‘The perfect human being’: Montreal jazz music icon Oliver Jones remembered as ‘humble and inviting’

Montreal jazz pianist and Canadian music icon Oliver Jones died at the age of 91.

The announcement was made by Jones’ family and Justin Time Records on Wednesday.

READ: Montreal jazz great Oliver Jones dies at the age of 91

Born in 1934 in Montreal’s Little Burgundy neighbourhood, Jones began performing at the age of five at the Union United Church. By the age of 10, he played in nightclubs and would become a fixture at the Black-owned club Rockhead’s Paradise.

He later performed in several countries around the world and at the Montreal Jazz Festival many times, including in 2004 with his friend and mentor Oscar Peterson.

“Oliver was what you call… the perfect human being, if there’s such a thing,” Simeon Pompey, a close friend of Jones’. “He embodied that. He’s lived a full life of giving back. He was never part of any controversy, and he spent many, many times, many hours, giving back and serving that community, and he always has that at heart.”

Errol Johnson, the deputy mayor of Dollard-des-Ormeaux, said Jones had style, energy and presence that would capture you.

“I always got into how he approaches the piano and he sits around it and he does what he has to do with his fingers, and he gets the message and the music out to your soul. That’s what he does,” Johnson said.

On Thursday, at the mural of Oliver Jones in Little Burgundy, flowers were left for the pianist by a Montrealer who enjoys his music.

“I have his Little Burgundy trio on my CD every week and I listen always to his music,” said Martin Bégin. “I’ll never stop listening to his music.”

Over the years, Jones received a number of awards and distinctions, including Juno awards, Félix awards, the Opus Prize and the Martin Luther King Jr. Award.

Since the announcement of his death, several people paid tribute to Jones on social media, including Quebec Premier Christine Fréchette, Montreal Mayor Soraya Martinez Ferrada and the Montreal International Jazz Festival.

“Even with all that he’s done, internationally known, the music is fantastic, soothing, happy, he’s just an individual who was humble and inviting and that was so appreciative of him,” said Sharon Nelson, the president of the Jamaica Association of Montreal.

In recent years, the Dr. Oliver Jones Golf Classic has been organized to raise money for Jones’ church and other community organizations. The hope now is to keep it going as part of his legacy.

“Funds from this tournament is going to go back into the community to help young people who he believes are the future,” Pompey said. “We all know they’re the future and he wants to give back to that, so we’re going to do our best to try and fulfill his dream and keep his legacy alive.”

“The last time I saw him, I promised him that we will continue the work that he wanted to see,” said June Keene, the chairperson of the Dr. Oliver Jones Golf Classic. “That’s something I want everybody to remember. He enjoyed this tournament and that is something he really wanted us to continue.”