Van Basten II Posted April 25, 2015 Report Posted April 25, 2015 (edited) You are used to read me whine and bitch about what they offer us, well suprise not this year, Of they are still WTF acts that are part of the thing like Huey Lewis and the News or Steve Miller Band but overall for overall music fans and jazz there is plenty to dig. Here are few of the highlites and picks (Not always jazz) for each day of the festival and June the 26th Avishai Cohen duo with Renee Rosnes A Filetta with Paolo Fresu and Daniele Di Bonaventura Rabih Abou-Khalil Theo Croker Omer Avital Quintet featuring Johnathan Blake (drums), Joel Frahm (sax), Eli Degibri (sax), Yonathan Avishai (piano) June the 27th Avishai Cohen trio Taj Mahal, John Mayall, James Cotton Enrico Rava Quintet, Tribe My Brightest Diamond Phronesis June the 28th Christian Scott Quintet Avishai Cohen trio with guest Kurt Rosenwinkel The Bad Plus with Joshua Redman Robert Glasper trio Johnny O’Neal June the 29th Kurt Rosenwinkel New Quartet with Aaron Parks, Eric Revis and Allan Mednard Erykah Badu Ron Miles, Brian Blade & Bill Frisell, GoGo Penguin Jaga Jazzist Heads of State with Buster Williams, Gary Bartz, Al Foster and Larry Willis June the 30th Marianne Trudel 4 and Ingrid Jensen Wayne Shorter Quartet Harold Mabern / Jeremy Pelt / Brandi Disterheft / Joe Farnsworth Dave Douglas, High Risk with Shigeto, Jonathan Maron and Mark Guiliana King Sunny Ade July the 1st Richard Galliano, duo avec Sylvain Luc. Hommage à Édith Piaf Thomas Carbou trio with David Binney Sophie Hunger John Scofield, Joe Lovano quartet with Bill Stewart and Larry Grenadier Vijay Iyer trio Naomi Shelton & The Gospel Queens | Charles Bradley & His Extraordinaires Gilad Hekselman Quartet feat. Mark Turner July the 2nd Abdullah Ibrahim solo Madeleine Peyroux Natalie Prass Russell Malone Quartet Somi, The Lagos Music Salon It maybe the weakest night of the festival July the 3rd Abdullah Ibrahim Mukashi trio Triple bill with Lucinda Williams, the Mavericks and Justin Townes Earle Solo André Leroux Eliane Elias, Made in Brazil with Marc Johnson, Rubens De La Corte and Rafael Barata Marc Cary trio Dee Dee Bridgewater with Irvin Mayfield and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra July the 4th Abdullah Ibrahim et Ekaya Patricia Barber Ron Carter Quartet with Renee Rosnes, Payton Crossley, Rolando Morales Ala.Ni John Medeski solo July the 5th, last day and about of the number of usual paying gigs Uri Caine solo Hindi Zahra Outside (free) programmation has not been announced yet, so anybody wants to come ? http://www.montrealjazzfest.com/default-en.aspx Edited April 25, 2015 by Van Basten II Quote
mjzee Posted April 25, 2015 Report Posted April 25, 2015 Abdullah Ibrahim & Ekaya?!? Wow! Lotsa good stuff there. Quote
Van Basten II Posted April 25, 2015 Author Report Posted April 25, 2015 Yep contrary to last year when I attended a 21st century low 11 gigs , I should be attending more than 20 concerts this year, quite excited if you add the Suoni who'll bring acts like PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE'S LARGE UNIT and Matana Robert, it should be a fine summer. Quote
Van Basten II Posted June 25, 2015 Author Report Posted June 25, 2015 Cancellation bug has hit hard, all the Avishai Cohen concerts have been cancelled, Taj Mahal has been replaced by Harry Manx and King Sunny Ade also has been taken out of the schedule Quote
kh1958 Posted June 26, 2015 Report Posted June 26, 2015 (edited) http://www.wsj.com/articles/visa-glitch-hits-visiting-performers-1435183128 Computer problems at the US State Department resulted in King Sunny Ade not getting a visa and his tour being cancelled. Edited June 26, 2015 by kh1958 Quote
Van Basten II Posted June 26, 2015 Author Report Posted June 26, 2015 On the positive side , glad it is not an health related issue .... Quote
Van Basten II Posted June 27, 2015 Author Report Posted June 27, 2015 Abou-Khalil and his quartet was a whole lot of fun. He was also very funny in his comments between pieces. After a long and warm applause for a song , he asked the audience do you want that we play it again. Saw the project NettWork , I'll safely stick to say that it was not my cup of tea. Quote
Van Basten II Posted June 28, 2015 Author Report Posted June 28, 2015 (edited) Very enjoyable evening yesterday , saw an good trio led by South-African leader Kyle Shepherd , , those who dig powers trio à la Bad Plus and Cowley should check them out , very modern sound .Enjoyed Enrico's Rava's quintet , the Italian may have reduced the lenght of his show after an hour it was already encore time but with groups like his, it still is high quality high level music, whether it's his own compositions or reworks a well known piece they all are done with flair and substance. Not exactly sure what makes Phronesis to be so popular,and getting adoring crowds, there really was a difference in the behaviour of fans between the usual jazz crowd and this one,as it had a a bit of electricity in the air throughout the set. At some point the leader asked the audience to follow them for all the gigs they'll do next.. There is no denying though that they are a very fine outfit , solid aerial songs played .without rarely falling into the trap of overplaying it. They remind me a bit of Jean-Philippe Viret trio so why do they get the hype and not Viret ? Not really sure. That said they are worth the price of admission. Best moment of the evening though belongs to a first part , as I mentionned Rava does not play long sets so he asked two members of his group to soldier on and deliver a duet , pianist Giovanni Guidi and trombonist Petrella delivered an exquisite set of luxurious compositions played with warmth and rafinement . Rava talks about Italian miracle when he comments about the brand of Italian jazz , I think we witnessed one yesterday with these two playing their project called Soupstar.My spies tell me there is a recording in the makings. . Tonight with the cancellation of Avishai Cohen, only got one gig remaining as Robert Glasper comes back in Montreal. Other worthy shows are in a similar schedule slot which prevents me from attending them. Edited June 29, 2015 by Van Basten II Usual typos Quote
Van Basten II Posted June 29, 2015 Author Report Posted June 29, 2015 According to a few spies Redman with Bad plus was very very good. Saw Robert Glasper, the young man is very talented but I still get the feeling I have yet to see the best of him, mostly doing pieces of his latest CD which is a cover album. Attending a Glasper concert can be an exercice. in frustration ,when he's his MC schtick between songs and can't help but feel he does not integrate completely his talented sidemen into the arrangement of his music gives me a strange sensation of half satisfaction. That said when he is on he is a mesmerizing musician. Just wished he found a live project where he'd be totally immersed in it Quote
BillF Posted June 29, 2015 Report Posted June 29, 2015 The Jazz Worriers (great name!) at Wigan yesterday. A hard bop quintet with Dean Masser on tenor and Neil Yates on trumpet and flugel. Quote
Van Basten II Posted June 29, 2015 Author Report Posted June 29, 2015 Wigan is now part of Montreal , I know a late mayor who must be doing cartwheels of joy in his grave Quote
Shawn Posted June 29, 2015 Report Posted June 29, 2015 Review of Steven Wilson's performance from the 27th.http://montrealgazette.com/entertainment/music/jazz-fest-review-steven-wilson-goes-for-art-and-his-audience-follows"The first proper song in Saturday’s nearly 2 ½-hour set contained more ideas than some acts can manage in a full show." Quote
Van Basten II Posted June 30, 2015 Author Report Posted June 30, 2015 Erikah Badu highlited my day delivering a kick ass performance turning the cold and stuffy Wilfrid Pelletier room into a dancehall, Amazing charismatic soul singer who showed her chops big time in front of adoring fans, when before the encore, the person in charge of the festival gave her an award for her career , you thought she scored three goals in a Stanley Cup final game for the Habs as people chanted her name. Heads of state with Bartz and Co was a nice outdated night cap, to be fair it was a rather radical transition from Badu to them. Quote
Van Basten II Posted July 2, 2015 Author Report Posted July 2, 2015 (edited) Vijay Iyer trio massive, probably one of the best trio concert I ever witnessed . Saw Dave Douglas with his project High risk, Douglas was in a fine form but not enterely convinced by the project itself, besides the drummer the other fellows didn't bring that much to the table, and it got a bit redundant fast. Edited July 6, 2015 by Van Basten II Quote
Van Basten II Posted July 3, 2015 Author Report Posted July 3, 2015 (edited) Abdullah Ibrahim solo kinda ruined by the photographs who took so many shots that you heard their gear over the quiet playing of Ibrahim, if it had lasted for about minutes, we could have lived with it but they did it for at least 20 minutes. Edited July 6, 2015 by Van Basten II Quote
Van Basten II Posted July 4, 2015 Author Report Posted July 4, 2015 Attended Lucinda Williams tripleheader Americana bill,. As a dancehall tex-mex band Mavericks are pretty hard to beat. Parts of Lucinda Williams act made me feel real sad and not in a good way. Quote
Van Basten II Posted July 6, 2015 Author Report Posted July 6, 2015 Festival ended yesterday, Abdullah Ibrahim with Ekaya was heart warming music at its finest. Uri Caine and John Medeski offered very fine solo sets . Caine showing his proficiency redoing classics in a crowd pleasing fashion while the lesx gifted Medeski worked his around doing a fine jone job of deconstructing music . Among the discoveruies count two thumbs up from yours truly for Pop-world Hindi Zahra . Overall it was a great festival on paper and it delivered, main bummer was the Cohen cancellation . Quote
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