talk: Friday 21 February, 7pm

After graduating in English from UBC, David Lee moved to Toronto where he performed, toured and recorded as a double bassist and cellist, worked for the jazz magazine Coda, and ran the small press Nightwood Editions. After a brief stint in London, Ontario, he and his wife, violinist Maureen Cochrane, relocated to Madeira Park, BC, where they raised their sons Malcolm and Simon and took part in many community music projects, including the founding of the Pender Harbour Jazz Festival. A long collaboration with pianist Paul Bley resulted in the book Stopping Time: Paul Bley and the Transformation of Jazz (Véhicule Press 1999), and after David completed an MA in Music Criticism at McMaster University, The Mercury Press published a revised version of his thesis, The Battle of the Five Spot: Ornette Coleman and the New York Jazz Field (soon to be issued in a revised new edition by Wolsak & Wynn). David's time on the west coast is reflected in his latest book, the novel Commander Zero (Tightrope Books 2012) and his award-winning Chainsaws: a History (Harbour Publishing 2006). He currently lives with his family in Hamilton, Ontario.

Currently pursuing a PhD in English & Theatre Studies at the University of Guelph, David will base his dissertation on his own first-hand knowledge of improvised music in Toronto in the 1970s and 1980s. This is the subject of his festival presentation, under the working title The Age of Enthusiasm.

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