In the summer of 1969, a group of musicians walked on stage at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland with nothing short of a half-formed idea. In a last-minute effort, pianist Les McCann, bassist Leroy Vinnegar, and drummer Donald Dean recruited trumpeter Benny Bailey and saxophonist Eddie Harris to perform[Read More…]
Articles by Eliot Loose
Montreal protests GardaWorld’s complicity in ICE immigration crackdown
On Feb. 13, around 1,000 people gathered outside Place Vertu to protest the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) crackdown on illegal immigration and their aggressive treatment of migrants and citizens alike. The protestors decried the involvement of GardaWorld, a Canadian, Montreal-based private security firm whose U.S. subsidiary, GardaWorld Federal[Read More…]
Montreal’s will to swing
The story of Montreal’s jazz scene began in spectacular fashion. As a host to many iconic musicians still revered today, the city’s nightclubs oozed with excitement and creativity centred around jazz improvisation, and the demanding after-hours environments allowed emerging musicians to blossom. Additionally, rooted in and around Montreal’s largest Black[Read More…]
Behind one eviction notice: A community debate over land, contamination, and control
On a strip of land in Kahnawà:ke, where drivers speed toward the Honoré Mercier Bridge on Route 207, Jason Diabo’s Wild West Smoke & Vape shop now sits boxed in by a newly carved bypass road that diverts traffic from his storefront. In October 2025, the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke[Read More…]