HAPPY BIRTHDAY OLIVER!

Oliver Jones 80th Birthday Celebration

With Ranee Lee, Daniel Clarke Bouchard and special guests

Five-time Juno Award-winning Jazz pianist Oliver Jones is one of Canada’s most beloved and admired musicians and most distinguished cultural ambassadors. Oliver Jones’ six-decade musical career has been rich and varied. His classical music education was followed by stints at Montreal’s Café St-Michel, enthralling patrons with his acrobatic piano stunts. From his teens to his early twenties, the jazz man could play anything from swing to rock-n-roll; in those days playing jazz was not considered a viable career. After touring internationally, Jones returned to Montreal in 1980, this time determined to pursue jazz professionally.

Performing his own compositions and jazz standards, and Jones has worked with some of the finest in the jazz world, from Ray Brown, Clark Terry, Ed Thigpen, Dave Young, and of course, his longtime friend Oscar Peterson. This impressive catalogue showcased Oliver’s unmistakable finesse: lightning-fast technique, solid articulation, powerful lyricism and rollicking rhythms.

In 1993 he received the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for Excellence in Music and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. The following year he was named a Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec. An inspiration to the artistic community, Jones continues to devote much of his time to encouraging young Canadian musicians as they begin their careers.

While still semi-retired from public performance, Jones still regularly visits the Studio with Montreal’s leading musicians. Oliver’s 2007 recording, Second Time Around, with the Oliver Jones Trio, drummer Jim Doxas and bassist Eric Lagacé, won the Juno Award for Best Mainstream Jazz Recording. The Trio, like Jones himself, has become a mainstay of the Montreal and international Jazz Scene.

For tickets and more information: www.segalcentre.org   514-739-7944