With more than a thousand entertainment venues to choose from on the island of Montreal alone, audience expectations at the peak of the city’s boom years were high. Stage performers required a combination of confidence, novelty and swing to

SHOWTIME!Montreal’s Jazz CommunityPart 3 – Making Music

Aug 6th, 2018 8m 20s

While Montreal offered plentiful opportunities for musicians during the “Paris of North America” years, there was still considerable competition for the best jobs from out-of-towners, primarily Americans who had gravitated north thanks to t

SHOWTIME!Montreal’s Jazz CommunityPart 2 – The Show Girls

Jun 6th, 2018 9m 40s

Night life flourished in Montreal throughout the Prohibition era (1920-33) and for decades afterwards. Attracting hordes of tourists that created a market for countless after-dark satisfactions in the city’s hundreds of bars, cafes, restaur

SHOWTIME!Montreal’s Jazz CommunityPart 1 – Bonjour Montréal!

Apr 19th, 2018 13m

For Montreal, it was an honour being called “The Paris of North America,” a moniker earned through the ongoing influx of people from the U.S. and elsewhere drawn to the city decade after decade by the siren song of booze, fun and hoppin’

Improvisation and Culture:The Raga Mala Society

Apr 2nd, 2018 6m 48s

Improvisation, whether performed by musicians, dancers, actors or others, pays tribute to history and to cultural literacy. Many newcomers to Canadian shores have been proficient in these arts, filling Canadian venues from concert halls to

SHOWTIME!Montreal’s Jazz CommunityPreface – The Nightclubs

Mar 18th, 2018 9m 17s

Uptown and downtown nightclubs in the city became legendary starting in the 1920s and 30s, creating atmospheres with their featured big band music and small jazz combos that drew tourists and locals to club-hop, dance or just look on. H

The Importance of Ceremony

Mar 8th, 2018 8m 52s

From 1885 to 1951, Potlatch, both a ceremony and a complete way of life for the Native People of Canada’s northwest coast, was prohibited by the federal government. The ban threatened a tradition of cultural gathering in which dance, so

Justice For All

Feb 28th, 2018 16m 16s

The working conditions faced by Black sleeping car porters hired by Canada’s two railroad companies were far from glamorous, presenting challenging situations that often caused humiliation and even resulted in loss of employment and the abilit

Sylvia Stark: A Former Slave Finds Peace In Canada

Feb 21st, 2018 9m 6s

Raised among the Leopold slaves of Clay County, Missouri, Sylvia Stark knew Harriet Tubman. Harriet, a teenager at the time, was a strong worker, but found it hard working under Mrs. Leopold. Eventually, Harriet was sold to a slave breaker who

Stuck in a Snowbank

Feb 13th, 2018 8m 30s

During the 1940s, Black and white American military battalions were stationed together in the Northwest Territories, one of the coldest and most desolate parts of Canada. The soldiers’ interactions across racial lines generated friction and ho

Slavery in Canada

Feb 6th, 2018 10m 3s

This leading episode of Historians Recount introduces Marcel Trudel, the first university professor of history in French-speaking Quebec. From researching church records he discovered that slavery existed in Canada, and reveals how slaves were

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