Justin Time JUST 31.

Northern Summit (1990). Justin Time JUST 34.

A Class Act (1991). Justin Time JUST 41.

Just 88 (1993). Justin Time JUST 51.

Yuletide Swing (1994). Justin Time JUST 71.

From Lush to Lively (1995). Justin Time JUST 73.

Have Fingers, Will Travel (1997). Justin Time JUST 102.

Just In Time (1998). Justin Time 120.

Oliver Jones & Skip Bey-Then and Now (2002). Justin Time JUST 180.

Just You, Just Me (2004). Justin Time 213.

One More Time (2006). Justin Time JUST 217.

Second Time Around (2008). Justin Time JUST 229.

Pleased to Meet You (2009). Justin Time JUST 236.

A Celebration in Time (2010). Justin Time JUST 234.

Live in Baden Switzerland (2011). Justin Time JUST 243.

Just For My Lady (2013). Justin Time JUST 251.

Albums by Other Artists Featuring Jones

Quiet Song (1989). Justin Time JUST 33.

Ranee Lee, I Thought About You (1994). Justin Time JUST 68.

Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir, Jubilation VI: Looking Back (1994). Justin Time JUST 66/67.

Charles Biddle, In Good Company (1996). Justin Time JUST 90.

Richard Ring, Ring In Minor (1996). Justin Time JUST 82.

Filmography

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Oliver Jones was born to Barbadian parents with a strong appetite for music in Montreal's Little Burgundy neighbourhood. The area is the birthplace of many musicians, including Oscar Peterson, who became Jones's friend and mentor. From an early age, Jones was fascinated by music.

# data[].attributes.body
Vinyl recordings with that scratchy vibe.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Voices of Black Opera......PORTIA MAY WHITE  - Think On Me - First Black Canadian Concert Singer

# data[].attributes.body
Short documentary video (6m49)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Famous Black Canadians: 2/10: Portia White

# data[].attributes.body
Digging Roots is a Canadian musical group consisting of husband and wife duo Raven Kanatakta and ShoShona Kish, whose musical style blends folk-rock, pop, blues, and hip hop.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Bursting from Turtle Island (Canada) with their global blues, reggae and soul sounds--ShoShona and Raven, the beating heart of Digging Roots, breathe life into songs from their land and Indigenous Anishinabe and Onkwehonwe traditions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Site officiel d'Elisapie || Nouvel album disponible

# data[].attributes.body
LGBTQ artists in a variety of fields.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
So much more than 'the only lesbian in Canada'

Five years before homosexuality was ostensibly decriminalized in Canada, when same-sex sexual activity was still punishable by a multi-year prison sentence, Jane Rule published Desert of the Heart. It was a landmark of lesbian literature that was groundbreaking for its portrayal of a lesbian romance that was - boldly and unprecedentedly - positive. Rule received an influx of fan mail from women across the globe who had never had the privilege of reading a book they believed truly captured their experience, and the novel, which follows a woman seeking a divorce in Nevada who falls for a younger casino worker, was adapted into the acclaimed 1985 movie Desert Hearts. "I became, for the media, the only lesbian in Canada," said Rule, who used the newfound attention to become an advocate for LGBT rights in Canada - regularly contributing a column, essays and reviews to The Body Politic, and living openly with her partner, Helen Sonthoff, for more than 45 years until Sonthoff's death in 2000. Throughout her career, Rule published several novels and short stories, as well as a volume of criticism entitled Lesbian Images, and was the subject of the 1995 documentary Fiction and Other Truths: A Film About Jane Rule.

Lynne Fernie, filmmaker and film festival programmer:

Brilliant conversation, a fabulous sense of humour, a love of scotch and her profound belief in human rights made Jane Rule a delight to know. She is one of the brightest stars in our Canadian firmament.

Playfully and radically queering the Canadian landscape

Half-Cree, two-spirit artist Kent Monkman, who is a member of the Fisher River band in northern Manitoba, often channels his subversive view of history through the trickster lens of his campy, gender-bending alter ego Miss Chief Eagle Testickle. And no one else could have celebrated Canada 150 quite like Monkman and Miss Chief. In his exhibit Shame and Prejudice: A Story of Resilience, the artist depicts moments in Canadian history in a way that balances bite with humour, often placing Miss Chief directly into the scenes; the painting The Daddies, for instance, sees her nude atop a Hudson's Bay point blanket as the Fathers of Confederation look on in awe. The sublime images that grace Monkman's canvases draw on the sweeping vistas of George Catlin and Paul Kane - painters who commonly documented Indigenous life - while upsetting the binaries of colonial settler and colonized subject, straight and queer, fact and fantasy. The painter makes public appearances as Miss Chief from time to time, and his work has traveled the world, always offering a playful, radical and undeniably queer reimagination of the Canadian landscape.

Pushing Québécois theatre's boundaries since the 1960s

While Michel Tremblay's output draws directly from his upbringing in the then-working-class Plateau neighbourhood of Montreal, his hilarious and heartfelt plays have resonated with audiences across Canada. As an adolescent, Tremblay found himself a Québécois in a predominantly Anglo country and a gay teen in a largely intolerant society. The budding playwright began to write scripts as a way of probing that sexual and cultural identity, which led the way to his breakthrough work Les Belle-sœurs - a show about a clan of Montreal housewives who get together to paste trading stamps into booklets - in 1968. Another of Tremblay's standout (if later controversial) works is Hosanna, which portrays the complicated relationship between the titular character - described as a "cheap transvestite, touching and sad, exasperating in her self-exaltation" - and her biker boyfriend one Halloween night. Tremblay's plays are considered revolutionary for incorporating Quebec joual into mainstream theatre - and he did much the same thing with queer characters.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
CBC Arts presents Super Queeroes: Celebrating Canada's LGBTQ pioneers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Five years before homosexuality was ostensibly decriminalized in Canada, when same-sex sexual activity was still punishable by a multi-year prison sentence, Jane Rule published Desert of the Heart. It was a landmark of lesbian literature that was groundbreaking for its portrayal of a lesbian romance that was - boldly and unprecedentedly - positive.

# data[].attributes.body
Performer, composer, activist, musicologist. A member of Tobique First Nation in New Brunswick.

# data[].attributes.body
Juno nominated Cris Derksen is an Internationally respected Indigenous Cellist and Composer.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Samian feat. Shauit // Les Nomades // Vidéoclip

# data[].attributes.body
Originaire de Pikogan, une petite communauté autochtone en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Samian a conquis en portant fièrement ses couleurs; celles de tout un peuple, pour lequel il revendique toujours respect et reconnaissance aujourd’hui.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
BIOGRAPHIE

Originaire de Pikogan, une petite communauté autochtone en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Samian a conquis en portant fièrement ses couleurs; celles de tout un peuple, pour lequel il revendique toujours respect et reconnaissance aujourd'hui. C'est à travers cet engagement identitaire qu'il évolue et se perfectionne au sein de différents domaines artistiques, notamment la musique, la photographie et le cinéma, grâce auxquels il a pu se produire en spectacle et voyager partout au Canada et à travers le monde. De plus, Samian fait des tournées dans les écoles Canadiennes à titre de conférencier depuis ses débuts en musique, puisque plusieurs de ses textes sont abordés en classe et se trouvent également dans les manuels scolaires. Après plusieurs années d'expérience dans de nombreux domaines, Samian lance finalement sa propre maison de disque, qu'il nomme Nikamo Musik, ce qui signifie " chante " en algonquin.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Originaire de Pikogan, une petite communauté autochtone en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Samian a conquis en portant fièrement ses couleurs; celles de tout un peuple, pour lequel il revendique toujours respect et reconnaissance aujourd'hui.

# data[].attributes.headline
"You Got to Run" - Buffy Sainte-Marie (feat. Tanya Tagaq)

# data[].attributes.subject
"You Got to Run" - Buffy Sainte-Marie (feat. Tanya Tagaq)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Buffy Sainte-Marie & Tanya Tagaq "You Got To Run (Spirit Of The Wind)"

# data[].attributes.headline
Northern Cree Singers and men's grass dancers

# data[].attributes.subject
Northern Cree Singers and men's grass dancers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Northern Cree and sr men’s grass dancers Onion Lake Powwow 2021

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Pre-contact, a Two Spirit person named Woman Dress travels the Plains, gathering and sharing stories. Featuring archival images and dramatized re-enactments, this film shares a Cuthand family oral ...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Snotty Nose Rez Kids hail from the Haisla Nation in Kitimat, BC. Yung Trybez and Young D blend hip-hop and trap beats over cutting lyricism that speaks to their experiences as Indigenous people and draws from many social, cultural and pop-culture references.

# data[].attributes.body
Mob Bounce is Indigenous influenced Hip Hop with a fuse of EDM (Electronic Dance Music), with Traditional and Contemporaryaspects.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Mob Bounce Moricetown, British Columbia

Mob Bounce is Indigenous influenced Hip Hop with a fuse of EDM (Electronic Dance Music), with Traditional and Contemporary aspects. Both Travis and Craig's gripping lyricism delve into spirituality, social awareness/justice, and Mother Earth connection. Mob Bounce is a display of Hip Hop music and poetry with conviction.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Mob Bounce is Indigenous influenced Hip Hop with a fuse of EDM (Electronic Dance Music), with Traditional and Contemporary aspects. Both Travis and Craig's gripping lyricism delve into spirituality, social awareness/justice, and Mother Earth connection. Mob Bounce is a display of Hip Hop music and poetry with conviction.

# data[].attributes.headline
N'we Jinan - youth music from Indigenous communities across Turtle Island.

# data[].attributes.subject
N'we Jinan - youth music from Indigenous communities across Turtle Island.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
N'we Jinan, whose name means "We Live Here" in James Bay (Eastern) Cree, is a non-profit organization founded in 2014 and registered nationally in 2016. It began as a platform for participating youth to learn about and acquire skills in sound recording, music production, songwriting, and performance.

# data[].attributes.headline
The Halluci Nation (form. Tribe Called Red)

# data[].attributes.subject
The Halluci Nation (form. Tribe Called Red)

# data[].attributes.body
Hip hop/electronic music group with Indigenous roots

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Halluci Nation Ft. Black Bear - Stadium Pow Wow (Official Video)

# data[].attributes.headline
Indomitable (DJ Shub feat. Northern Cree Singers)

# data[].attributes.subject
Indomitable (DJ Shub feat. Northern Cree Singers)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
DJ Shub - Indomitable ft. Northern Cree Singers (Official Video)

# data[].attributes.headline
Sisters ft Northern Voice (The Halluci Nation)

# data[].attributes.subject
Sisters ft Northern Voice (The Halluci Nation)

# data[].attributes.body
Electronic music - Indigenous

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Halluci Nation - Sisters ft Northern Voice (Official Video)

# data[].attributes.body
From the Atikamekw Nation

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Laura Niquay presents Waska Matisiwin (Circle of Life), a sensitive and grandiose work that reveals her folk-grunge universe better than ever. From childhood, nourished by the sounds of her family's classical guitars in the small community of Wemotaci in Mauricie, Laura picked up a guitar to compose her own songs.