Cory Weeds Quartet celebrates Fraser MacPherson: Concert and Book Launch - Sep. 29, 2024
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Cory Weeds - tenor saxophone, Bill Coon - guitar, Louis Rudner - bass, John Lee - drums
Cellar Music Group is proud to announce the publication of the book Fraser MacPherson: I Don't Have To Go Anywhere, I'm Already Here by the late author Guy MacPherson. The book, written by Fraser’s son, reveals a loving portrait of a brilliant musician and a private man, along with stories from a golden age of Vancouver nightlife: a bygone era when professional musicians could make a comfortable living and never had to move away.
Fraser MacPherson’s career included playing in dance bands at the Palomar Supper Club and leading the band at the famed Cave Supper Club. The book features great stories about working with show biz icons such as Mitzi Gaynor, Jayne Mansfield, Bobby Darin, Ella Fitzgerald and Tony Bennett. Whether as a bandleader, a sideman or a member of a trio, Fraser was a well-respected musician everywhere.
Later in life, Fraser put together a jazz trio and financed his own recording, Fraser: Live at the Planetarium, which was a rare move at the time. The album received rave reviews and led to shows at jazz festivals and packed theatres in Canada, Australia and the US, along with a record four tours of the former Soviet Union – all documented in this biography.
Fraser was the recipient of a Juno Award for Best Jazz Album, was awarded the Order of Canada, was an inaugural inductee into the BC Entertainment Hall of Fame, and was the first non-Quebec musician to win the Oscar Peterson Prize at the Montreal Jazz Festival.
To write the definitive book on his father, Guy MacPherson interviewed over 50 contemporaries, colleagues and family members, infusing fascinating stories from Fraser’s career with humour and anecdotes. Sadly, Guy passed away on January 31, 2024.
Cellar Music Group founder Cory Weeds is also the current president of the Fraser MacPherson Jazz Fund, established in the year of the saxophonist's death. The fund has been awarding grants and scholarships to music students in British Columbia for over 30 years. The book is Cellar Music's debut in the book publishing vertical to accompany its over 350 records released worldwide since 2000.
Fraser MacPherson: I Don't Have To Go Anywhere, I'm Already Here will be published April 16, 2024.
Links:
● Pre-Order Book: https://cellarlive.bandcamp.com/merch/pre-order-fraser-macpherson-i-don-t-have-to-go-anywhere-i-m-already-here-softcover
Posted: Sep. 29, 2024
Filmed: Sep. 29, 2024