Montreal jazz fest and Suoni 2010

[Van Basten II]

It's summertime and the whole music festival business is about to start. On the negative side the off-festival which featured gigs of local artist and some out-of town players was moved away from the usual late june spot. Reason being is the the big festival starts early around june the 25th. Don't know what will happen to the outside venue as the streets where it is taking places look like Beyrouth after a bombing.

Other casualty from this early date is the Suoni which used to cover the whole month of june has been shortened up a bit.

Still a lot of interesting music from both festivals this year.

Although if there is some criticism to give to the Suoni is that they now seem to rehash the same musicians from the other years, but that's a minor negative.

Now let's see what's in the schedule among the most jazz related shows of the Suoni.

The 10th offers us the come back of one of my favourite current rhythm section with William Parker and Hamid Drake with sax player Kidd Jordan.

The next show noteworthy is the Mathew Shipp trio his sidemen are Whit Dickey and Mike Bisio that is taking place the 15th.

Next day is the Vandermark 5

On the 19th Evan Parker is in the house leading a quartet with Gerd Dudek, Axel Dörner, & Christof Thewes

The following day we have the Globe Unity Orchestra

The marathon keeps on going with a third show in three days this time the priincipals are Alexander von Schlippenbach with Rudi Mahall & Paul Lytton

Finally the Suoni ends on a bang two days later the 23rd with Dutchmen Eric Boeren Quartet with Han Bennink, Michael Moore, & Wilbert de Joode

http://www.casadelpo...ontents/node/76

Will do later on a rundown of the regular festival, stay tuned

Edited June 2, 2010 by Van Basten II

[Van Basten II]

The Official big festival is a good one and some days with enough depth that makes you wonder what you're going to see. Of course most of the ads and media will mostly talk and focus about mainstream act that have nothing to do with jazz, Lionel Ritchie or Boz Scaggs anyone ? So for the purpose of this thread, i will focus on music more related to jazz with some excursions in worth seeing act beyond the blue note. Also i want to inform you that the outside schedule has yet to be announced, so the only gigs mentionned will be those in inside venues.

Ok let's start with june the 25th

The opening show is a weird one with a doubleheader starring Cassandra Wilson and Lionel Ritchie , the invitation series this year has three guests the first one is Paolo Fresu who will have as a first guest mercurial pianist Omar Sosa.

This year the festival is not only about big names , worth to discover Vijay Iyer will show his stuff with two different gigs he will play solo in the beautiful Chapelle du Bon Pasteur and end the night with the tasty series Jazz dans la nuit where he will be joined by the members of his trio. Also New Yorker by way of Cuba Yosvany Terry who visited us as a sideman with senor Rubalcaba a few years ago will be showing his stuff as a leader

Still in jazz related gigs going on that day a group of capable men such as Vernon Reid, Graham Haynes, DJ Logic, Melvin Gibbs, James Hurt, JT Lewis, Adam Rudolph and Antoine Roney will revisit Bitches Brew. Also David Sanborn will be there , i would not mention it but bringing Joey Defrancesco with him makes it worthy of a few words.

Finally if that is not enough for you in outside the jazz sphere music world poet, seems other descriptions are not apt, Gil Scott-Heron who offered us one of the best album of 2010 will be with us on this busy and exciting day. Finally if Flamenco is your thing there is a whole series devoted to this music , pianist Dorantes will kick it off.

As you can see that's a heck of a first day, for my part logistics made me settle on Scott-Heron and the late Iyer set with his trio.

Will post when I have the time for the following days.

Edited May 31, 2010 by Van Basten II

[Van Basten II]

June the 26th is not as deep as the first day but there will be plenty of fun for willing ears, for starters, you can catch up some of the gigs you missed the previous night as Dorantes will come back and the Wilson-Ritchie sold enough to warrant a second set in two nights.

Paolo Fresu will resume his invitation by bringing Ralph Towner, they'll probably play material from their latest collaboration, On the local side sax player Jean Derome will bring his unique style to the stage with his own band les Dangereux Zhoms. Meanwhile pianist Lorraine Desmarais will show her stuff all by herself in a solo concert.

If you care more about bigger names, Victor Wooten will be there although it is unknown which project and with who he's going to offer us, another well known name David Sanchez will have a gig at the same time if you fancy the Sanchez concert the clincher might be that Omar Sosa will play a solo set prior to the main act.

Finally if you enjoy the mix of electronics with jazz, two names to remember for this evening as Frenchman Ibrahim Maalouf will be playing at the Astral , a new place that was built in 2009 built in front of the lamented, departed and famed Spectrum and once again Jazz dans la nuit delivers another nice way of ending the evening with Nils Peter Molvaer .

Yours truly will see the Fresu-Towner gig followed by Ibrahim Maalouf

Edited May 31, 2010 by Van Basten II

[Van Basten II]

June the 27th is mostly a veteran's day as a few well known great old timers will be showcased. For starters The excellent local pianist Julie Lamontagne and her trio will have as a guest Houston Person, still on the local side le roi du drum 70something Guy Nadon will be at l'Astral. If you want legends well they don't get in this day and age bigger than Sonny Rollins and Herbie Hancock who will be present this day not on the same gig though. Among the sideman with Hancock will be the excellent guitarist Lionel Loueke. Even in the non-jazz side part veterans will be a main feature with Eric Burdon and the Animals leading a bill at the Metropolis also Ben Sidran will sing his unique own vision of Bob Dylan songs .

On the younger side of things dynamic and popular Mike Stern will be back in Montreal, the flamenco gig of the day will be brought by pianist Chano Dominguez, the European flavour of the day will be brought by accordeonist Daniel Mille finally Paolo Fresu will end his invitational series with guests Manu Katché and Nils Peter Molvaer.

For yours truly it will be Sidran and Hancock

[GregK]

Lionel Richie????

[Van Basten II]

Think of him as the tree that hides the forest

[sidewinder]

Lionel Richie????

Not the sort of Commodore set I had in mind...

[Hoppy T. Frog]

Lionel Richie????

Not the sort of Commodore set I had in mind...

[Van Basten II]

June the 28th after the previous busy day is more quiet, after Fresu it's now Manu Katché who will be the guest of the invitation series he will start with his own quartet, the jazz festival likes to bring a touch of exotism well they don't get any more exotic than Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu a blind indigenous australian singing in Yolngu dialect.

On the straighter side of things , the main people that will be worth checking out that day will be very talented sax player Chet Doxas who will play with Ben Charest ( Belleville rendez-vous), Roy Hargrove will showcase his big band project and finally the late night series brings Wallace Roney with his quintet starring Antoine Roney (saxophones), Rashaan Carter (double bass), Aruan Ortiz (keyboards) and Kush Abadey (drums).

Finally a blues doubleheader will take place at the Metropolis showcasing vetran Taj Mahal and The Fabulous Thunderbirds.

For yours truly it will be Yunupingu and Roney.

Edited June 1, 2010 by Van Basten II

[Van Basten II]

June the 29th will be the day of the big outside show, at this moment of writing it was not announced yet. It is usually an almost off day regarding inside gigs. However those who want to avoid the huge crowds that the big event usually attracts have still a few options this year. L'Astral will offer an homage to the late Len Dobbin which will feature the artist that was about to play when Len passed away at the Upstairs club last year, the pianist Felix Stussi will play with his formation plus fine Montreal trombonist Jean-Nicolas Trottier. Also the Flamenco series will keeep on be in action and will produce a show with Diego El cigala.

I will be attending both shows

Edited June 2, 2010 by Van Basten II

[Van Basten II]

June the 30th, for the last day of june we have a bit of everything, you like pianists well how about veteran local player François Bourassa playing solo in the Chapelle du Bon Pasteur, too churchlike for your tastes, well if you're more old school the bar Upstairs will feature Geoff Keezer who will accompany Joel Miller and his trio.

Like reconstituted standards, Porgy and Bess will be replayed by Ron Di Lauro and directed by Joe Muccioli.

Gypsy music afficionados won't want to miss the all star bash that will be

Gypsie Planet with Christian Escoudé, Marcel Azzola, Florin Niculescu, David Reinhardt, Darryl Hall and Jean-Baptiste Laya.

Modern music will have two of its finest representatives with the Christine Jensen big band which in my book delivered the best jazz CD of 2010 and later in the evening Dave Douglas with his formation Keystone will be another great demonstration of where jazz is in 2010.

Take notice that Manu Katché will end his series by bringing with him excellent guitarist Sylvain Luc and bass master Richard Bona

Finally if you are tired of be bop and wanna listen to hip hop, you can't go wrong by picking The Roots.

I will be attending the Jensen concert for the 3rd time in one year and will gladly see Dave Douglas to end the evening

Edited June 2, 2010 by Van Basten II

[Van Basten II]

Let's resume our trip through the programmation day by day. july the 1st is a national holiday here and generally a strong day regarding the programming and this year delivers

Basically they are two main intineraries you can try and both will be worth it

At 6 pm Robert Glasper will be among us for a few evenings and he starts his short residency playing with his trio. At 8h30 Terrance Blanchard and his quintet will take the place in the Théâtre Jean Duceppe and you can finish your evening with the formation Punk Bop that involves the talented group of Ari Hoenig , Tigran Hamasyan , Matt Penman, Gilad Hekselman.

The other way to go to have yourself a Masada Marathon, the first early part will showcase Zorn presents the groups Bar Kokhba, the Jamie Saft Trio, the Ben Goldberg Quartet, Mycale, Erik Friedlander performing solo, and the Masada Sextet and the late show will present performances by Mark Feldman and Sylvie Courvoisier, Dreamers, Uri Caine performing solo, the Masada String Trio and Electric Masada.

Going to Masada although a part of me wanted to see Glasper and Punk Bop but heck you gotta choose.

Edited June 5, 2010 by Van Basten II

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

June the 30th, for the last day of june we have a bit of everything, you like pianists well how about veteran local player François Bourassa playing solo in the Chapelle du Bon Pasteur, too churchlike for your tastes, well if you're more old school the bar Upstairs will feature Geoff Keezer who will accompany Joel Miller and his trio.

Like reconstituted standards, Porgy and Bess will be replayed by Ron Di Lauro and directed by Joe Muccioli.

Gypsy music afficionados won't want to miss the all star bash that will be

Gypsie Planet with Christian Escoudé, Marcel Azzola, Florin Niculescu, David Reinhardt, Darryl Hall and Jean-Baptiste Laya.

Modern music will have two of its finest representatives with the Christine Jensen big band which in my book delivered the best jazz CD of 2010 and later in the evening Dave Douglas with his formation Keystone will be another great demonstration of where jazz is in 2010.

Take notice that Manu Katché will end his series by bringing with him excellent guitarist Sylvain Luc and bass master Richard Bona

Finally if you are tired of be bop and wanna listen to hip hop, you can't go wrong by picking The Roots.

I will be attending the Jensen concert for the 3rd time in one year and will gladly see Dave Douglas to end the evening

I'll be hitting the Keezer show.

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

Checked out the Rafaël Zaldivar Trio last night. Weather's been sorta iffy....but a great street scene here.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

Let's resume our trip through the programmation day by day. july the 1st is a national holiday here and generally a strong day regarding the programming and this year delivers

The other way to go to have yourself a Masada Marathon, the first early part will showcase Zorn presents the groups Bar Kokhba, the Jamie Saft Trio, the Ben Goldberg Quartet, Mycale, Erik Friedlander performing solo, and the Masada Sextet and the late show will present performances by Mark Feldman and Sylvie Courvoisier, Dreamers, Uri Caine performing solo, the Masada String Trio and Electric Masada.

Going to Masada although a part of me wanted to see Glasper and Punk Bop but heck you gotta choose.

so do tell! that looks like an exhausting day - The Dreamers / Electric Masada would pull you thru.

[Van Basten II]

Hey Weezie, we almost crossed our paths, I attended the few first minutes of the Zaldivar gig at 9 pm before getting back to the Zorn marathon, glad you are enjoying yourself.

Forgot to update this thread, tonight is an amazing evening, you have Robert Glasper with Terrence Blanchard, Jack Dejohnette has his own project, Zorn is at it again this time with the odd pairing of Laurie Anderson and Lou Reed, outstanding guitarist Sylvain Luc has a solo outing, Tigran Hamasyan plays solo and Amhad Jamal is in town.

So far besides the Zorn Marathan other gigs thast standed out the most were Vijay Iyer in trio and Chano Dominguez who is an extraordinary pianist.

[Van Basten II]

Let's resume our trip through the programmation day by day. july the 1st is a national holiday here and generally a strong day regarding the programming and this year delivers

The other way to go to have yourself a Masada Marathon, the first early part will showcase Zorn presents the groups Bar Kokhba, the Jamie Saft Trio, the Ben Goldberg Quartet, Mycale, Erik Friedlander performing solo, and the Masada Sextet and the late show will present performances by Mark Feldman and Sylvie Courvoisier, Dreamers, Uri Caine performing solo, the Masada String Trio and Electric Masada.

Going to Masada although a part of me wanted to see Glasper and Punk Bop but heck you gotta choose.

so do tell! that looks like an exhausting day - The Dreamers / Electric Masada would pull you thru.

It was one of the best concert days of my life, now, the only set that was a bit subpar was Uri Caine whose music did not really fitted with the rest of the ensemble. Considering how short the sets were it was really easy to digest, heck I'm ready to see them all on a full course basis instead of the musical degustation. The tightness of the ensembles was quite phenomenal, was great to see Courvoisier and Feldman work out their magic back again. Mark Ribot was riveting to listen so was Cyro Baptista to watch and listen.

Ending with Electric masada which had the hardest music of all the formation showcased was a smart choice, although the selfish in me would have loved to see the evening ending with the original Masada quartet.

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

Hey Weezie, we almost crossed our paths, I attended the few first minutes of the Zaldivar gig at 9 pm before getting back to the Zorn marathon, glad you are enjoying yourself.

I caught the 7 pm one. Had a nice perch on an elevated platform opposite the stage --- a good spot for keeping an eye on the Hendrix look-alike strolling about in full Band of Gypsys regalia. Did you happen to see him? Too funny.

[Van Basten II]

The weather and my hectic schedule during these evenings makes it hard to do much crowdgazing, weather has not been great so far, and the ladies have yet to reveal more of their charms.

Caught Surman in duet with Howard Moody on church organ, now we can talk about Moody blues worthy of being in a jazz festival.

Tonight among our visitors outstanding young pianist Tigran Hamasyan will resume his solo spot, John Scofield will play with a Gospel band funnyman Robert Glasper will invite hip hop artist Bilal, another pianist worth checking out Tord Gustavsen in a quartet and finally the gig that has the more appeal to me Tomasz Stanko in a quintet.

If you wanna meet me , I'll be near the place where Keith Jarrett trio will play, I'll be selling vuvuzelas for the occasion

Edited July 3, 2010 by Van Basten II

[Son-of-a-Weizen]

The weather and my hectic schedule during these evenings makes it hard to do much crowdgazing, weather has not been great so far, and the ladies have yet to reveal more of their charms

If you wanna meet me , I'll be near the place where Keith Jarrett trio will play, I'll be selling vuvuzelas for the occasion.

Sadly, I've already departed town.

Scorecard:

Weather and 'charms' = 4.5

Beer = 6 (only Heineken being served????)

Music and Mussels = 9

[@Le Petit Moulinsart]

[Van Basten II]

Two words Tigran Hamasyan, a solo performance for the ages.

[tranemonk]

Caught the Keith Jarrett trio last night... A wonderful performance. An incredibly beautiful version of "My Ship." After the performance, (and despite multiple warnings from the announcer), Keith pulled his usually diva crap. As they were taking bows at the 3rd sign of a flash photo he cut the show refusing to do any encores.. I'm just grateful we got a gorgeous 90 minute performance before the usual Keith stuff...

[B. Clugston]

I hear that the Zorn/Anderson/Reed gig caused some controversy in that 200 people asked (and got) refunds because they thought they were in for a night of "Sweet Jane" and such. When told to play some music by a heckler, Zorn said "If you don't think that's music, get the fuck out of here!"

I find the over-reaction quite surprising. What were people expecting? The trio has already put out one CD of improv, Reed has been revisiting his Metal Machine Music days recently, Anderson is an avantgardist and Zorn is Zorn.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Walk+wild+side/3230426/story.html#ixzz0tUJuhSf2

http://www.montrealgazette.com/entertainment/Anderson+Reed+Zorn+raise+ruckus/3234057/story.html

[papsrus]

The caption on the photo at top of first linked article refers to Zorn as Michael Zorn, which kind hints that he might not be that well-known in Montreal? I find that hard to imagine, but maybe so, given the audience reaction.

I would have expected exactly the sort of performance that was described -- and probably avoided it in the first place.

[Van Basten II]

The Montreal Gazette is run by a bunch of clueless hacks. We're talking about the same piece of crap that ran an article about a Maria Schneider concert complaining about the way she dressed

http://communities.canada.com/montrealgazette/blogs/wordsandmusic/archive/2009/07/02/maria-with-the-long-bare-arms.aspx

Regarding the Zorn gig, I guess the people running the jazz fest while never claiming it was you typical Lou Reed concert, used him as a name to sell tickets. Remember the best tickets were at around 100 $, do you usually sell avant-garde music to this price ?

Edited July 13, 2010 by Van Basten II