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Distributed for University of British Columbia Press

Live at The Cellar

Vancouver’s Iconic Jazz Club and the Canadian Co-operative Jazz Scene in the 1950s and ‘60s

Distributed for University of British Columbia Press

Live at The Cellar

Vancouver’s Iconic Jazz Club and the Canadian Co-operative Jazz Scene in the 1950s and ‘60s

In the 1950s and ’60s, co-operative jazz clubs opened their doors in Canada in response to new forms of jazz expression emerging after the war and the lack of performance spaces outside major urban centres. Operated by the musicians themselves, these hip new clubs created spaces where jazz musicians practised their art. Live at the Cellar looks at this unique period in the development of jazz in Canada. Centered on Vancouver’s legendary Cellar club, it explores the ways in which these clubs functioned as sites for the performance and exploration of jazz as well as for countercultural expression. Jago combines original research with archival evidence, interviews, and photographs to shine a light on a period of astonishing musical activity that paved the way for Canada’s vibrant jazz scene today.

364 pages | © 2018


Table of Contents

Foreword by Don Thompson

Preface

Introduction

Part 1 | Setting the Scene

1 Are You In or Out? The Nature of the “Scene”

2 Laying the Groundwork: The Early History of Jazz in Canada

Part 2 | The Vancouver Scene

3 The Making of a Jazz Scene: Vancouver’s Cellar Club

4 No Room for Squares: The Cellar as Artistic Hub

5 In the Swing of Things: Growth, Maturation, and Mingus

6 Altered Chords: New Blood and the End of an Era

Part 3 | Other Canadian Scenes

7 Co-ops from Coast to Coast: Edmonton, Calgary, Halifax

Conclusion

Appendices: Gigography for the Cellar, 1956–63; Canadian Jazz Sources

Notes; Selected Bibliography; Interviews; Index

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