Book Review | Michel Donato – Bleu sur le vif (Éditions Mains Libres Montréal, 2023)

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Montreal double bassist Michel Donato is one of the last of his generation still standing and active on the scene. Now 81, his pace has certainly slowed, brought on by the onset of a near-fatal stroke 20 years ago.

This episode in his life is threaded throughout this authoritative bio released last fall. Its author, novelist and jazz aficionado Stanley Péan, spent five years labouring at the task. Donato, son of a musician, cut his teeth on music as a teen during the halcyon days of the 1950s, carving his spot with the city’s club scene and recording studios. Fifteen years later, he hit the big time touring with Oscar Peterson worldwide for a year, after which he backed several jazz legends in both Montreal and Toronto, where he settled in the 1970s.

While the first 150 pages of this bio focuses on his formative years, the remaining 300 present a detailed chronology of his musical activities, enumerating his performances, tours and recordings, in jazz and in other forms of popular music. Also of value are the discography of over 150 entries, close to 20 pages of visuals and a detailed index of names cited.

Typos are few and far between in this well copy-edited work, exceptions being those of Rob Proby rather than Ron, and Reno di Stefo rather than De Stefano (single occurrences), minor glitches compared with the factual flub of listing trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff as a bassist. A work well worth the read. Given his Toronto years, an English translation would be a welcome addition to Canada’s jazz literature trove.