44th Montreal International Jazz Festival | André 3000, Orville Peck and Laufey at Jazz

Orville Peck, André 3000, Norah Jones, Robert Glasper, Laufey and many others… The 44^e Montreal International Jazz Festival (FIJM) will welcome, between June 27 and July 6, a variety of artists from the jazz scene and all its derivatives. Here are five highlights of the FIJM’s 2024 program, unveiled on Tuesday.

The big names on the poster

More than 350 shows will be presented as part of the Jazz Festival this summer, in the heart of Montreal. Two thirds of these concerts are offered free of charge. Festival-goers will once again have the opportunity to see renowned artists on the outdoor stages of the Place des Festivals. In particular, they will be able to resume their missed meeting with country musician Orville Peck (who canceled his tour last year), during a major concert on the main stage (TD stage). Canadian singer-songwriter Charlotte Day Wilson will bring her haunting modern R&B to the same stage. Still for a free concert, the popular American rapper Freddie Gibbs, accompanied by El Michels Affair, will also take the TD stage, as will Robert Glasper (with his guests) the next day and Thee Sacred Souls the following day. André 3000, one of the two members of Outkast and one of the very good catches of the FIJM this year, will present his surprising flute album, a cross between new age and jazz, at the Wilfrid-Pelletier room. In the same room, Norah Jones will offer two performances in a row, just before Pink Martini, who will also give two concerts.

The local scene shines

If the Jazz Festival offers the chance to see great international artists in Montreal, it is also an opportunity to witness the performances of local talents on the same stages as the Orville Pecks and Norah Jones of this world. It is Montrealer Martha Wainwright who will open Norah Jones’ two performances. Pianist Alexandra Stréliski, whose fame outside our borders continues to grow, will also give two concerts at the Maison symphonique, accompanied by a chamber orchestra. A few days earlier, Leif Vollebekk will open the festival at the Maison Symphonique with a show presenting his brand new album. Currently conquering European audiences, Elisapie will return to Quebec in the coming months for a series of concerts, one of which will be presented at the Théâtre Maisonneuve as part of the FIJM. Dominique Fils-Aimé, Helena Deland, Kid Koala (for three concerts), Geoffroy and Planet Giza are also on the bill, as is Apashe and his brass orchestra, who will take to the main outdoor stage for a large-scale concert. Already announced, the musical tribute show to Jean-Marc Vallée, bringing together Elisapie, Alexandra Stréliski, Martha Wainwright, Beyries and Maxime Le Flaguais, promises an evening with a local flavor and strong emotions.

Jazz, jazz and jazz

The jazz scene obviously takes up a good part of the bill. Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Norah Jones, Pink Martini and Marcus Miller, some of whom are festival regulars, will all be in Montreal next summer. One of jazz’s favorite rising figures, Icelandic Laufey, will present two concerts rather than one: the first, in matinee mode, at the Maison symphonique, and the following, the same day, at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier. The list is long and includes the French jazz-funk group Cortex, the American trumpeter Keyon Harrold (who has collaborated with Erykah Badu, Jay-Z and Beyoncé) as well as the duo formed by the young trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and bassist Dave Holland. The British SHABAKA will, like André 3000, resonate the sound of the flute at the FIJM, just like the American multi-instrumentalist Chief Adjuah. A tribute will be paid to the legend (and great FIJM regular) Oliver Jones during the show entitled Oliver Jones at 90: A Celebration with Friends. Around twenty artists will take the stage at the Jean-Duceppe Theater to honor the Montreal musician.

Hip-hop to Jazz

Still as popular in the musical landscape, hip-hop is once again in the spotlight through the festival programming. Killer Mike is expected at MTELUS, while Erick The Architect will play at Club Soda. Representative of the local scene, Planet Giza will make its first appearance at the FIJM during a free concert at the very end of the evening, in the middle of the festival. Rising R&B singer Yaya Bey, from Brooklyn, will open for popular Australian neo soul band Hiatus Kaiyote on the main stage as the festival opens on June 27.

Discoveries and favorites

One of the discoveries to be made during this long summer week will certainly be the singer Yazmin Lacey, a British singer in her thirties who recently arrived in the music world, whose jazz and soul will convince many festival-goers. Even less known, but worthy of attention, the experimental pop artists L’Rain and Saya Gray, the cellist Aneesa Strings or the poet Aja Monet (whose participation in the series Tiny Desk from NPR is stunning) will all be performing at Studio TD for evenings inviting discovery. Some artists on the program do not quite meet the description that we can have of jazz, nor even of its most distant derivatives. Among them, Kurt Vile and the Violators, a rock band that the public will find at MTELUS. In the same room, the Baltimore group Future Islands will offer the closing show, on the last day of the FIJM. The Malian Vieux Farka Touré, the Nigerian group Etran de l’Aïr and the South African group The Brother Moves On will come to represent their corner of Africa on the stages of the FIJM, which once again gives a great place to artists from the continent.

Ticket sales for paid concerts will begin on April 12, at 10 a.m.

Consult the programming schedule