Was It Something I Said? or How I Learned to Live Without a Juno Award
March 29 2009

As a working jazz pianist based in Toronto, if I can utter one generality about Canadian musicians, it’s that we have made a commodity out of under-selling and over-delivering. We overflow with self-effacement. It’s the other band you should be listening to. They’re really good. Compliments are uncomfortable; criticisms fair.

We stand at the ready to apologize for our art. I remember being on the bandstand in Japan one evening, and making a little booboo at the piano. No sooner had a Pavlovian “Sorry” issued from my lips, than my drummer shot back “You’re talking Canadian!” (Q. What’s the easiest way to get a Canadian to apologize? A. Step on their foot.)

These thoughts are prompted by the return of Juno Award time. (The Junos are Canada’s big music industry awards.) And once again, after 6 CDs, I haven’t been nominated.

I accept my fate. Really, I do. But can I just ask: Why? Why have I never been nominated for a Juno? I’d love to know. Did I accidentally insult someone? Did I violate some etiquette of sensitivity? Was it something I didn’t do? Was it something I said?

Maybe I don’t qualify for a Juno. But how can that be? Media outlets like CFRB, CNET, and CJAM have tagged me as “one of Canada’s A-list pianists”, and the like. I have media recognition.

Of my 6 recordings, 3 have made Top 10 of the year lists. The last 2 charted at no. 1 on Canada’s thriving campus radio stations. All of them got great reviews. “Jaw-dropping” and “awesome” count among the adjectives that were used. I have listener and critical recognition.

In Japan, I was presented over the course of three years by the Embassy of Canada to royalty, the political elite, the business high-ups, and the media mucky-mucks. On our tour of Indonesia, we were given the rock star treatment. International recognition.

So why no Juno? Doesn’t all the recognition favourable recognition qualify me? People buy my recordings. Google reveals no negatives about me. Many people have expressed pleasure with my music. I’ve filled theatres. I’ve never been booed. I’ve had piles of standing ovations. And hey, I’m a nice guy. Really.

I even gave my most recent (2008) CD a hopeful title that I thought would surely bring on a nomination: The Bestseller.

Now, there are a few things I have to make clear. Firstly, I’m not asking for the actual award. A nomination will do. Just a nomination. A measly nomination. (Actually, I’m not even sure I have the $350 it costs for the Juno statue if you win.)

Next, I am not whining. I’m exploring. I’m asking. Puzzling. Head-scratching. If I were whining, my language would be very different. It would include words like “bastards” and “dunderheads”. And those words appear nowhere here, not counting the last sentence, which is only a thought experiment.

Finally, I am not putting down anyone who has been nominated. On the contrary. And I am truly happy for my colleagues. In my own field of jazz, for example, Elizabeth Shepherd and Chris Donnelly have been nominated. They’re terrific musicians. Wonderful people. I’m thrilled for them. Heck, I’m even thrilled for the recordings in other music formats that want to make me spontaneously combust.

No, I’m not sour grapeing here. Honestly and truly. I am just wondering why none of my 6 CDs has ever received a nomination.

There is one obvious possibility: I suck. As a Canadian musician, I might be quick to embrace that possibility.

But I’m pretty sure I don’t suck. I keep getting rehired at places I’ve played. Cheques I’m paid with are not stopped. Audience members with whom I have no family ties come to my shows again and again.

Heck, the other day I was out walking, and a gangly wirebox of twentysomething hip stopped me on the sidewalk. Hey man, Ron Davis. Yeah. I do, like, techno, y’know, techno music. Electronica. Yeah. Touring Germany this summer, man. Want to lay my new CD on you. Worked on it, yeah, like, a year. So, like, I f****n’ loved f****n’The Bestseller, man. It f****n’ rocks, man.

With an endorsement like that, how could I possibly suck?

So, long live the Junos. Long live the fabulous musicians they honour. But, could I just know why have I never been nominated?

And while we’re at it, the National Jazz Awards are coming up in May. I’ve never been nominated for one of those either.

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