Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

Few pianists swung as hard or played as fast and with as many grace notes as Canada’s Oscar Peterson. The classically trained musician could play it all, from Chopin and Liszt to blues, stride, boogie, bebop and beyond. He led his own jazz trios, performed with such legendary figures as Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, Dizzy Gillespie and Louis Armstrong, who called him “the man with four hands,” recorded more than 200 albums and wrote such memorable works as “Hymn to Freedom” and the “Canadiana Suite.” “A virtuoso without peer,” concluded his biographer, Gene Lees, in The Will to Swing. When Peterson died this week, music lovers around the world mourned the loss of a lyrical stylist and one of...

Billy Bryans was best known as the drummer and founding member of the Parachute Club, the Juno Award-winning political rock group famous for its anthemic hit “Rise Up.” But his credits and contributions ran much deeper and he may ultimately be remembered as a cultural bridge builder who changed the sound of Canadian music. As a musician, Bryans performed and recorded with bands across the musical spectrum, from rock and blues to punk and African styles. At the height of the new wave era, playing in several groups at once, he was often seen pushing his drum kit on a trolley from club to club along Toronto’s Queen Street. His work as a record producer was equally eclectic, working with everyon...

In 1985, I was invited to a small reception in a Toronto hotel to meet a young woman who was already creating a major industry buzz. Besides being gospel great Cissy Houston’s daughter, Dionne Warwick’s cousin and Aretha Franklin’s goddaughter, Whitney had been signed by Clive Davis, a man with proven ears for talent. The moment Whitney walked into the room, I was struck by her natural beauty and youthful innocence. Just 22, she was fresh-faced and shy, yet already so poised. Sweet and soft-spoken, we chatted together about her new album and upcoming tour. There was an air of barely contained excitement about her, like a debutante at her coming-out ball. Less than a year later, Whitney had b...

 Poll Results What was your favorite Canadian song of the 1990s? Constant Craving - kd lang 18  votes 18%   Life is a Highway - Tom Cochrane 13 votes  13%   Hasn't Hit Me Yet - Blue Rodeo 13 votes  13%   If I Had a Million Dollars - Barenaked Ladies 12 votes  12%   You Oughta Know - Alanis Morissette 10 votes  10%   Coax Me - Sloan 9 votes  9%   Secret Heart - Ron Sexsmith 9 votes  9%   El Desierto - Lhasa 7 votes  7%   Building a Mystery - Sarah McLachlan 5 votes  5%   Any Man of Mine - Shania Twain 2  votes 2%   The Mummer's Dance - Loreena McKennitt 1 vote  1%   Informer - Sn...

1. Metals Feist Feist presented a brand new slate, mixing hard and soft alloys to forge an album of rare depth and beauty.   2. Bon Iver Bon Iver From bucolic backwoods balladry to hypnotic electro-pop symphonies, his transformation has been masterful.   3. The Harrow & the Harvest Gillian Welch More exquisite folk songs that sound like they were handed down through the ages.   4. So Beautiful or So What Paul Simon Songs about love and faith, steeped in African kora, Indian tabla and southern gospel.   5. Ashes & Fire Ryan Adams Rarely has the prolific, wildly talented tunesmith sounded this inspired.   6. Helplessness Blues Fleet Foxes Darker and deeper, but...

LIFE IS A HIGHWAY: CANADIAN POP MUSIC IN THE ’90sTWO-PART SPECIAL AIRS THURSDAY, SEPT. 15 AND 22, AT 8 P.M. September 8, 2011- Following on the tremendous success of previous series on Canadian music in the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, CBC Television presents LIFE IS A HIGHWAY: CANADIAN POP MUSIC IN THE ’90s, airing Sept. 15 and 22 at 8 p.m. (8:30 NT). CBC-TV has been chronicling the musical landmarks of this country—decade by decade, style by style, and groundbreaker by groundbreaker. LIFE IS A HIGHWAY completes the next chapter in Canada’s amazing pop music journey. The ’90s were marked by hit songs from Canadian performers as diverse as Tom Cochrane, Sloan, Loreena McKennitt, The Tragically Hip,...