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Sturdy at 30No shortage of great shows as the Jazz
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by LEN DOBBIN Well, it’s edition number 30 of the Montreal International Jazz Festival, and for those who’ve been bitching about the lack of jazz (I have attended all 29 previous years and never found a year where there wasn’t something of great interest), this year, you have plenty to choose from—and what to hear becomes a large program as many shows conflict, time-wise. Hopefully my suggestions will be of help, and note that I have left out any concerts that were sold out at press time. These include Brian Blade, Buddy Guy, Pink Martini, Madeleine Peyroux (that one’s a mystery to me, you couldn’t pay me to attend), Jeff Beck, all the Joshua Redman concerts, the Enrico Rava/Stefano Bollani concert, Esperanza Spalding, Oliver Jones and the Kenny Garrett “Sketches of Miles” event. First, the ticketted concerts—in the Le Voix series at Théâtre Maisonneuve, 6 p.m. nightly, I would suggest bassist Charlie Haden, singer-pianist Patricia Barber and singer-guitarist John Pizzarelli with his Swing Seven. At the same time, at The 8 p.m. Jazz Beat series at Salle Jean-Duceppe is where you can hear singer-pianist Eliane Elias, pianist Kenny Werner featuring tenorman David Sanchez, trumpeter Randy Brecker, bassist Scott Colley and drummer Antonio Sanchez, Jimmy Cobb’s “Remembering Miles” show (he was the drummer on Kind of Blue) features pianist Larry Willis, trumpeter Wallace Roney, the alto of Vincent Herring and Javon Jackson on tenor, Lorraine Desmarais’s big band, the Newport All-Stars with that festival’s founder George Wein, a group that has the wonderful tenor and flute of Lew Tabackin in tow. Jam trafficAt the same time, King Sunny Ade and Femi Kuti appear at Metropolis in the Rythmes Bell series, and Upstairs will be presenting vocalists Sheila Jordan and Judy Wexler, both with the Jeff Johnston trio of Dave Watts and John Fraboni, Karen Young with guitarist Sylvain Provost and bassist Normand Guilbeault, pianist Felix Stussi with U.S. trombonist Ray Anderson and for the first time since 1987, singer Helen Merrill and her trio for two nights. Note that for Jordan and Merrill only, the shows are at 6:30 p.m. and 8:45 p.m. rather than just 8:30 p.m. At l’Astral’s Jazz au Club series at 9 p.m. nightly, you have pianists Aaron Parks, Gerald Clayton and the superb reed player Anat Cohen. A half-hour later, there’s the Grands Concerts series at Théâtre Maisonneuve which spotlights people like Among the free outdoor concerts, you can hear West Coast pianist Amanda Tosoff, guitarist Gabriel Lambert, bassist Adrian Vedady, reedman Eric Hove, guitarist Denis Chang with some Django-styled jazz, Cubans Luis Mario Ochoa and pianist Hilario Duran together, the very talented pianist Rafael Zaldivar who’s also at Upstairs, pianist John Stetch in from New York, Michael Occhipinti from Toronto, the great singer Kim Zombik (a relative newcomer to Montreal) and bluesman Bryan Lee—all gratis! Pianists Lenore Raphael, Steve Holt and reedman Steve Hall are visiting town, so watch for them at jam sessions taking place at Upstairs at 10:30 p.m. with Alex Bellegarde and at Bistro la Balmoral at 11 p.m. with a trio co-led by pianist John Roney and drummer Jim Doxas. My absolute top picks would be Sheila Jordan, Helen Merrill, Anat Cohen, Ornette Coleman, Lew Tabackin with George Wein, Bill Charlap and Houston Person, and Patricia Barber. Enjoy, and drink lots of water! FOR MORE INFO, GO TO |
Gesù in the Invitation series, there’s trumpeter Erik Truffaz and Renaud Garcia-Fons, plus, in the 6 p.m. Jazz d’Ici series at the new spot l’Astral, you can hear André Leroux, Yannick Rieu and Joel Miller, three of the city’s best reedmen, and their groups. At 7 p.m. nightly, the Couleurs series at Club Soda includes the always interesting singer Lila Downs, while at the same time you can catch the guitar of Jordan Officer at the Savoy, and that’s the time vocalist Ranee Lee’s boat cruises leave the dock. A half hour later, in the Pleins Feux series at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, there are concerts by octogenarians Tony Bennett and Dave Brubeck.
reedmen Branford Marsalis and Ornette Coleman—Robert Glasper has cancelled. The Jazz dans la Nuit series at 10:30 p.m. nightly, at Gesù, has alto giant Lee Konitz, Rudresh Mahanthappa also on alto, and the duo of pianist Bill Charlap and tenorman Houston Person.