It’s the 35th annual Festival International de Jazz de Montreal. MAGNET’s Mitch Myers translates the action.
This is getting serious. I’m at the 35th edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal, which runs from June 26 through July 6, and there’s already way too much fun. With a massive amount of programming for free outdoors and ticketed indoor performances showcasing hardcore jazz, mainstream pop, soul, modern rock, hip hop, blues and lots of international flavors. The festival’s organization is only getting better, and so is the physical layout of the downtown area. This year they kicked things off with a “pre-opening” concert featuring Beck, and it has been musique nonstop ever since.
On Friday night, French artist Woodkid put on a wildly visual and sometimes mesmerizing spectacle for a huge outdoors gig. At the same time, the legendary Heath Brothers played at tiny little Upstairs, the one and only genuine jazz club that actually works along with the festival.
At Club Soda, young singer Trixie Whitley put on an uneven performance but endeared herself to the audience when mid-show, she confessed to being pregnant, “Most of my family doesn’t know yet, but you guys do!” Whitley, who had played onstage the night before with Quebec hero Daniel Lanois, admitted she was most afraid to tell Lanois about her current status, but all is well.
Alto saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa brought his Gamak fusion project to the intimate Gesù venue with Rez Abbasi on guitar, bassist Rich Brown and wonder drummer Dan Weiss. Mahanthappa and Abbasi often played in strict unison, combining Indian classical music structures and long elaborate jazz melody lines with breathtaking results.
Elite pianist Keith Jarrett played a highly anticipated solo concert at the sizable Maison Symphonique auditorium Saturday night. Jarrett hadn’t played a solo show in Montreal for 25 years and since the event was recorded for posterity there were several restrictions on the show; no photographers were allowed, no late arrivals, and absolutely no leaving once the music started. After a melodic opening number Jarrett addressed the audience and explained that usually he starts an improvisational show with something atonal, but had tried something different for his first tune. “So, if the next one is more difficult to listen to, hey, I can’t help it.” Luckily, everything went smoothly and Jarrett dazzled the audience with a totally improvised set of spontaneous compositions. Jarrett was so pleased with the way the whole evening went that he came back for three encores.
Meanwhile, next door at the Jean-Duceppe auditorium, Danilo Perez, John Patitucci and Brian Blade performed a playful-yet-serious and very engaging set. As a jazz trio, they call themselves the Children Of Light, undoubtedly a reference to their status as longstanding members of Wayne Shorter’s Quartet. Perez was more than solid on piano, but Brian Blade, who had also played the festival with Lanois and Whitley, was a true standout. Interestingly, John Patitucci’s favorite acoustic bass was damaged by the airlines last week, which resulted in him playing a lot more electric bass. It actually made the trio’s set quite exciting, so let’s hope Patitucci keeps things plugged in more often in the future.
Finally, Saturday’s late-night set at the Club Soda featured modern soul man Cody ChestnuTT, who charmed the crowd with earnest funk-confessionals going all the way back to his fabled Headphone Masterpiece CD. His band was funky, and ChestnuTT held the stage until well after midnight. The man is on a mission; you can tell by the war helmet he still wears onstage.
—Mitch Myers; photo by Sharonne Cohen
