Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

Best known as a blind blues-rock guitar virtuoso, Jeff was also a formidable jazz artist with an encyclopedic knowledge of early dance band music. Here, on his last jazz-swing recording before his 2008 death from cancer, the legendary guitarist and trumpeter demonstrates his deep love of standards such as “Pennies from Heaven” and “Autumn in New York” and gives warm vocal renditions of the 1944 movie theme “Laura” and the 1910 nugget “Some of These Days,” by Canadian-born jazz pioneer Shelton Brooks.  

The beer was flowing freely as waitresses served platters of breaded shrimp, gourmet pizza and chicken wings. But it was not the regular hockey crowd at Gardoonie’s, a popular watering hole opposite Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens. Instead, more than 300 people were gathered there last week to pay tribute to a rock ‘n’ roll legend. Standing amid the hockey memorabilia on the walls, Ronnie Hawkins was beaming as he surveyed the crowd. Officially, the lavish party was being held to launch Let it Rock!, his 26th album and the accompanying video that captures his recent 60th birthday concert at Toronto’s Massey Hall, featuring such rock luminaries as Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins and The ...