The Maples Inn

I first met Blair at the Maples Inn in Montreal somewhere in the mid to late 1970s. The “Mapes” was a local watering hole on the north shore of Lac St. Louis. It was the place to hang out, drink under age, and hear the thrash of local talent like All the Young Dudes, Mahagony Rush, or the Angry Young Ducks, as well as visiting artists like Mary Margaret O’Hara’s group Songship. Blair was playing the Mapes with Melange, a tight prog-rock unit from his home town of Hudson. He was a skinny, energetic kid who played open-handed, sat tall on his stool incessantly bouncing his hit hat foot, and smacked a shallow snare drum that cut through dense, odd-meter textures.

On a break I worked through the crowd by the bar and introduced myself to Blair. We talked music until he returned to the stage.

Hudson

We met a second time at the Chateau in Hudson when I was there playing percussion with the Ste-Agathe Flyers, a band from NDG (Notre-Dame-de-Grace). Blair was in the audience and on a break we resumed our conversation about music.

The next time we met was by chance at a Jean Luc Ponty concert in 1979. We were both living in Toronto. Shortly after that we jammed at Humber College where I was studying music.

Mosaic

In 1985 we put Mosaic together, a trio that featured the compositions of Blair & I. Blair handled all percussion and drums and I played guitar. Mick Walsh was on bass & trombone. We wrote instrumental music influenced by Progressive Rock, Jazz, Classical, Ragtime, Improvised & World.

Quickly Mosaic grew into a sextet with sax: Bernardo Padron, keyboards: Steve Castellano, & bass: John Yelland. We made two recordings, then I left for Vancouver to do an MFA in Interdisciplinary Composition. When I returned Mosaic became a septet with Jennifer Moore: voice, Tiina Kiik: accordion, Ernie Tollar: sax, George Koller: bass, Paul Ormandy: percussion.

Following the release of Passing Time we formed Pirate Jenny Trio (with singer Jennifer Moore) and Deconstructing Tiina (with accordionist Tiina Kiik). And since 1994 I became a member of Evergreen Club an octet whose Artistic Director is Blair.

April Wine

I happened upon this video of Blair taking a drum solo during an April Wine performance. It reminded me not only of how versatile a musician he is, able to move comfortably within many genres, but it also captured the spirit of the music from The Mapes back when we first met.