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Peter Hum

Born and raised in Ottawa, Canada, Peter is a mainstay of the city's jazz community. He has just released his debut recording, A Boy's Journey, thanks to a grant from the City of Ottawa. Previously, his compositions and performances at the Montreal and Ottawa International Jazz Festivals have been broadcast by the CBC and Radio-Canada.

Since the mid-1990s, the self-taught pianist has led or co-led groups that have included musicians Rob Frayne, John Geggie, Petr Cancura, Nathan Cepelinski, Vince Rimbach, Kenji Omae, Mike Essoudry, Nick Fraser and Justin Haynes.

In Ottawa, he has accompanied visiting jazz musicians including Pat LaBarbera, Mike Rud, Andre Leroux, Kelly Jefferson and Johnny Scott.

In Montreal during the last half of the 1980s, Peter performed weekly at the first incarnation of the city's famed Upstairs jazz club. Peter counts such accomplished artists as Steve Amirault, John Stetch, Denzal Sinclaire, Mike Allen, Dave Robbins, Alec Walkington and Ted Warren as friends from his Montreal days. While working toward his Master's Degree in English at McGill University, Peter led a jazz sextet that won the Lowenbrau Jazz Search in 1986 and represented Quebec at the Montreal International Jazz Festival's Alcan Jazz Competition in 1987.

In the early 1980s, Peter lived and studied in Kingston, Ontario, and was fortunate to perform with Canadian jazz greats Sonny Greenwich, Phil Nimmons and Reg Schwager at their Kingston Jazz Society concerts. While he studied English at Queen's University, Peter benefited greatly jazz-wise from extracurricular time spent with the great drum teacher Chris McCann.

Outside of music, Peter has been a journalist at the Ottawa Citizen since 1990, and has covered the education, crime, city hall, courts and technology beats. He has also reported for the newspaper from Hong Kong, New York, San Francisco, London, Amsterdam, Hannover and Eastern Slovakia. Now an assistant editor responsible for arts and life coverage, Peter blogs on jazz at jazzblog.ca.

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10
Album Review

Peter Hum: Ordinary Heroes

Read "Ordinary Heroes" reviewed by Edward Blanco


Canadian jazz pianist Peter Hum has been a fixture and mainstay on the Ottawa jazz scene for three decades. A journalist by profession, covering education, crime and city hall for the Ottawa Citizen, a social conscious and music, have always been driving forces in his life. His third album as leader, Ordinary Heroes contains ten original compositions all inspired by his social and political concerns in today's society and, as such, is dedicated to those to whom we all owe ...

6
Album Review

Peter Hum: Ordinary Heroes

Read "Ordinary Heroes" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


The ideals of promise and hope, and the desire to create a better world and drive out the darkness, need not be fueled or forwarded by the extraordinary. As George Takei, the legendary actor-cum-activist once noted in referencing the individuals who provided succor during the horrors of the Japanese-American internment camps of World War II, it's often the “ordinary heroes" who light the way. Taking inspiration from Takei's words, pianist Peter Hum uses his third album as ...

7
Album Review

Peter Hum: Alpha Moment

Read "Alpha Moment" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Pianist Peter Hum's second album--Alpha Moment--was recorded back in December of 2011, but there's good reason for the fact that it's only just seeing the light of day in 2015: Hum has had his hands full, serving as the restaurant critic at the Ottawa Citizen, delivering some of the most informative and insightful jazz journalism out there via his blog, and living life to the fullest with his family whenever he puts his pen down. With all of that going ...

175
Album Review

Peter Hum: A Boy's Journey

Read "A Boy's Journey" reviewed by John Kelman


Some believe that to be a “real" musician it's all or nothing--no part-time venture; it requires flat-out, full-on commitment. The truth is that it is possible to be full-time in spirit, even if not always in practical terms. As writer/editor for The Ottawa Citizen newspaper, Peter Hum has been involved with music from another angle for most of his adult, with his fine Jazzblog.ca blog receiving plenty of praise. A meticulous planner, the Canadian pianist has been quietly working towards ...

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191

Recording

Peter Hum - A Boy's Journey (2010)

Peter Hum - A Boy's Journey (2010)

Source: Something Else!

By S. Victor Aaron Peter Hum is, in a few ways, like me. We're a couple of middle-aged guys who both love jazz, love to write about jazz and critique jazz records, and post our reviews on the internet. I've been an admirer of Hum's jazz blog of the online version of the Ottawa Citizen for several years, now. He not only reviews jazz records, but manages to come up with interesting topics about jazz: one of my favorites was ...

90

Recording

Peter Hum - A Boy's Journey (Self-Released, 2010)

Peter Hum - A Boy's Journey (Self-Released, 2010)

Source: Music and More by Tim Niland

Keyboardist and composer Peter Hum leads a dual life as both a journalist and blogger and a jazz musician. His new album has a deep narrative sense, like a prose writer linking together a set of interconnected short stories. He is joined on this album by Kenji Omae on tenor saxophone, Nathan Cepelinski on alto and soprano saxophones, Alec Walkington on bass and Ted Warren on drums. All of the compositions are by the leader beginning with “Take the High ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Ordinary Heroes

Self Produced
2020

buy

Alpha Moment

Self Produced
2015

buy

A Boy's Journey

Self Produced
2010

buy

Spare Hearts

From: Ordinary Heroes
By Peter Hum

Unagi

From: A Boy's Journey
By Peter Hum

Videos

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