Such Melodious Racket: The Lost History of Jazz in Canada

Jack S. Broumpton is an assistant professor of music at Huntington
College, Laurentian University.

In this book, the author of Cool Blues: Charlie Parker in Canada
investigates and elucidates Canadian connections with jazz history.
Miller documents the arrival of jazz in Canada in the person of numerous
American musicians and uses their stories as an opportunity to profile
notable Canadian jazz musicians. He draws on interviews, newspaper
articles, and reviews in reconstructing notable jazz performances. The
narrative moves chronologically from 1914, with performances by the
Creole Band in Winnipeg, to Oscar Peterson playing in the Alberta Lounge
in Montreal only months before his remarkable debut at the Jazz at the
Philharmonic concert. The evolving story of jazz in Canada since its
vaudeville beginnings in Winnipeg is a fascinating one, and Miller tells
it very well in this meticulously researched and entertaining book.