Toronto’s Jack Long, who founded Long & McQuade, has died at 95

Jack Long, a Canadian jazz musician and the founder of the musical instrument retail giant Long & McQuade, has died at the age of 95.
“Jack lived a long and happy life, surrounded by music and family until the very end,” reads a post on the Long & McQuade X account. “We are proud of the legacy he leaves and will miss him every day.”
A Toronto native, Long earned a degree in music from the University of Toronto and later became a professional trumpet player. He opened his first musical instrument store in 1956 on the second floor of a home on Carlton Street. He partnered with local drummer Jack McQuade in 1957 to open the first Long & McQuade shop. In 1965, Long took over the store and began its expansion across Canada. Today, Long & McQuade is the largest chain of musical instrument retailers in the country, according to its website, “with over 100 locations from British Columbia to Newfoundland.”
Music writer Gilles LeBlanc profiled Long in the Star in 2022. You can read the full story below.
The story of how Long & McQuade Musical Instruments came to be one of Canada’s leading specialty retailers is one founder Jack Long has told many times. Even at 92 years young, the humble Toronto native gets a gleam in his eye whenever he recounts how the modest venture he set in motion out of a small two-story house in 1956 now spans across the country.
Long’s mind is as sharp as a staccato emanating from his favourite instrument, the trumpet. The jazz aficionado and former pro player has seen a lot happen just in the art form he has been obsessed with since his youth. The other genres that have emerged during this time, like rock and roll and hip-hop, have all had specific product needs. And in Canada, there has been no source more trusted than Long & McQuade. Long, a 2014 appointee to the Order of Canada, insists he has been mostly lucky, but a combination of common sense, intuitiveness and a charitable heart have had much more to do with his success than any naïve good fortune.
Long & McQuade’s influence has expanded to more than 90 locations in all 10 provinces, but the GTA will always be home. It all started at 100 Carlton Street distributing King Band Instruments and providing music lessons. Long admits he didn’t even know what an invoice was at the time of his first sale but proved to be a very fast learner. A proper retail store with partner and in-demand drummer Jack McQuade (who left the business in 1965 and died of cancer 11 years later), followed on Yonge Street, where the Toronto Reference Library now stands. Long & McQuade’s current headquarters are in Pickering, still family owned.
As the store took off, Long still performed nightly at places like the Barclay Hotel, where as a result of working long hours he says, “I fell asleep a few times during shows.” Instrument rentals became a cornerstone of the business after musician friends would come by to hang out and ask if they could borrow a piece of equipment for the night. Long made up prices on the spot: “If it was small, three dollars. Four dollars, if it was bigger.”
Even as the business expanded, Long says he “was more serious about playing gigs,” but admits there was a point where he thought it could be “a real company.” “If it didn’t work out,” he says with a laugh, “I’d be in big trouble.”
From Gordon Lightfoot to Shawn Mendes, a who’s who of big names have been among Long & McQuade’s eight-decade clientele – not to mention the countless beginners, weekend warriors and professionals that are just as important to the ensemble of Long & McQuade staff and instructors. In fact, the famous Neil Peart kit that sold for half a million dollars at auction in December 2020 was purchased at Long & McQuade before the drummer’s first tour with Rush.
Long’s business philosophies aren’t ones that would work well for almost any other retail sector – removing barriers to purchase so that inventory can get into the hands of as many customers as possible through rentals or affordable financing would be unheard of for many startups these days.
Long’s sons Steve and Jeff, CEO and vice president of sales and marketing, respectively, continue their dad’s legacy. Both have said that being fair to everyone they deal with is a trait they proudly inherited from their father. As for Long, he always had an innate ability to relate to creative individuals of every generation, even “young rock kids,” he says.
“As long as it’s music they were making.”