Jazz pianist Lou Hooper (1894–1977), Paul Robeson's first accompanist and teacher to Oscar Peterson, came to prominence near the end of his life for his exceptional career. Statesman of the Piano makes his unpublished autobiography widely available for the first time, with commentary from historians, archivists, musicians, and cultural critics.
Ontario-born jazz pianist Lou Hooper (1894–1977) began his professional career in Detroit, accompanying blues singers such as Ma Rainey at the legendary Koppin Theatre. In 1921 he moved to Harlem, performing alongside Paul Robeson and recording extensively in and around Tin Pan Alley, before moving to Montreal in the 1930s.
Prolific and influential, Hooper was an early teacher of Oscar Peterson and deeply involved in the jazz community in Montreal. When the Second World War broke out he joined the Canadian Armed Forces and entertained the troops in Europe. Near the end of his life Hooper came to prominence for his exceptional career and place in the history of jazz, inspiring an autobiography that was never published. Statesman of the Piano makes this document widely available for the first time and includes photographs, concert programs, lyrics, and other documents to reconstruct his life and times. Historians, archivists, musicians, and cultural critics provide annotations and commentary, examining some of the themes that emerge from Hooper's writing and music.
Statesman of the Piano sparks new conversations about Hooper's legacy while shedding light on the cross-border travels and wartime experiences of Black musicians, the politics of archiving and curating, and the connections between race and music in the twentieth century.
"Statesman of the Piano provides a fascinating lens, one that corroborates current research and adds new detail and insights. Hooper's story shows how a Canadian-born Black man was able to thrive in Jim Crow America. Moreover, the breakdown of black nightclubs/venues in the forties and fifties in southwest Montreal brings a new punctuation to the city's jazz history." Dorothy W. Williams, author of Blacks in Montreal, 1628–1986: An Urban Demography
"Primary sources for the history of jazz, particularly in Canada, are few and far between and Statesman of the Piano is a welcome and meaningful contribution. Hooper's autobiography contains much to savour, and the editors are to be commended for presenting his work to a wider audience. Their introduction – thoughtful, illuminating, and comprehensive – provides an inviting basis from which to follow Hooper's story." Rob van der Bliek, editor of The Thelonious Monk Reader
The previously unpublished autobiography of a Canadian-born pianist who played with many of the twentieth century's jazz and blues greats in Detroit, Harlem, and Montreal.
Sean Mills is Canada Research Chair in Canadian and Transnational History at the University of Toronto. He is the author of The Empire Within: Postcolonial Thought and Political Activism in Sixties Montreal and *A Place in the Sun: Haiti, Haitians, and the Remaking of Quebec. *
Eric Fillion is adjunct professor and Buchanan Postdoctoral Fellow in Canadian History at Queen's University.
Désirée Rochat is a postdoctoral fellow at the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling at Concordia University.
