Chris Wong is a lifelong music nerd, who is an aficionado of jazz and many other genres. His affinity for writing about music emerged in high school, when Chris received his first byline for a review of the punk band the K-Tels. While writing for the University of British Columbia’s The Ubyssey student newspaper, he landed an in-person interview with Dizzy Gillespie, which had some tense moments. In his first year at UBC, Chris played piano in a UBC big band, directed by two titans of large ensemble jazz: Dave Robbins and Fred Stride. 

As playing music wasn’t his calling, Chris went on to write about jazz and other subjects for DownBeat (about the Vancouver International Jazz Festival), The Globe and Mail, Vancouver Sun, Georgia Straight, Vancouver Courier, and other publications. He has also written liner notes. It has been an honour for him to write about both international jazz greats and local heroes.

Journeys to the Bandstand, Chris’ first book, is an award-winning (Independent Publisher Book Awards silver medal) passion project he honed for more than a decade. He is researching and writing a second book, which will be volume two of Journeys to the Bandstand. Born in Regina, Chris lives in Vancouver, Canada with his wife Maria and they have two children, both involved in the arts: Miles Wong and Sarah Wong. When Chris isn’t writing about or listening to music (Brazilian music is his favourite), he’s working as digital communicator for a BC health profession regulatory college, serving as a Board member with Vancouver Independent Music Centre Society and Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop, taking photos, savouring ramen, running (slowly), and watching his beloved (but dispiriting) Vancouver Canucks. 

Contact Chris if you would like to buy the book, interview him, or book him for a talk.

I am very grateful to live and work on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

Photos by Amanda Palmer.