There's a story that has floated around for decades about Tony Bennett visiting Montreal in the 1950s.
Here's the story: Bennett happened to come to a small jazz cafe in NDG in the West End of Montreal where he took a shine to the art on the walls.
Bennett determined that he simply had to purchase some of it. Turns out, however, that he had no money to pay.
Instead, he offered his fur coat as payment.
Both sides were satisfied and the deal was struck. Bennett left with the art and somebody inside left with Bennett's fur coat.
Details of this story, which was remembered by jazz pianist Billy Georgette, have long been elusive but we might've nailed some of this down.
1-Where was this jazz club? Out attempts to figure this out have been frustrated for many years, as it does not appear to be listed in the Lovells Directory. The club was called Kasavubu and was at the corner of Western (now DeMayonnaise) and Minto (now demolished, in the middle of the Decarie Expressway). This is according to James Peck on Facebook, who appears to be familiar with Montreal of that era.
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| Adrien Vilandre, 1959, at left |
2-Who was at the cafe when Bennett did his deal? We don't know but apparently it was a two storey house in which the walls on the lower floor were knocked out to make space for a stage and wooden benches. The couple who ran the place lived upstairs. Billy Georgette told me that the owner of this club was Colin Gravenor I, my father. I don't remember my father talking about this place but Billy was entirely certain of this detail. The Montreal artist Adrien Vilandré lived in the basement and also contributed to the performances. Maybe it was his paintings that interested Mr. Bennett. Vilandre was fairly prominent at the art scene during those beatnik years and was involved with a strange incident not far from that same location in September 1959 when people in Upper Westmount objected to him working in a residential garageat 63 Belvedere Rd. I grew up at 580 Grosvenor, not too far and we had an artist named Michael Milner, from England, living in our garage for a time in the 1960s.
3-When did it happen? Bennett came to Montreal three times during that era but we believe this particular visit was from January 19-26, 1956, backed by Guy Parent's band. Bennett also played the Chez Paree in Oct 1953 and the Seville in Feb. 1955 but had to cancel that time due to laryngitis. Billy Georgette told me that my father was at the jazz cafe showing off the deed document of his purchase of Nun's Island That purchase took place in 1956 so that would suggest that this also too place in 1956.
4-Why was Bennett famous at that time? Hit singles, in the form of Rags to Riches, Boulevard of Broken Dreams, Cold, Cold Heart, Stranger in Parade and Close Your Eyes.