SOUNDTRACK TO THE REVOLUTION Book Launch (+ Film Screening)

Mark the date! You are invited to The Bookshelf Cinema on June 24th for the launch of Soundtrack to the Revolution by Eric Fillion. This scintillating book tells the story of Quebec’s Jazz Libre, a radical experiment in musical activism that reveals the meaningful role that the art of spontaneity played in the turbulent 1960s and 1970s.

The book launch, which will include a discussion with writer David Lee (6:30-7:30 p.m.), will be followed by a screening of The Cat in The Bag (1964) [in French with subtitles], one of the founding films of Quebec national cinema with an original score by John Coltrane’s classic quartet.

This event is free and open to all.

Co-presented by The Bookshelf, Véhicule Press, and the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation.

* Eric Fillion is director of the International Institute for Critical Studies in Improvisation and assistant professor at the School of Languages and Literatures at the University of Guelph. He is the author of Distant Stage: Quebec, Brazil, and the Making of Canada’s Cultural Diplomacy. With Sean Mills and Désirée Rochat, he co-edited Statesman of the Piano: Jazz, Race, and History in the Life of Lou Hooper. He lives in Guelph, Ontario.

*Hamilton-based writer David Lee wrote his 2017 University of Guelph dissertation on Toronto improvised music. His other writings include The Battle of the Five Spot: Ornette Coleman and the New York Jazz Field, and with the late pianist Paul Bley, Stopping Time.