Recorded in 1983 by Prince and the Revolution, “Purple Rain” may not only be Prince’s best-known song, but it is arguably the most enduring and canonic of his compositions being regularly featured in his live performances from 1983 until his final concert in April of 2016. Given the regularity with which this song was performed, and the fact that numerous live versions can today be found on YouTube and elsewhere, “Purple Rain,” in its numerous iterations offers a rich opportunity to examine Prince’s approach to performance and improvisation across a multi-decade period. Utilizing a framework of both cultural and musical analysis, this talk unpacks multiple “Purple Rain” performances, identifying key performative tropes, changing rhetorical devices, and an evolving musical approach to live performance that strives to illuminate further insight into this truly unique and important musician and artist.

As a musician, writer, journalist, and arts educator, Andrew Scott’s work has impacted many aspects of the creative arts and culture space in Canada and beyond for more than two decades.

A jazz guitarist, Andrew has worked as an in-demand side person, led his own bands with a focus on classic jazz repertoire, and performed and recorded with such musicians as Bernie Senensky, Dan Block, Harry Allen, Grant Stewart, Ben Paterson, Randy Sandke, and Jon-Erik Kellso for such labels as Cellar Live, Marshmallow, and Sackville Records.

His latest album, Yellow Fingers with Kelsley Grant, Amanda Tosoff, Neil Swainson, and Terry Clarke will be released on Cellar Live Records in 2024.

Andrew has committed himself to learning from the elders of this music and has enjoyed meaningful musical relationships with the late drummer Archie Alleyne—for whom he worked as a side musician, music director of Alleyne’s Evolution of Jazz Ensemble, and co-composer of “Syncopation: Life in the Key of Black”—and the nonagenarian pianist Gene DiNovi, with whom Andrew has recorded three albums. 

Andrew’s music has been heard internationally in film and television (“Pretend We’re Kissing,” “Once a Thief,” CBC’s “The Border” and “Kim’s Convenience”), and his writing about music has appeared in Downbeat Magazine, Wax Poetics, CODA (where he was the final Managing Editor), Jazz Research Journal, Journal of Popular Music Studies, and in more than one hundred sets of jazz liner notes.

In 2023, Andrew was the principal researcher, essayist, and Associate Producer of an archival release of a 1972 recording from the famed American jazz organist Jack McDuff.

Andrew has also worked as an independent juror and consultant for the Toronto Arts Foundation.

His comedic writing regularly appears on such humour platforms as The Haven, The Daily Drunk, and The Toronto Harold where it garners between multiple hundreds and more than 11K online views, and his poetry has been anthologized by Alien Buddha Press (Alien Buddha Zine #58 and the chapbook Resist the Zeitgeist).

Having earned his Ph.D. from York University, Andrew has lectured at universities and conferences across North America and has enjoyed a long professional relationship with Humber College, where he is a Professor and the Program Coordinator of the Bachelor of Music Program.

Andrew was the former Associate Dean and Acting Dean of Humber’s School of Creative and Performing Arts, where he oversaw and administratively stewarded the music, creative writing, arts administration, theatre, and comedy programs.