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Dobbin's 'hood
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Our elder statesman of jazz lists his FIJM picks
by LEN DOBBIN
As is has for the last 17 years, Jennifer Bell's great little band Streetnix will kick off the Festival outdoors, at the plaza of Place des Arts at noon today, June 28. This is my little attempt to lead you to what promise to be some of the memorable events. To keep the verbiage to a minimum I would ask that you go to pages 128-129 of the free, official program for further descriptions, times and locales of the concerts listed herein.
For those of you on a budget we begin with the free events. For big band fans, there are the Tokyo Bluesky Orchestra, CJAD All City Big Band, Denny Christianson Big Band and one led by Guy Nadon. Staying with drummers, Nadon also appears in two other settings and Martin Auguste, as well as last year's Grand Prix winner Eduardo Pipman, also make street appearances. Three vocalists worth noting are Patricia O'Callaghan, Diane Nalini and Susi Hyldgaard, a singer/pianist/ accordionist.
For the guitar fancier there's Harold Faustin, Carl Naud and Greg Amirault (who hooks up harmonica virtuoso Howard Levy for a pair of concerts). You also have three very distinctive pianists in Dave Restivo, Daniel Thouin and another Grand Prix winner, Jean-François Groulx. Blues artists include Sonny Landreth, Dawn Tyler Watson and the Stephen Barry Blues Band.
For Latin lovers, I suggest Joe Armando and the Cuban Puentes Brothers. Then there's the Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band and Matt Darriau--klezmer meets the Balkans is the description here. Of the 10 groups competing for this year's Grand Prix, check out François Richard and don't miss the multi-talented Bryn Roberts.
Moving indoors and skipping anything that's sold out, I would recommend Charles Lloyd's Quintet featuring John Abercrombie, Geri Allen, Marc Johnson and Billy Hart, one of Pepper Adams's favourite drummers. Then don't miss the out of sight Joe Lovano Nonet with a marvellous program taken from the Grammy-Award-winning 52nd Street Themes, my CD pick of the year 2000. If you missed Jimmy Scott last time you have another chance to hear this most distinctive singer. The new vocalist on the scene, garnering the most ink, Jane Monheit makes two appearances, as does the superb Dorothée Berryman in the same series.
If you don't like large street crowds, try Steve Lacy's concert on the night of the Groove Alla Turca extravaganza. One of our major talents, altoman Remi Bolduc, also is well worth hearing with a quartet of Zack Lober, Dave Laing and the vastly underappreciated pianist Kenny Werner.
This year's Juno Award winner, another altoman, François Carrier also makes an appearance with Pierre Côté, Michel Lambert and special guest Steve Amirault whose trio is (thankfully) once again the jam session host in the foyer of Wyndham Hotel. Round those out with a pair of big bands: Vic Vogel's featuring Freddie Hubbard and the Gil Evans Orchestra. Inside or out, here's wishing you all a great Festival.
With Superhalo and the Cobras at Jailhouse Rock on Friday, June 29, 9pm, $6
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