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Graduate Student Researcher

University of Guelph

After graduating in English from UBC, David Neil Lee spent many years in Toronto where he performed, toured and recorded as a double bassist and cellist, worked for the jazz magazine Coda, and ran the small press Nightwood Editions. His books include Stopping Time: Paul Bley and the Transformation of Jazz (Véhicule Press 1999), The Battle of the Five Spot: Ornette Coleman and the New York Jazz Field (The Mercury Press 2006) and the award-winning Chainsaws: A History (Harbour Publishing 2006). Currently, while pursuing a PhD in English at the University of Guelph, he lives with his family in Hamilton, Ontario. His first novel, Commander Zero, is published by Tightrope Books, Toronto.

Improvisation is, simply put, being and living this very moment. No one can hide in music, and improvising in music is to be truly in this very moment and being completely yourself, with all your qualities and faults. It is probably the most honest state for a human being to be in.

– John McLaughlin in an interview with Daniel Fischlin.