The event
Pierre Kwenders
José Luis & the Paradox of Love earned its author, Pierre Kwenders, the prestigious Polaris Prize in September. Which is well deserved. On this third disc, his softest and most intimate, he mixes with communicative skill his African roots (coupé-décalé, Congolese rumba, etc.) with house, rap and pop, in a series of shifts and melted. It’s going to dance on the Place des Arts esplanade!
Alexandre Vigneault, The Press
Club Montreal TD, 11 p.m.
Discovery
Clerel
PHOTO RICHARD BERNARDIN, PROVIDED BY THE ARTIST
Clerel
With his god-blessed voice, it’s almost impossible to imagine that Clerel nearly made a career out of chemistry, the field he studied in, rather than music. But when he visited the museum of the legendary Stax label (Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes, Booker T. & the M. G.’s) in Memphis in 2012, the native Cameroonian experienced a kind of epiphany. After arriving in Montreal in 2013, this heir to the great soul tradition gave up science for his guitar, a decision that has since been approved by anyone who has the opportunity to hear, even for a few seconds, one of his songs.
Dominic Tardif, The Press
Gesu, at 10:30 p.m.
really jazzy
Annahstasia
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE JAZZ FESTIVAL
Annahstasia
On day seven of a ten-day musical marathon, by dint of engulfing notes and exhilarating music, a little lull. Annahstasia Enuke arrives with a sensibility dangerously crumpled like a huge breath of fresh air in the middle of a summer evening. No claiming harangue, but a crazy romanticism, it necessarily implies that we walk in the beautiful; those who put on his new record revival in their ears will agree. The American’s Nigerian roots add to the enigmatic and obscure vocal fabric of her singing tour. The neo-jazz spiritual balm that feels good.
Claude Côté, special collaboration
Rio Tinto Stage, 8 p.m.