Information/Write-up
Jimmy (James) Namaro was one of the most distinctive and versatile figures in Canadian popular music, a musician whose career bridged radio’s golden age, the nightclub era, television variety, jazz, Latin music, and commercial recording. A master of mallet instruments at a time when vibraphone and marimba were still novelties in popular music, Namaro built a reputation not through virtuoso showmanship alone, but through adaptability, taste, and an unerring sense of audience.
Born on 14 April 1913, Namaro’s place of birth is variously cited as La Rosita, Mexico or Columbus, Michigan, reflecting a family history that crossed borders early. In 1921, his family settled in Hamilton, Ontario, where his musical life took shape. He studied piano with Sid Walling and Eric Lewis, grounding himself in harmony and structure before gravitating toward percussion and mallet instruments. By his teens, Namaro was already active on radio, appearing on CHML Hamilton, CFRB Toronto, and eventually the CBC, first as a marimba player and later as a versatile accompanist and arranger.
In 1933, while still in his early twenties, Namaro served as assistant conductor of a marimba band at the Chicago World’s Fair, an early indication of both his technical command and his comfort in large-scale productions. From that point forward, his career followed two parallel paths: as a club musician and bandleader, and as a broadcast professional.
From 1943 to 1959, Namaro was a central musical presence on CBC radio’s immensely popular The Happy Gang, a program that brought him into homes across the country and established him as a familiar and trusted musical voice. He adapted seamlessly as broadcasting moved from radio to television, becoming a regular contributor to CBC-TV and CTV productions as a performer, composer, arranger, and conductor. His work during this period reflects a musician deeply attuned to the demands of live broadcasting: clarity, economy, and stylistic flexibility.
Parallel to his broadcast career, Namaro became a fixture of the nightclub circuit. Nowhere was this more evident than at Toronto’s Westbury Hotel, where he led trios and ensembles in the Polo Lounge for extended engagements beginning in the 1950s. Liner notes from albums recorded at the Westbury reveal a musician who moved fluidly between piano, vibraphone, and marimba, shaping programs that balanced standards, original compositions, Latin material, and contemporary jazz. These were not casual lounge gigs but tightly organized musical environments, often featuring the same core personnel over many years, reinforcing Namaro’s preference for continuity and ensemble cohesion.
Recording followed naturally. Beginning in the late 1950s, Namaro released a steady stream of LPs for Sparton, RCA Victor / Camden, Quality Records, and the Canadian Talent Library. Albums such as With Mallets a Four Thought, Plays Middle-Road Jazz at the Westbury, Marimba, Xylophone and Piano with Orchestra, and We Gotta Get It All Together document an artist in constant motion — shifting instrumentation, expanding ensembles, and experimenting with Latin rhythms, orchestral textures, and contemporary arrangements. His CTL recordings, in particular, show him operating at a high professional level, orchestrating for strings and brass while maintaining the rhythmic identity of a small group leader.
Namaro was also a prolific composer and arranger, writing original material for his albums, countless commercial jingles, and music for CBC radio and television drama, including the series Seaway. His compositional voice favored melody and rhythm over abstraction, a trait echoed in his own liner notes, where he repeatedly emphasized accessibility, groove, and emotional clarity. Beyond music, Namaro was an accomplished painter, working in a primitive style and exhibiting his artwork publicly — another expression of the same instinct to communicate directly rather than intellectually.
In the 1970s, Namaro relocated to the United States, entering a new phase of his career as music director for Frankie Laine, a role he held from approximately 1978 to 1993. Touring extensively across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, Namaro applied decades of experience to large-scale touring productions, once again demonstrating his adaptability and professionalism. In 1987, he moved to Richmond, British Columbia, where he continued composing and collaborating with Laine into his later years.
Jimmy Namaro died in Richmond on 25 April 1998, closing a career that spanned more than six decades. What distinguishes his legacy is not a single hit record or defining moment, but a body of work that reflects the lived reality of a working musician in Canada — one who navigated radio, television, clubs, studios, and touring with equal confidence, and who helped establish mallet instruments as a viable and expressive voice in Canadian popular and jazz music.
-Robert Williston
Musicians
Jimmy Namaro: marimba, vibraphone, piano, organ, four keyboards
Lin Boyd: bass
Gord Carley: drums
Liner notes
IF JIMMY NAMARO’S lovely wife Ann (a blonde) will forgive me I’d like to mention the first time I met Jimmy. He was in the company of the most gorgeous brunette I’d ever seen in Toronto. Of course I’d only been in Toronto three days and hadn’t seen many of it’s attractions but the beautiful woman and the slim, dark, impeccably dressed Jimmy with the wavy black pompadour impressed this apple cheeked youth from Saskatchewan who’d just come to the CBC as a fledgling announcer, as the ultimate in glamorous sophistication. The occasion was one of my first network assignments and the program was a brief quarter hour in old Studio A featuring Mr. Namaro and his marimba. Let me tell you, the crisp businesslike way in which he gallantly seated the lady, deposited his form fitting top coat and homburg on the piano then wheeled out the glittering diamond studded marimba, had this youth breathless with admiration.
In the ensuing years the young announcer’s cheeks are less apple and the eyes are less wide at the glamour of this business (for that matter, the Namaro hair is no longer black or in pompadour) but the admiration of honest talent has never ceased. This is especially true in the case of Jimmy Namaro from the early days in Bill Beasley’s Club Esquire where he was fast becoming the Cugat of Canada, to the present where he has been pleasing patrons in the Westbury’s Polo Lounge since he opened it in 1957. I’ve watched Jimmy wend his way through all the musical phases that years have brought and never once has he veered off course to follow some shallow whim that could easily have led to musical oblivion. His integrity to the basic values of good popular music has remained unshaken, yet Jimmy Namaro’s awareness of public taste has constantly kept him abreast of the current trends. From the era of the big bands, through the spectacular career of Canada’s most successful variety show “The Happy Gang,” to the current preference for smooth but rhythmic “lounge” entertainment, Jimmy Namaro has succeeded with them all, and this, his third album, brings you the fully-rounded Namaro talent, smooth and polished after many years of knowledgeable experience.
In your own private lounge (suitably enhanced by the tinkling of ice) enjoy the relaxed atmosphere of “Jimmy Namaro at the Westbury.” The trio will jog your memory with old evergreens, and stir your interest with exciting originals.
MOROCCO — Is the 3rd part of a three part “Latin Suite” composed by Jimmy Namaro (part 2 was Lamento).
SAM FOR SHORT — Named after the Namaro family cat. Through some oversight, quite likely Jimmy’s, the cut was called “Samantha” until its true status was discovered, hence name.
NIGHT SOUNDS — If that ghostly, eerie feeling ever creeps over you while left alone in a house, better have this on your player to keep you company.
CHANGING KEYS — Reminds you that this is a trio album. This is a breezy thing with many opportunities for bassist Lin Boyd and drummer Gord Carley to whom we affectionately refer as “the Bi-focal twins.”
BABYLON — Features Lin’s cowbell, Gord’s tom-toms, and the leader’s bongos. It’s a percussion idea of what might have led to that city’s decimation.
LOVE FOR SALE — Jimmy’s arrangement of Love for Sale which gives fine contrast of tamborine and marimba against a strong chordal bass.
Now that I recall, he never did introduce me to that brunette.
ELWOOD GLOVER
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