Photo above from left to right: André Ménard, Denyse McCann, and Alain Simard

Denyse McCann, one of the co-founders of L’Equipe Spectra, and of the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal has left us on the 7th November, 2024. And what interests me is how barely any of the media outlets talk about it. Including her contribution to the Canadian musical scene. But if we tend to dig a-bit deeper within the music, it amazes me how she contributed to the development of certain bands, projects, and concerts that blew people’s minds away. Let’s take for instance this heavy Quebec rock group titled, Offenbach. As interesting as it gets, her along with Alain Simard, and André Ménard, produced a couple of interesting records from this band such as, “Rock Bottom,” “Coup de Foudre,” and my absolute favourite live in concert record, “Offenbach avec le Vic Vogel Big Band.” Think about this, you’ve got this great swing jazz big band conducted by Montreal’s own Vic Vogel, being accompanied by this music from a heavy rock group. Just imagining the communion between the two sounds a-bit off, but in reality the music does come together. And let me tell you that after I listened to that record for the first time, I had to get the 40th anniversary full concert record, because it was great. The music, the harmonies, the energy, all was present. All to say is that I wish I was at that concert, luckily I’ve now got the records.

And there’s more to it than just this epic concert, she along with Alain Simard, and André Ménard built a team, where no one was taking them seriously, and thought that what they were doing was a complete waste of time. Well, this is the time to prove them wrong, especially when planning an event, you better have the guts! What they were planning was putting in place an event that they never thought that it was going to be this big. I’m talking about the  Festival International de Jazz de Montreal, and part of Denyse’s mission was making sure that there were free outdoor concerts put into place, so that the public can explore different types of musical styles, And for that, it’s impossible to  imagine it being that easy. Especially where you’ve got barely or even if any governmental subventions, sponsorships, and forget about the support from the city of Montreal, because former mayor Jean Drapeau associated jazz music with being immoral. Sheesh! But years later, Denyse also added her input in developing a couple projects that Alain Simard had in mind such as Les Francos de Montreal, Montreal en Lumiere, and the commercialisation behind the events. It’s a shame that she hasn’t been much in the spotlight, but to me she did make a great contribution to the Canadian music scene, and should be acknowledged for what’s been done. All to say….Merci Denyse!