Born
in the South Winnipeg neighbourhood of
Crescentwood to Ross and Dorothy Vasey in
October 16, 1949 Jane began piano lessons
at age six and quickly discovered a love
for music. The family (five girls –
twins Rose and Catherine, Anne, Jane, and
Heather born in 1961) moved to River
Heights, where Ross taught school at
Robert H. Smith and Kelvin High School
before moving to Neepawa in 1955 as a
school inspector.
Jane continued her music studies. “I
remember we were in Neepawa when my
brother-in-law died,” offers Dorothy
Vasey. “Jane didn’t say anything
much, she just went over to the piano and
played a whole piece she composed all by
herself.”
Returning to Winnipeg in 1957, Jane
attended J.B. Mitchell school and
graduated from Kelvin High in 1967, going
on to earn a Bachelor of Arts from the
University of Manitoba in 1970. Her
music career had already begun after
winning the Earl Ferguson Award at the
Manitoba Music Festival and appearing on
CBC-TV’s Calling All Children. “It
was all classical music until she went to
Toronto,” claims Dorothy Vasey. "At
home she played her Beethoven and Chopin.”
Following graduation Jane played piano for
the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School before
moving to Toronto that fall. There
Jane furthered her studies with the Royal
Conservatory of Music as well as playing
for small ballet classes, teaching piano
lessons, performing with the Global
Village Theatre, Toronto Workshop Theatre,
and Young Peoples’ Theatre as well as
composing music for Carol Bolt
plays. But it was the blues that
would soon become her passion.
Jane once told a reporter how she
discovered Chicago blues piano master Otis
Spann. “A girlfriend of mine, Diane
Roblin, brought me over one of his
records, and it was like a
revelation. It seemed to involve a
lot of things I liked about classical
music – great runs and phrases that I
could really relate to. I turned
right on to it.” Smitten with the blues,
Jane happened to be in Grossman’s Tavern
in Toronto where she saw the Downchild
Blues Band performing and approached the
band members who, at first, were dubious
about a female piano player.
“She started listening to blues records
and because of her classical training she
really picked it up and really could play
it,” marvels Donnie Walsh. “She had
the feel. She was so fast to learn
that we didn’t have to sit around and
teach her. Not many people can play
the blues. She learned to play like
Otis Spann in about an hour and a
half. Very quickly. Jane could
play like Otis Spann, she could play like
Pete Johnson. Then she started to
develop her own style after listening to
all these other pianists.”
Jane joined the band in 1973, making her
debut on the group’s hit single Flip,
Flop, and Fly. For her parents back
in Winnipeg the news that Jane had joined
a band was a surprise. “Well, we
went along with it anyway,” allows Dorothy
Vasey. “It wasn’t exactly what we
thought she would do.”
Jane would go on to wow audiences across
North America with her fluid blues style
and intuitive feel.
“She had a killer left hand for the
walking-octave style,” states Prairie
Oyster piano player Joan Besen, “smooth,
fast, and solid.” Jane even managed to
impress many of the blues masters
including the legendary Roosevelt
Sykes. As Donnie Walsh relates, “We
were playing in Vancouver when the Folk
Festival was on and she went down to a
workshop they had for blues piano players
and Roosevelt Sykes was there. And
she sat down and started playing and he
went nuts and the crowd went nuts for
her. She knocked out Roosevelt Sykes
because he appreciated that she could
really play.” Jane had Roosevelt dancing
and singing to her rendition of Red River
Boogie.
Jane appeared on six Downchild albums: Dancin’,
Ready To Go, So Far, We
Deliver, Road Fever, and Blood
Run Hot and several singles
including I’ve Got Everything I Need
(Almost), Tell Your Mother,
and her own composition Trying to Keep
Her 88s Straight. “She became
the glue that held the band together,”
noted Richard Flohil. Jane toured
North America with Downchild playing
clubs, concerts and festivals and often
returned to play in Winnipeg.
Being the lone female in an all-male band
and in a predominantly male industry never
fazed her as Jane earned acceptance from
everyone who heard her. “Jane was so
good of a musician and a neat person so
she never had too many problems with
that,” confirms Donnie Walsh. But
she always retained her big heart.
“One Christmas out on tour she went out
and bought everyone Christmas presents,”
smiles Donnie.
In 1975 Jane was diagnosed with
leukemia. Doctors gave her five
years to live; Jane defied them by living
six and a half years. Throughout
that time only a handful of insiders knew
of her affliction, including band mate and
boyfriend Donnie Walsh. “We kept it
pretty quiet,” he maintains. “We had
a wonderful time when we were
together. It was weird because when
we got together she was dying. She
knew she was dying. So we kind of
lived for the moment. We had a great
time together and played a lot of great
music together. You kind of put it
out of your mind but you know it’s
coming. And then it comes.” On tour
out west in 1981, Jane was stricken in the
leg and had to return to Toronto for
treatment. Stoically she continued
to perform with the band around Toronto
though she toured less frequently.
“I don’t know how she did it, how she
managed to get up her strength for that,”
notes Dorothy Vasey. “She never let
on that she was sick.”
Jane’s last public performance was backing
up blues great Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson at
Toronto’s Brunswick Hotel in January
1982. Frail and exhausted from her
treatment Jane nonetheless amazed everyone
in the audience, including Vinson, with
her virtuosity and strength. Jane
died at home in Toronto on July 6,
1982. The music world mourned her
loss. Tributes were given in every
newspaper and news program across
Canada. Brandon University
established a scholarship for piano
performance in Jane’s instigated by her
parents and endowed from an all-star
benefit by the Toronto blues community
that had embraced Jane.
“I still have all her records and tapes
and I still listen to them,” says Dorothy
Vasey with pride.
John Einarson
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The
above announcement was published in The
Winnipeg Free Press, August 3, 1982.
Since then, each year 2 scholarships in
the amount of $2,500.00 have been awarded.
The fund has grown to $80,000.00 and
Downchild Blues Band continues to fund
scholarships
through benefit performances. The
benefit amount is doubled thanks to a
special
program sponsored by the Government of
Manitoba.
Please also see the Tribute
to Jane Vasey page on the Downchild
Blues Band website.
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