A longtime resident of Uxbridge, Ted Barris has written professionally for 40 years - for radio, television, magazines and newspapers. The "Barris Beat" column began in the 1950s when his father Alex wrote for the Globe and Mail. Ted continues the tradition of offering a positive view of his community. He has written 16 non-fiction books of Canadian history and teaches journalism at Centennial College in Toronto.
Acknowledging musical gifts
The star attraction was not in the house that night. While many others were present - the luminaries of the Canadian jazz scene - perhaps the country's best studio and jazz concert drummer of the day was absent. In fact, it was because he was absent, that all the stars came out. It was 45 years ago that Toronto-born drummer Archie Alleyne suffered serious injuries in an car accident. He was not able to work … at either of his jobs.
“I didn't have a car, so I had to carry my drum kit on streetcars and the subway,” he told my father, Alex Barris, back then. “I'd play from nine at night to one a.m., get home with my drums by three a.m. and be up four hours later to go to my day job.”
At any rate, as I say, back in '67 the jazz stars came out to shine at a downtown Toronto club, the Town Tavern, in a fundraiser for Archie Alleyne. The evening's benefit attracted a who's who of jazz - performers such as Oscar Peterson, Peter Appleyard, Rob McConnell, Guido Basso, Ed Bickert, Norm Amadio, Arnie Chycoski and singers such as Don Francks. They all played for nothing that night to help raise funds for one of their own when he needed them and the funds the most. I know this, because I was there. Underage, but I was there. (Since my dad regularly covered jazz acts at the Town Tavern for the Toronto newspapers, the tavern owner allowed Alex's 18-year-old son to sit in the shadows at the back of the tavern to hear the crème de la crème of Canadian jazz).
I never forgot it. Neither, it seems, did Archie Alleyne.
Last weekend, the 78-year-old legend hosted a show called “Syncopation: Life in the Key of Black” at the Al Green Theatre at Spadina and Bloor. It was his seventh annual fundraising concert to provide 17 scholarships to up-and-coming jazz musicians in the GTA - he calls it the Archie Alleyne Scholarship Fund. More than that, the event put many of those same musicians and performers - the Evolution of Jazz Ensemble, and dancers Shawn Byfield and Janaye Upshaw - in front of an appreciative audience. As Archie put it: “Support of young musicians will have a positive impact on the future of live jazz music in this country.”
The sentiment rang true for me, because late last month - at the 20th annual Uxbridge Community Concert Band concert at Trinity United - we presented Uxbridge Music Scholarships to three rising musical talents in this community. Jazz guitarist Joel Saunders is currently studying music at the University of Guelph. Singer Madeleine Eddy has enrolled in the Humber College contemporary jazz program. And Ian Bain is working on his bachelor of arts at Guelph University. At the UCCB concert night, two of the three performed; they then received their scholarship cheques as well as thunderous applause. And in so doing, they took away a strong vote of confidence from their families, friends and the strangers who've all contributed to help them on their way.
But Archie Alleyne has given his musical art form something we have not - an archive. Some of it he has lived. Some he has gathered and catalogued. Alleyne recalls his first paying gig in 1949, when he earned $3 for playing in a church basement. He was among the first African-Canadian musicians to get regular work in a Toronto era when there were still “whites only” lounges and bars. And to pay tribute to his heritage, Archie Alleyne has documented and preserved his musical history and the careers of his black contemporaries, such as Cy McLean, Phyllis Marshall, Betty Willis, Frank Wright, Syd Blackwood, Vernon Isaac, Wray Downes and bands such as the Harlem Aces and Mr. Leonard's Troop.
“Jazz,” he told my dad, “is black classical music” and needs to be preserved.
Well, if you look for it, this community has a lot of musical history, too. Of course, there's Uxbridge's rich history of organ and piano manufacturing. But Uxbridge had its own Archie - Archie Weeks - who initiated a citizen's band in the late 19th century. The town had its own orchestras, including the five-piece ensemble led by the late (automobile dealer owner) Alex Williamson. In more contemporary times, Jenny Kanis's JG Jazz has won bushels of national music awards. Not to mention the Uxbridge Legion Pipe Band. The point is, if it weren't for our retired archivist Allan McGillivray, we wouldn't even have that much documented musical history. I think along with young achieving musicians, we need recorded memory of that legacy.
Archie Alleyne likes to remind his benefactors and beneficiaries that, “without the past, there is no future.” But while remembering the gifts and encouragement one has received along the way, I think it's important to document that legacy too.
