Schofield, Pete and the Canadians - The Now Sound

Tracks

Side 1

		Track Name	Length
	1	(Do You Know The Way To) San Jose	03:05
	2	Wichita Lineman	02:25
	3	Music To Watch Girls By	01:59
	4	Scarborough Fair	02:32
	5	Watermelon Man	03:03
	6	Sunny	02:08
	7	The Shadow Of Your Smile	02:51

Side 2

		Track Name	Length
	1	I Say A Little Prayer For You	02:49
	2	Mrs. Robinson	03:08
	3	Georgy Girl	02:24
	4	The Look Of Love	02:45
	5	Up, Up & Away	03:01
	6	Goin' Out Of My Head	03:29

Photos

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Information/Write-up

Pete Schofield was a Don Mills–based bandleader, saxophonist, clarinetist, arranger, and educator who carved out a unique place in Canada’s music landscape by championing the sound of young musicians. Beginning in the 1960s, he built one of Toronto’s most ambitious youth big-band programs, assembling ensembles of exceptionally talented teen players and guiding them through professional-level repertoire, arrangements, and recording sessions long before high-school jazz bands became common. His groups — often billed as Pete Schofield & The Canadians — blended the discipline and sophistication of the swing era with the modern pop, soul, and soundtrack influences shaping contemporary radio, creating a “now sound” that echoed Benny Goodman and Count Basie as confidently as Burt Bacharach, Jimmy Webb, and film theme composers of the day.

Working from Toronto’s Don Mills community, Schofield rehearsed, arranged, and recorded with remarkable focus, turning basements and school auditoriums into training grounds for young brass, reed, and rhythm-section players. His bands were promoted in period liner notes as youthful — ages often ranging from fourteen to seventeen — yet they performed with a maturity and precision that drew attention from broadcasters, festival organizers, and audiences across Ontario. The ensemble won recognition at the Western Ontario Band Festival in 1966, appeared in concert halls, gymnasiums, and civic events, and helped establish a pipeline of emerging talent in the Toronto region. For many players, Schofield’s band was the first step toward a life in music; future jazz figures, including tenor saxophonist Grant Stewart, credited these early opportunities as formative.

Schofield recorded several albums capturing this fresh hybrid of dance-band swing and pop-era flair. His first widely distributed LPs — including It’s a Sign of the Times and The Now Sound — appeared on Quality Records’ Birchmount label, featuring spirited interpretations of hits such as “San Jose,” “Wichita Lineman,” and “Up, Up & Away,” alongside standards like “The Shadow of Your Smile.” He later launched his own imprint, P.S. Records, to issue Do Something Nice Today! and Yes It’s Toronto, the latter highlighting vocalist Karen Hendrix and celebrating the band’s civic roots with renewed confidence and broader orchestral colour. Across these recordings, Schofield showcased crisp horn voicings, polished rhythm work, and the enthusiasm of young musicians performing charts designed to stretch both skill and imagination.

Beyond his recordings, Schofield’s true legacy lies in mentorship. He nurtured musical ability at the grassroots, bridging classical woodwind training, jazz arranging, commercial studio sensibilities, and stagecraft. His bands represented a rare blend of community spirit and professional expectation — a place where teenagers learned charts straight from the bandstand tradition, were treated as serious musicians, and performed with the drive and polish of far older ensembles. In doing so, he contributed to the development of a generation of Toronto players and helped sustain big-band culture in Canada during a changing musical era.

Pete Schofield remains remembered not only for the albums that captured his youthful, contemporary swing sound, but for the hundreds of young musicians who passed through his program — many of whom continued into Canada’s jazz, studio, and music-education communities. His recordings offer a snapshot of a vibrant moment when modern pop met big-band tradition in suburban Toronto, and when one bandleader's dedication turned after-school rehearsals into something far larger: a proving ground for Canada’s next wave of talent.
-Robert Williston

Engineered by Phil Sheridan
Arranged by Eddie Graff, Ron Skora, and Ken Garland
Recorded at Sound Canada Studios, Don Mills, Ontario

Photography (front cover) by Ron Miller

Liner notes:
People are always asking, “Will the Big Bands ever come back?” The answer in this record is a loud “YES.” We can- not hold the door shut; the big band era dawned with Benny Goodman, reached the middle forties peak with Woody Herman and is still going strong today with Duke Ellington and Buddy Rich. The Pete Schofield Big Band blends this tra- ditional swing feeling in all it’s sounds and, also, the modern sounds of modern jazz. By blending the best of two worlds we feel that we have reached a happy me- dium with young people. The many in- terpretations on this record only re-em- phasize this. Pete Schofield, originally from London, Ontario, has been doing big band arrange- ments for radio and television and mo- tion pictures for many years. He studied his craft and career at Trinity College of Music in London, England, and special- ized in orchestration and arranging. His recent efforts in this musical area have brought forward new ideas which schools are enjoying. Pete’s conducting and ar- ranging talents were recognized when he won a scholarship at Trinity College of Music. Pete, now considered to be one of our finest band leaders in Canada, has been a stand-out in his field for years and has, in the past, only used the finest musi- cians in his bands. With concerts played in many of our high schools his efforts are now being enjoyed by both young and old today. In May of 1966 the band entered the 6th Annual Western Ontario Band Festival at Toronto. A total of 75 Bands in all age groups entered and competed. The Pete Schofield Band played so well that they finished 1st. They were chosen out of the over 50 bands in the Senior High School category by the judges as the most outstanding, most ty- pical and having the best over all band sound in all categories of competing bands. This is a most remarkable achieve- ment of this very young group...and was just another feather in the cap of Canada’s foremost disco sound band. Their showmanship, enthusiasm, reputa- tion and talent in their field will be hard to equal in many years to come. Pete Schofield and the Canadians are unques- tionably and I presume this is at once gratify- ing and satisfying for Pete Schofield. In taking his young men of the world with him in experimentation he has not in any way lost any good musical ideas and has brought this music to a new height in the music world. Whether it be disco-sound or modern jazz the Schofield band has arrived in the music world and it is here to stay. All is not show. And again remember that a band with pageantry, style and warmth...along with modern ideas is bound to come out on top. To name a few: Tennessee Tango, the Schofield Band...can be heard to the best advantage. On this selection one sees fancy free young people and one is compelled to say...“It is here and here to stay.” The band is composed of very fine talented young men but, what is more important, each musician had to be virtuoso in his field. There is just no band to hear who is not just teen-agers and only ages 16 and 17 years old. Their parents have good reason to be proud of their sons and to have them in the Schofield organisation. I am sure that the band will only grow in stature as years unfold. It is known that the Canadians were selected from the London area to play at the Prestig- ious Johnny Knox Banquet and Fashion Show...sponsored by Harold Town and Leonard Jones. Also at the Schofield Band Ball in Toronto Doug Oliver and Craig and family the owners of the Town and Country Room were presented with the “Schofield Sound Award,” presented by JnW Sound, London, Ontario. Such names as “Last Tango In Paris,” “The Look Of Love,” “Sunny,” and “Up, Up and Away,” are but a few of the highlight numbers played by this band. It has also been pointed out that Mr. Schofield has been a very fine music teacher and one will only have to look at his night classes in the Scarborough Board of Education which is growing by leaps and bounds. Go to any of his concerts and find that his dancers have a difficult time in just sit- ting down. This .album was created by Pete Schofield and the Canadians, carrying on the best Big Band tradition. You hear a whole lot of brass and that when you blend it with a terrific rhythm and the oboe solo when you will hear the music stand out the way it should...and I presume that one can only imagine what would never know the excitement of hearing a foot or two away from the musicians. You can’t beat that feeling. So take it and store it if you have to. Treat your band with respect. It is here to stay and will take off just like the Beatles and the Dave Clark Five. It is Canada’s music world. Canadian talent is now coming to the fore in the music world. Pete Schofield is one of our finest musi- cians in Canada and we should be proud and take pride in our musicians. They will make the music world shortly and you will be hearing a lot more of Pete Schofield in the future. They are the finest. The Schofield sound is here. That’s our music and we want it to stay here for a long time. And I might add, we are not just young people but fine handsome men like Keith Barrie and Gord Smith and Sonny King and Craig Weiss. Pete Schofield and the Canadians are the best in their class. — “The Now Sound,” and perhaps more and more. Let it be said that their efforts repre- sent Canada. The Canadians is primarily a teen-age band which has not only won much favour in the Toronto area but has recently won criti- cal acclaim at the Vancouver International Band Festival and from many high school boys and girls in the London, Windsor area. The group's singers are led by Ron Miller, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation vocalist and former vocalist on the Jane Ford Show and music student at the University of Western Ontario. Instrumental solos are provided by such capable musicians as Jerry Nichols and Eddie Graff, both well-known to Canadian jazz lovers. In addition, special arrangements were done by Eddie Graff, Johnny Burt and Jerry Nichols-all three con- tributors to many of Canada's top radio and television score sheets. Pete Schofield has long enjoyed the respect of the music world in Canada and deserv- edly so. He is one of the few men who has brought forward present ideas to music in the twentieth century. His present sound and his “Now Sound” have become famous to all ages and all stages of the music world in Canada. For all ages. This band will go a long way. It has given the music world in Canada a shot-in-the-arm for what music should be. Pete Schofield and his Canadians have been recognized by many as representing the finest in the music world today. Pete Schofield and his youthful Canadians are a “now” band. Phil Mackellar CKKP - 99.9 Toronto

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