In A Mellow Tone, August 28: Jazz at the Chateau, 1982 to 1984, Part 1 - the guitarists

40 years ago this summer, a bold experiment in jazz booking at the Chateau Laurier came to an end. This five-part series will explore the jazz greats who each spent a week playing for Ottawa jazz fans

The Chateau Laurier is a former railway hotel with a long history, just down the street from Parliament Hill. A small part of its history includes jazz in the early 1980s. From May 1982 until June 1984, the Cock and Lion Lounge was the place to hear great jazz 6 nights a week. In this series of shows I will be featuring many of the artists who performed there - starting with eleven stellar guitarists.

Here’s a preview of the five episodes:

Part 1, the guitarists:

• Herb Ellis

• Barney Kessel

• Charlie Byrd

• Lenny Breau

• Emily Remler

• Laurindo Almeida

• Gene Bertoncini

• Tal Farlow

• Jim Hall

• Ed Bickert

• Peter Leitch

Part 2, the pianists:

• Mose Allison

• Ray Bryant

• Wray Downes

• Art Hodes

• Bernie Senensky

• Teddy Wilson

• Joanne Brackeen

Part 3, the brass players:

• Chet Baker

• Red Rodney

• Art Farmer

• Vic Dickenson

• Harry “Sweets” Edison

• Al Grey

• Doc Cheatham

• Slide Hampton

• Wild Bill Davison

• Phil Woods Quartet

• Billy Butterfield

Part 4, the singers:

• Laurel Masse

• Salome Bey

• Mark Murphy

• Maxine Sullivan

• Jackie and Roy

• Mose Allison

• Eddie “Cleanhead” Vinson

Part 5, the sax players:

• Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis

• PJ Perry

• Zoot Sims

• Pepper Adams

• Bud Freeman

• Bud Shank

• Scott Hamilton

• Al Cohn

• Lee Konitz

• Fraser MacPherson

Part 1: the guitarists

In the first part, airing on Wednesday, we will hear a range of guitarists, both established and some at the beginning of their careers. There are no professional recordings of these performances - although there are fan recordings available online of both Emily Remler and Lenny Breau.

Lois Moody, the Ottawa Citizen jazz reporter, attended many of the performances and her reviews were of great assistance in piecing together at least partial set lists for each performance. She was also diligent in reporting the rhythm sections that accompanied the artists. Most of the sidepersons at these performances were local musicians. Later in the series we will hear from Roddy Ellias, a local guitarist, who was a regular at the performances. Roddy will be performing with Lucas Haneman on September 14 at the Hummingbird Centre in Ottawa.

You can listen to Part 1 on Wednesday at 9 to 11 p.m. on 93.1 FM in Ottawa, or online at CKCUFM.com. The show will also be available for on demand streaming.

Part 2 (the pianists) will be broadcast later this Fall.