Funk, pazz & jop, and a family-friendly electro hop

Two festivals—one old, one new—occupy the shores of the Lachine Canal this Saturday

BAD GIRL ON DECK: DJ Vilify

The Lachine Canal gets its groove stepped up a notch this Saturday with two free, family-friendly musical gatherings taking place along its northern shore. The St-Ambroise Funk N’ Jazz Festival is a hopeful newcomer on the local summer music scene, and Piknic Elektronic@Lachine Canal brings the weekly electro-dance party for a cruise over to the nearby Peel basin.

FLUID FUSION

“I didn’t want to just call it a jazz festival, because apparently there is another one in the city,” explains Franco Proietti, local band leader and co-organizer of seedling soul shakedown F’N’J Fest at the Terrasse St-Ambroise.

All quips aside, Proietti has something of a vision. “The aesthetic behind it was that we kind of wanted to feature the funky kind of jazz that’s going on. Not the straight-ahead be-bop stuff, and not the, like, only funk stuff, more the fusion-ish thing—somewhere in between.”

The festival is the brainchild of both he and fellow sax-a-matician Dave Turner, both of whom have positive connections to the McAuslan brewery through the company’s support of local independent arts.

“Because it’s small, because it’s only one day, because there are five bands, (I think) it will actually be in keeping with its mandate. It’s the Funk N’ Jazz Festival. And if you go,” Proietti states reasonably, “you are going to hear funk and jazz.”

Turner’s five-piece the Earth Tones (“think New York soul/funk,” according to Proetti) co-headline the show alongside the Vanessa Rodrigues Soul Project. “She’s a B3 player. She also plays with Dave, so it makes things easy. She’s going to be playing with a couple of other musicians, including Killa Jewel, who’s on the decks. So (they) are going to be more towards the funk and hip hop kind of jazz feel. Vanessa is funky as hell!” Proietti promises.

Also on board is the Cameron Wallis Electric Band. “I don’t know who else is playing (with him), it’s still a secret,” Proietti ponders. “I’ve seen him pull out stuff last minute that has been awesome. He was nominated for one of the (Montreal International) Jazz Fest prizes this year. He’s an intense player, he’s already won a Juno. Every time I ask him, he just smiles and goes ‘Don’t worry man, it’s gonna be awesome!’”

Rounding out the bill are Proietti’s own chaotically crafted Morph-Tet, as well as his former Kobayashi bandmate Chris Tauchner’s Quintet. “(Tauchner) is in a funk band called Souldier, who do a whole bunch of funk covers, so I asked him if he could do something kind of like that, but some originals as well. He’s working with some heavy jazz cats,” says Proietti.

Partiers of all ages are welcome for BBQ and beverages at a reasonable rate, and live visual art will be handled by the En Masse crew.

“It’s party music, man! Some of the really heavy jazz—you can’t go and bob your head to that. And I love it,” he emphasizes. “But, you know, it’s not party music.”

FAMILY AFFAIR

Over at Piknic, event organizer François Fournier won’t roll out the red carpet. He has something way cooler in store.

“(Piknic is) always about, everybody can come, and we invite everybody to come with their family and have a picnic. But from the ‘Piknic’ aspect of it,” he says proudly, “this is the first 500-metre picnic blanket on the ground,” referring to a huge swath of red-and-white-checked fabric partygoers will both break bread and bust moves on.

“Speakers will be on the ground, by the blanket, all across the site,” Fournier describes, “but the DJs will be on a boat floating in front of people for the whole afternoon, back and forth.” Picnickers may imbibe at their discretion in accordance with relevant city bylaws, though glass bottles are discouraged.

Music-wise, DJs Vilify and duo Accords & Désaccords will rock the boat with “smoother” styles until DJ Mini sets up on terra firma at 5 p.m. for a more dance-y vibe. The whole sha-bang is part of a nationwide initiative by Parks Canada to mark the 125th anniversary of Canada’s first national park, Banff.

So could this party and its oversized, Wonderland-ish decor feasibly land Montreal in the Guinness Book? “We looked into it,” says Fournier. “The biggest picnic blanket is way bigger. I think it can be viewed from space,” he jokes. “If it takes off this year, and next year we go for a longer blanket—maybe!”

THE FUNK N’ JAZZ FESTIVAL TAKES
PLACE AT THE TERRASSE STAMBROISE
(THE REAR OF THE CENTRE
ST-AMBROISE), 2–10 P.M.
PIKNIC ELEKTRONIC@LACHINE CANAL
TAKES PLACE AT THE PEEL BASIN
(BETWEEN RICHMOND
AND DU SÉMINAIRE), 1–7 P.M.
BOTH EVENTS HAPPEN ON SATURDAY,
AUG. 28, FREE