Welcome to chriswongauthor.ca. The world doesn’t need another website, and especially one with a blog, but I made one anyway. Here’s why:

After more than a decade of challenging research and writing, in February 2024 I published Journeys to the Bandstand: Thirty Jazz Lives in Vancouver. A major reason why it took so long is I took a very in-depth approach to researching and writing portraiture of my subjects.

In the Introduction and Preface to the book, I wrote: “I would become full-on, hopelessly obsessed with finding out every arcane detail about the artists gathered in these pages, whether they are living or long gone. Those myriad facts are puzzle pieces that—even though some pieces are missing—form portraits of extraordinary people with a hunger for jazz and other creative artforms, a determination to overcome struggles, and a deep joy for creating profound expression.”

The result: a book with twenty-five core chapters that has 605 pages. You would think that after going through all of that pain and suffering (joking—kind of), I’m completely spent as an author. Nope. I have more to say about the remarkable artists I wrote about. So I’m going to use this blog to write even more about all thirty of the artists I featured in the book. The posts will consist of excerpts from the chapters, stories behind the stories in Journeys to the Bandstand, and recaps of book launch events. 

On this website, I’m also providing information about how to buy the book, upcoming book launch events, and other essential information about Journeys to the Bandstand. Eventually I hope to write more longform portraits of musicians, here or in Substack, or maybe (God help me) in another book. I have a long list of artists—many of them underappreciated—I would love to write about. We’ll see how things evolve. 

Thanks for visiting chriswongauthor.ca.

Photo of Bruno Hubert at Frankie’s Jazz Club, May 6, 2022, by Vincent Lim.