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Title proper
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- Textual record
- Graphic material
- Sound recording
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- Source of title proper: Title based on the content of the fonds.
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Dates of creation area
Date(s)
-
[193-]-1986 (Creation)
- Creator
- Duncan, Clyde
Physical description area
Physical description
1 cm of textual records
10 photographs
2 sound recordings
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Archival description area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Clyde Leonard Duncan was born on November 23, 1912 in Guelph, Ontario and died in Montreal on March 6, 1973. Born into a family of musicians, as a child he studied piano and music theory, then took up banjo and guitar and played in a high school band. He also studied accounting. Around 1933-1934 he moved to Montreal to join his brother Lloyd and played banjo and then bass in Myron Sutton's Canadian Ambassadors. From then on the bass was his main instrument. He was a member of the musicians' association, the Canadian Clef Club, where he served as vice-president (1935-1938) and later secretary (1940). He worked with Herb Johnson at the Roseland Ballroom in the late 1930s. In 1940 he joined the Army, and played for Army District No. 4 Band in Montreal before serving at the front in Europe. When he was discharged in 1945 he began working for CP Rail. The next year he moved to Val d'Or with his family and joined the Howard Gegear quintet at the Morocco Club. He worked full-time as a musician until 1951 when, for financial reasons, he moved with his family to Chibougamau. For the next 17 years he worked full-time as an accountant and part-time as a musician; he also gave private piano lessons and was active in the community. In 1968 he stopped working as a musician because of poor health. In 1972 he retired from accounting and returned with his family to the Pointe Saint-Charles district of Montreal.
Custodial history
These documents were donated in 1985 to the Concordia University Archives by John Gilmore on behalf of Isabel Duncan, the widow of Clyde Duncan. The fonds was transferred from Concordia University's Records Management and Archives Department to Concordia University Libraries' Special Collections March 16-17, 2016, May 4, 2016, and May 10, 2016.
Scope and content
The fonds provides information about Clyde Duncan's career as a jazz musician.
The fonds contains musical engagement contracts (1939-1940), the Canadian Federation of Musicians by-laws (1930), concert programs, press clippings, photographs, and sound recordings.
Notes area
Physical condition
Immediate source of acquisition
These documents were donated in 1985 to the Concordia University Archives by John Gilmore on behalf of Isabel Duncan, the widow of Clyde Duncan.
Arrangement
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Location of originals
Availability of other formats
The sound recordings have been transferred onto digital tape.
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Reproduction for scholarly purposes is permitted.
Use of material in a publication may only be done with permission of the copyright owner.
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No further accruals expected.
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Copyright belongs to the creator(s).