Marthe Sansregret - Oliver Jones

OLIVER
JONES

THE MUSICIAN,
THE MAN

a biography by
Marthe Sansregret

XYZ
Publishing

For

Monique, the wife of Oliver Jones,
and Richard, his son

Charles Biddle, bass player, Georges Durst,
owner of the House of Jazz

Alain Simard, President
and Andr Mnard, Vice-president
Montreal International Jazz Festival

Jim West, President, Justin Time Records Inc.

Copyright 2006 Marthe Sansregret and XYZ Publishing.

All rights reserved. The use of any part of this publication reproduced, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, or stored in a retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisher or, in the case of photocopying or other reprographic copying, a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency is an infringement of the copyright law.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Sansregret, Marthe

Oliver Jones : the musician, the man

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN-13: 978-1-894852-22-7

ISBN-10: 1-894852-22-2

1. Jones, Oliver, 1934- . 2. Pianists Canada Biography. 3. Jazz musicians Canada Biography. I. Title.

ML417.J785S32 2006 786.2165092 C2006-940991-9

Legal Deposit: Second quarter 2006

Library and Archives Canada

Bibliothque et Archives nationales du Qubec

The publishers acknowledge the financial support our publishing program receives from The Canada Council for the Arts, the ministre de la Culture et des Communications du Qubec, and the Socit de dveloppement des entreprises culturelles.

Except where noted, all the photographs in this book are from the Oliver Jones archives.

Editor: Rhonda Bailey

Linguistic reviewer: Darcy Dunton

Layout: discript enr.

Cover design: Zirval Design

Set in Minion 12 on 14.

Printed and bound in Canada by Friesens, Altona (Manitoba), in June 2006.

XYZ Publishing
1781 Saint Hubert Street
Montreal, Quebec H2L 3Z1
Tel: (514) 525-2170
Fax: (514) 525-7537
E-mail: info@xyzedit.qc.ca
Web site: www.xyzedit.qc.ca

Distributed by: University of Toronto Press Distribution
5201 Dufferin Street
Toronto, ON, M3H 5T8
Tel: 416-667-7791; Toll-free: 800-565-9523
Fax: 416-667-7832; Toll-free: 800-221-9985
E-mail: utpbooks@utpress.utoronto.ca
Web site: utpress.utoronto.ca

International Rights: Contact Andr Vanasse, tel. (514) 525-2170 # 25

E-mail: andre.vanasse@xyzedit.qc.ca

Contents

by Oliver Jones

Thank you to Jean Beaudet, Darlene Berenger, Monique Brub-Jones, Charles Biddle, Constance Marchand-Biddle, Henri Brassard, Lillian Bryan-Jones, Rev. Wrenfred Bryant, Martine Chartrand, Arlene Cohen, Ray Dawson, Winsome Dawson, Alain DeGrosbois, Lorraine Desmarais, Len Dobbin, Michel Donato, Angle Dubeau, Martin Duckworth, Simon Durivage, Georges Durst, Denise mard, Marge Fernley, Louise Fleischman, Shirley Ford-Jones, Freddie Gale, John Gilmore, Pierre Gravel, Francine Grimaldi, Isidore Israelovitch, Richard Jones, Robert Bud and Joyce Jones, Violet Jones, Marcel Lafontaine, Brigitte Lang, Lothar Lang, Sylvia Langdon, Maude Leclerc, Lawrence David Lederman, Ranee Lee, Richard Lord, Katie Malloch, Terry Malone, Leroy Mason, Solanges Mason, Robert Masters, Andr Mnard, Wali Muhammad, Carmen Muhammad, Bruce Parent, Diane Parent, Richard Parris, Bernard Primeau, Joe Pyle, Marguerite Pyle, Richard Ring, Kenny Rockhead, Anthony Sherwood, Alain Simard, Jadranka Subic, Jordi Sunol, Ed Thigpen, Daniel Vachon, Norman Villeneuve, Vic Vogel, Bernice Whims, Ralph Whims, Sharon Whims, Oliver White and Dave Young.

Each of you has opened your home to me sometimes in the company of your dogs, cats, rabbits, or birds or welcomed me to your workplace or your holiday resort. Moreover, each of you has opened your heart to me, in order to celebrate your good friend Oliver Jones, as a jazz musician and as an exceptional man. To all of you, I wish to express my deep gratitude for the information you have provided, and also, for the privilege of knowing you.

I wish to express my thanks to Publisher Andr Vanasse and Editorial Director Rhonda Bailey, along with all the staff at XYZ Publishing, for their enthusiasm and efficiency. Needless to say, I am also deeply grateful to my linguistic reviewer Darcy Dunton for the fine quality of her work.

Oliver Jones would like to convey special thanks to the following people: Johanne Bougie, Caroline Jamet, David Jobin, Maude Leclerc, Michle Neveu, Laurent Saulnier and the staff at quipe-Spectra, in addition to Morty Sachs, Jean-Pierre Leduc, Arlene Cohen, Jadranka Subic, Simon Fauteux, Nancy Marley, Nadine Campbell and the staff at Justin Time Records Inc.

Marthe Sansregret

Many nights I have sat alone in some hotel thousands of miles away from home and my loved ones.

Sometimes Ive said to myself that life is strange, especially when I reflect on how as a youngster I had no desire to be a full-time musician. Perhaps this can be explained by the lack of self-confidence that plagued me as a young boy. Or maybe it was a result of my early philosophy that if I never expected or dreamed beyond my means I would not be disappointed (a theory I wouldnt recommend to any young person today).

I do believe that even when I was quite young, my family, friends and many others in my community already knew that something very special would happen for me. I was perhaps the only one not aware of the God-given talent I was born with.

My music has given me everything in my life: an education, a wonderful opportunity to travel the world. But, most of all, it has given me the confidence to dream that the little boy lacked for so many years.

There are many people who have given me a hand up, a shoulder to cry on. Too many to fit into one book. To them and to all who may one day remember to tell a shy youngster: Dont give up, you have something special Thank You!

A special thanks!! From my wife and I to a tremendous lady we met six years ago and are now privileged to call our friend, Dr. Marthe Sansregret someone who cares.

OLIVER JONES

CHAPTER I
A Quote from Memory 18961934

Making music is so natural to Oliver Jones that at first it seems his life must have been easy a success story. In fact, recognition came to him late in life, and by then, even in his wildest dreams, he wasnt expecting it. Oliver went through many different stages before tasting international fame, and through it all, uppermost in his mind but rarely mentioned, there was the memory of his ancestors a memory that would have had him take another path.

The source of this memory lay in West Africa many generations ago, when the chiefs of African tribes sold the strongest of their young people as slaves to European navigators. Once they were marked for this tragic fate, groups of a dozen or more of these young men and women were crowded into cages hardly big enough to hold three people sitting down. They were kept there for up to two weeks, suffering from heat and dehydration and fainting or dying until the ones who had survived were herded onto slave ships for the infamous middle passage to the New World.

Upon their arrival on the island of Barbados, Oliver Joness ancestors were handed over to a plantation owner, and the relation of a dominating master over a submissive slave began. Living and working conditions were terrible, with overlong hours, back-breaking labour, and continual forced servility. Many of the slaves were treated worse than animals on the sugar plantations. They owned nothing, not even their identity. When a child was born to a slave, the slave owner would choose a first name and simply add his own family name, registering both on the white page of a bible. Olivers family name, Jones, was created in this arbitrary manner.