Montreal Jazz festival

[Ed S]

  Free For All said:

  Ed Swinnich said:

The beer though, is a somewhat on the expensive side..... c'est la vie.

I remember going to Montreal and enjoying....

......which I've never seen in the states.

These days, you'd better like the official offering of the official beer sponsor. The past few years its been Heineken.

Edited July 7, 2008 by Ed Swinnich

[Ed S]

Just got back from the festival yesterday. Had an excellent time.

I just hung out at the free shows and heard some excellent music as well as some that was a lot different than what I usually listen to - some of which I enjoyed, some of which I did not. The nice thing is that there's typically at least 2 other stages going at the same time and there's usually something good at one of them.

Highlights for me were at my usual stops - the small "Club Jazz" outdoor stage where I heard some pretty good stuff - some local guy named Arden Arapyan, a US NY City based group - The Chris Tarry Group (outstanding) - and a Mexican trio named Sacbe - who were also very good.

On the Blues stage I particularly enjoyed Nick Moss and the Fliptops and the final concert I saw this year - a kick ass performance by Sonny Landreth

Heard a lot of other great stuff at various other stages - Marc Atkinson Trio and a very Truffazzian group call the Ekotones - among them.

All in all, very enjoyable.

[Popkin]

I got to see McCoy Tyner on July 1st (with Ravi Coltrane). The concert was billed as "remembering John Coltrane" but they only played Tyner songs from after he left Coltrane (which isn't a bad thing, I'm not complaining). The playing was pretty great, but the sound system was miserable. For the piano sounded bad, the drums were too loud, and worst of all you could barely hear the bass player (really muddy and indistinct). Also, for the first 10-15 minutes of the concert they had something else coming out of the speakers (like the radio or something). The volume was low, but during quiet moments it was really obvious.

Anyone else who was in Montreal have similar experiences? Since I spent $60 on the tickets, I was hoping for better sound.

[Van Basten II]

I remember a gig at the Monument National where a similar thing happening when there was someinterference by radio waves and the sound system. Salle Jean Duceppe is not known to have the best sound. Can't really say that none of the settings in the Place des Arts are offering great sound though.

If you want to have a good sound experience go to the Gésu.

In other news , organisators want to bring back Brubeck to celebrate the 50th of Take five. Here's an idea when Brubeck will die since they are so enamored with him why don't they ask for the body, stuff him and they will be able to expose him every year..

[tkeith]

Since we are talking about Montreal, I recommend checking this guy out if you get the chance:

Matthieu Belanger

Saw him as a sideman at Upstairs last fall with a band that, frankly, wasn't in his league.