Book Review | Statesman of the Piano: Jazz, Race, and History in the Life of Lou Hooper (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2023)

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Published last September, Statesman of the Piano allows readers to uncover the autobiography of pianist Lou Hooper (1894-1977), entitled That Happy Road, which had previously been available via Library Archives Canada.

An Afro-Canadian born in Ontario and raised in Michigan, Louis Stanley Hooper tells the story of his life throughout the 20th century with dignity and humour, in spite of the challenges he faced. Hooper witnessed racism, of course, but also both world wars, during which he served (first in the U.S. military, and later as a member of the Canadian Army Show, entertaining troops deployed in Europe). Interestingly, the majority of his reflections are devoted to his army service during the Second World War.

Jazz fans will be most interested by the few pages dedicated to Harlem. Hooper relocated to the borough in the 1920s, where he made some of his most famous recordings with the likes of clarinetist Bob Fuller and banjoist Elmer Snowden, accompanying singers and recording instrumentals under group names such as the Three Jolly Miners and The Choo Choo Jazzers.

Also of note was his time spent in Montreal in the 1930s as a member of saxophonist Myron Sutton’s Canadian Ambassadors. Hooper’s story ends rather abruptly in 1953, a decade prior to his rediscovery by a small group of Montreal record collectors. Appended to the story is a series of scholarly essays by the editors, who are specialists in the fields of African-American history, jazz music, archiving, and music by BIPOC composers.