‘It was never taped’: There’s a missing piece to Montreal’s jazz history

The Montreal International Jazz Festival is one of the biggest and most diverse celebration of the genre in the world. But how did Montreal first become known for jazz?

For our latest Sense of Place series, we sat down with historian Dorothy Williams, who grew up in the heart of Montreal’s English-speaking Black community.

She says prohibition in the United States helped make Montreal a party town perfect for a flourishing jazz scene.

“People came here to drink — Americans came here to drink on the weekends,” she says. “And where there was alcohol, the musicians followed.”

There’s just one glaring issue when it comes to studying the golden age of jazz in Montreal.

“I’ve asked musicologists, I’ve asked jazz historians — ‘What was that Montreal sound?’ ” she says. “They have no idea either, because it was never taped.”

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod.  Our digital producer is Miguel Perez. World Cafe’s engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.