MONTREAL — He played bass with Thelonious Monk and Charlie Parker, he singlehandedly kept Montreal's jazz scene alive in the '50s and '60s and he was made a member of the Order of Canada.

Charlie Biddle, who died Tuesday at the age of 76 after a battle with cancer, lived his life's dream in Canada - a dream he felt was unattainable in his native Philadelphia due to entrenched racism that led him to flee the United States in 1948. Over the next five decades, the Second World War veteran and former car salesman became synonymous with jazz in Montreal. His first gig in the city was at a downtown club called Ciro's.

Biddle opened his own club, Uncle Charlie's Jazz Joint, in suburban Ste-Therese in 1958.

He later performed in such legendary Montreal nightspots as The Black Bottom and the Penthouse, where he worked with the likes of Oscar Peterson, Art Tatum, Charlie Parker and Lionel Hampton.

When there were no jobs in Montreal, Biddle played smaller Quebec cities with a group called Three Jacks and a Jill.

Until cancer recently began sapping his strength, Biddle played four nights a week at Biddle's Jazz and Ribs, a Montreal landmark for nearly 25 years.

Len Dobbin, a jazz radio-show host and aficionado for more than 50 years, said Biddle's dedication to jazz prevented it from being completely drowned out by rock 'n' roll in the '50s and '60s.

"He was an incredible catalyst for keeping things happening," Dobbin said in a recent interview.

"He could sell music. And many times when there was nothing going on in Montreal, if it wasn't for Charlie, there wouldn't have been any music happening."

Dobbin recalled the time Biddle talked the owners of two clubs - the downtown Penthouse and uptown Lindy's - into booking jazz ensembles to play in their establishments.

And through it all, Biddle and his bass remained ubiquitous at concerts and smoky bars around town.

Biddle played for an international audience at the youth pavilion during Expo '67, where he showcased such jazz greats as John Coltrane, Thad Jones and Pepper Adams.

In 1979, he organized the three-day festival that some say paved the way for the renowned Montreal International Jazz Festival, which attracts hundreds of thousands of people to the city every summer.

His resolve to remain in Canada may have been as strong as his love for jazz.

Biddle said in a 1998 interview that he often turned down offers to work in the United States.

"I always felt a good musician should be able to make a living in the town where he lives," he told the Montreal Gazette.

Biddle said Quebecers, who in the 1950s still saw blacks as a novelty, embraced him with open arms.

As he told it, things were quite different in the United States.

Biddle studied music at Temple University in Philadelphia on the GI bill after serving in the Second World War. But his daughter Stephanie said her father grew tired of discrimination.

"He fought in World War Two in Burma, in a segregated army," Stephanie told the Gazette following Biddle's investiture into the Order of Canada on Jan. 19.

"When he came back, there was a fanfare to welcome them at the station, and when the people saw it was blacks, the music slowed right down and then stopped."

In 1948, Biddle got landed-immigrant status in Canada and quickly made his home here, marrying his Quebec-born wife Constance in 1955 and raising a son and three daughters. All of his children eventually became musicians.

He remembered Montreal's jazz heyday in a 1996 interview on his 70th birthday.

"I hear people talking about the jazz festival and how great it is," Biddle said.

"Montreal was like that every day in the '40s and '50s. You could get up any time of night, go out and have a great time. Montreal was a mecca for entertainers, specifically black entertainers.

"You could go to the farthest corners of Quebec and find black entertainment. Not being exposed to black people that much in those days, the people would come out."

The Canadian government considered investing Biddle into the Order of Canada several years ago but he had never taken out Canadian citizenship.

That all changed in October 2000 when, accompanied by his family, Biddle became a citizen at the age of 74.

His health began to decline soon afterward, and Biddle was presented with the Order of Canada's snowflake pin at his Montreal home in January because he was too ill to be invested in the traditional ceremony in Ottawa.

He was also presented with the Prix Calixa Lavallee from the Societe St-Jean-Baptiste for his contributions to music.

Biddle's death came about a week after 200 fans and friends held an evening vigil outside his home.

The group carried candles, prayed and sang for Biddle. They had held prayers for Biddle at a neighbourhood community centre earlier before walking to his nearby home.

Despite the onset of age, the man sometimes referred to in Montreal as Monsieur Jazz never publicly entertained thoughts of retirement.

"You can't retire from music," Biddle said a few years ago.

"God gave you a gift to play, so as long as you can play, you play."