In Memoriam
Here we remember the JazzWorks friends that we have lost over the years.
Catherine McKenna
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Tim Leah
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Tim Leah was an environmentalist, butterfly chronicler, activist, and passionate drummer. His career with the Ministry of the Environment spanned 40 years and included many notable achievements, such as work on the Montreal Protocol and coordination of NGO participation in the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Tim served as President of Ottawa JazzWorks between 2014 and 2019, after which he continued as an active volunteer. Tim played drums with numerous jazz combos until the late Fall of 2021. He was also the co-founder and long-term drummer for Barry and the Blasters, an Ottawa-based Blues band. Tim learned to play drums under the tutelage of his mother who played piano professionally for various swing bands in the London Ontario area. As Tim would tell it, his mother would constantly remind him to listen and “keep it in the pocket.” In the 1960s, Tim’s parents purchased him a set of Gretsch “round badge” drums because his younger sister Diane was starting to perform professionally and she needed a steady and reliable drummer -- and a chaperone. Tim used that set of Gretsch drums for close to 60 years. Tim had vast knowledge of music. He was one of the few drummers who liked to know what key a song was in, and whether a “dominant 7th flat 5” might add some texture. Tim had a very broad repertoire of songs that he played but he also had the uncanny ability to identity most songs after hearing just one or two bars. He could state the band playing the song, who wrote the song, the date it was released, and he could usually name what was on the flip side of the vinyl record. Tim was a loyal supporter of JazzWorks and he loved participating in the annual Summer camp. Tim was delighted when young musicians attended the camp. The Tim Leah Scholarship will ensure that an echo of Tim’s presence continues at the JazzWorks camp for years to come. |
Howard Tweddle
1951-2020
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[Authored by Dominique Forest]
I began playing gigs with Howard many years ago. What started out as a four-week gig at the Cock & Lion turned into years of many great musical adventures, far too many to list. But even more than the music, it is our friendship, forged so long ago and deeply rooted in my heart, that remains so dear to me, and that will be missed. |
Marylise Chauvette
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[Authored by Margaret Dalziel, Adam Cwinn and Mary Moore]
Marylise Chauvette was a classically trained pianist who in later years embraced jazz piano with a single-minded purpose She was a cherished JazzWorks participant and dedicated volunteer. She was a professional translator and gave freely of her time and skills to JazzWorks to translate material into French. She also served on the board of directors for many years. Music was a big part of her life, second only to her three children whom she loved with a ferocity that would make a tiger blush. Marylise approached the piano like the committed hedonist that she was, spinning out chords, arpeggios, and melodies that were rich and soulful. Her favourite song was Lush Life. She loved rehearsing every Tuesday evening with her quintet and playing gigs with them. Marylise was a ton of fun and warm and generous to all. Always willing to pay forward her jazz knowledge to help others that were learning jazz. She loved flamboyant fashion, fine cuisine, a bold red wine, a showy glissando, a raunchy joke, a gorgeous pair of shoes and a good time. She knew hundreds of songs by memory and could instantly play most in whatever key was called for. She was much in demand as an accompanist. Marylise lived, loved, and made music like there was no tomorrow. |
Loïc Martin
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Loïc Martin, originally from Benin, started learning guitar and percussion at an early age. He moved to Paris, France, as a young adult to work as a programmer, and he eventually immigrated to Canada around the year 2000.
Loïc taught Montessori in Ottawa for about nine years. His teaching experience started with ukulele classes at the elementary level. At the time, he was working at the Centre franco-ontarien de ressources pédagogiques as a multimedia programmer, and he dedicated his Friday afternoons to the ukulele classes. He eventually went on to teach computer programming classes at both the elementary and high school level. Loïc has played in groups and with artists such as Elage, Cheza and the Main Street Market Band, to name just a few. He also participated in JazzWorks’ camps and workshops for a number of years. OyaCombo was his latest musical project. It was launched in 2018 and centered around mixing his favourite styles of music: jazz and traditional African music. He loved to take a traditional African song and give it a jazz flavour or play a jazz standard with African rhythms. He very much enjoyed introducing both styles of music to his audiences. Loïc will be remembered for his big heart, his smile, his refined sense of humour and his loyalty to people. |
Tim Murray
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[Authored by Charley Gordon]
Tim Murray first came to JazzWorks in 2004, encouraged by his long-time associates Jerry Heath and Charley Gordon. Tim quickly established himself as an accomplished pianist, who loved to swing and drive his bandmates with energetic comping. He never missed a year until 2013, when he suffered a serious heart attack while attending Jazz Camp. Although he played occasionally in jam sessions with friends, he didn’t perform publicly again. He died in 2019 at the age of 81. Tim was born in Ottawa and while attending Lisgar Collegiate began playing professionally, often with his friend and bassist Sol Gunner. He played in various nightlife haunts, especially in Hull, occasionally subbing for Brian Browne. He loved the playing of George Shearing, Oscar Peterson, Hampton Hawes and Horace Silver. At Queen’s University, where Tim was studying medicine, he formed the Tim Murray Quintet, with Heath, Gordon and Gunner. The group would play together for more than 50 years, performing three concerts at the NAC Fourth Stage in the 2000s, including a 50th anniversary concert in 2010 and two recordings. An outstanding medical researcher, Tim was awarded the Order of Canada in 2006 for his work on osteoporosis. But he never neglected his piano and, upon his retirement, launched himself into a new burst of jazz activity that included Jazz Camp. |
Mortimer Katz
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[Authored by Charley Gordon]
It’s comforting to know that Dr. Mortimer Katz went out swinging. The effervescent tenorman and clarinetist with a wonderful sense of humour passed away in October of 2013 at the age of 87. But as recently as that August, he was still playing great solos and challenging his fellow players at the JazzWorks Jazz Camp. A family physician, Dr. Morty started going to Jazz Camp in 2005, when he was in his late 70s. In 2013, he favoured the clarinet over the heavier tenor sax, and people had to help carry his instrument cases for him, but when he opened them up, he was still a great player and an inspiration. Here’s a clip from the final concert of that camp — Morty playing Benny Golson’s Along Came Betty, along with vocalist Leslie Toope, in Frank Lozano’s combo, aptly named Frankly Mortified. The sound is not as strong as it once was, but the command of the harmony is still there. This is one of the most difficult tunes in the hard-bop canon and Morty was all over it. As Citizen jazz writer Peter Hum wrote a few years ago: “Would that all of Ottawa’s jazz hopefuls delved as deeply as Katz has into the jazz repertoire.” Well into his 80s, Morty was still striving to improve. He would get together regularly with his neighbour and fellow tenorman Bernard Stepien and they would work on tunes — the harder the better. Whenever I ran into Morty, he would tell me what tune he was working on, just so I’d be ready to play it with him at a jam session. Invariably it was a lovely tune, but tough. Along Came Betty was one of his favourites. Another was You Must Believe in Spring, which was also very complicated. One JazzWorks jam session he produced Bill Evans’s Very Early and left everybody struggling to keep up. The summer before he died he was working on Dolphin Dance. I should also mention that some recent summers he would attend as many as three jazz camps, including some in the United States. “I might not have that much time left,” he would joke when asked why. His daughter, Sharron Katz, is also a musician, living in Toronto. Have a listen to a song she wrote in his honour. |
Jerry Heath
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Jerry Heath, who died in August, 2012 at 77, was born in Ottawa and raised in Flin Flon, Manitoba. He received his engineering degree from the University of Saskatchewan, where he played modern jazz in a big band and indulged his wicked sense of humor in the legendary Intensely Vigorous College Nine.
He worked in Kingston in the late 50s and early 60s, where he met Tim Murray, Charley Gordon and Sol Gunner, beginning a musical friendship in the Tim Murray Quintet that would last for more than 50 years. In those days, he played slide trombone and his gift for melodic improvisation and inventing harmony on the fly were already in evidence. Jerry lived in London, Montreal and Lindsay before moving, with his partner Eleanor Toren, to a farm near Delta, Ontario, where he continued his involvement in the environmental movement (he was twice a candidate for the Green Party) and maintained an interest in local foods. JazzWorks entered his life in 2000, when he first attended Jazz Camp at Christie Lake. He took to it instantly and it took to him. Now playing valve trombone, he loved the jamming and his great ear made it possible for him to play just about any tune in just about any key. He played with the faculty, he played with the kids and, even into his 70s, was usually the last guy to leave the boathouse jam sessions at CAMMAC. For 10 years, Jerry never missed a Camp. Jerry’s easy manner and wit enlivened Jazz Camp and he had the great jazz player’s gift of making everyone around him sound better. |
Alun Davies
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Bassist and composer Alun Davies passed away at the young age of 44. He moved to Ottawa in 2006 after living in London, England, and Toronto. In Toronto during the 1990s, Davies wrote music for TV commercials and was also an active studio player, working with Juno award winners Maestro Fresh Wes and R & B singer Glenn Lewis.
Upon arriving in Ottawa, Davies was re-united musically with his long-time friend, guitarist Rob Martin. Alun quickly made friends among Ottawa’s jazz players, accompanying a host of enthusiasts including guitarists Amy Brandon and Adam Duncan, and singers Floyd Hutchinson and Helen Glover. Davies also took part regularly in JazzWorks monthly jam sessions and attending Jazz Camp in 2006, where he established lasting musical friendships. Davies played with real commitment and creativity, making jazz when others might have settled for background music. A scholarship was inaugurated in 2014 in honour of Alun by his friend Rob Martin, which has since been rolled into a Scholarship Fund to bring talented young musicians to Jazz Camp. |
