Montreal International Jazz Festival | Our collaborator’s wanderings

Our jazz specialist collaborator shares with us his favorites in and outside the 44^e edition of the Montreal International Jazz Festival.

Marcus Miller

Maisonneuve Theater, the 1^er July

The legendary 65-year-old American bassist, bass clarinet player and film director has further expanded his horde of admirers with this new Montreal stopover. The opportunity was too good for the festival’s co-founder, André Ménard, to present him with the Miles Davis Award, a statuette bearing the image of the great trumpeter taken from an engraving drawn by the latter.

In refined and polished French, Miller demonstrated all his class and gratitude by emphasizing the importance of the Montreal festival, insisting on leaving the precious object on the stage where, flanked by four musicians, he roared his Fender Jazz Signature bass for our greatest pleasure.

Marcus Miller gave us a master class: Tutu (with a nod to the immortelle So What taken from Kind of Blue), followed later by a tribute to David Sanborn – the most imitated alto saxophonist on the planet, who died this year – and Maputo (1986), the smooth jazz instrumental with urban motifs co-composed by Bob James, Run for Cover (1981) from the disc Voyeur from Sanborn, Mr. Pastorius (1989) by Miles Davis, etc. A setlist dream !

Thee Sacred Souls

TD scene at Place des Festivals, July 2

With all this wave of classic soul vocalists falling upon us, the proposal of the trio from San Diego captivated all the souls present for this meeting mixing this musical style and gospel structured with skin-deep ballads.

With their sound vintagewe were able to taste the new album Got a Story to Tell (Daptone Records), which reveals the calm of intimate melodies and celestial vocal harmonies, especially thanks to Josh Lane’s falsetto voice which hits the mark every time by multiplying pleas and confidences in front of thousands of receptive hearts. A communion of all moments, in perfect harmony with the public!

His Romance of Pera

Rio Tinto Stage, July 3

The Mexican, Colombian and Peruvian cumbias of the impetuous Gama brothers with their many tattoos were served with an attitude that was as radical as ever: the modus operandi of the quintet. At the heart of the affair, the marimba, this Latin xylophone with padouk wood blades on which the pair of brothers toil with four hands to make a more modern folklore, more trash.

They were expected, on this day of intermittent rain, these five rascals from the neighborhoods from Mexico City, always ready to fan this musical lead flow with festive energy.

The band formed in 2017, which played at the Coachella festival this year, is a formidable transmitter of tradition. By incorporating ska, punk attitude and rock influenced by The Clash and Green Day, it produces a collection of furious tracks, as evidenced by its two albums, Batuco (2020) and Chimborazo (2023). We got our jerseys wet, as they say in football, Euro and Copa America oblige!

Kenny Garrett

Jean-Duceppe Theater, July 4

The 63-year-old alto saxophonist and his four musicians have unashamedly taken over the august venue of theatre people with the album released in 2021 under their arm. Sounds from the Ancestorsa landmark work in his immense discography. The arrangement of the musicians, all grouped at the front of the stage, greatly contributed to the appreciation of the exchanges between the protagonists, as much by the range of percussions heard as by the desired contribution of a vocalist who came to mix the shekere, this percussive instrument so close to the Yoruba nation, one of the great ethnic groups of Africa that the doctor evokes honoris causa of Berklee in its musical diversity.

His breath on the instrument is always as nuanced and nourishing, full of tasty solos and augmented by interventions full of wisdom from the oldest members of his group, among others on the invigorating When the Days Were Different and on the room Hargrovea nod to the late trumpeter Roy Hargrove. In the area of ​​detailed music, Garrett takes great care in the melodic choices of the eight tracks on Sounds from the Ancestors. A great jazz concert, what!

Joel Ross & Good Vibes

Molson Pub, July 4

Born in the Southside of Chicago, the 29-year-old vibraphonist is a faithful propagator of the music of the jazz pioneers who paved the way on the baroque instrument made of metal blades and resonance tubes. In the short history of the festival, we first think of what we have seen: Milt Jackson and his group VSOP in 1982 and the great Lionel Hampton at the Saint-Denis around 1985, then the avant-garde Gary Burton and Bobby Hutcherson who offered more adventurous music with charm and precarious balance.

This sound update proposed by Ross is of tremendous relevance when we let ourselves be carried away by the unlimited feeling of this young man jazz cat. Here he is, more spirited than ever, in the near-darkness of the Pub Molson stage, alongside a pianist with clear-cut propositions, a double bass player clearly versed in impressionist motifs and a drummer whose playing recalls that of the rebellious Jack DeJohnette. In short, a vigorous rhythm section that gave good vibrations to the vibraphonist of the Blue Note label.

Jack De Keyzer

Rogers Stage, July 5

The blues series returned to the Parterre symphonique, with a more energetic twist last Friday. party The long-awaited blues show by fans has indeed taken place, with two high-flying shows by the veteran Ontario guitarist whose blue concoction once again proves to be the exact confluence of white rock and black music.

It was beautiful to see: De Keyzer happily shredding the 12 bars of the blues with great claw strokes and who enjoys crushing his wah wah and his pedals with the same conviction, surrounded by a squad of old hands: Richard Thornton on tenor sax, Rick Donaldson on drums, Nick Sussi on bass and Sam Heineman on piano. A treat at all times!

Together, they have the ability to move from pure blues to danceable soul with ease. And it shows, as evidenced by their most recent album Tributeor on his previous works. In the entertainment section, Jack De Keyzer is alone on the roof of Canada. Period.