The last of the lasts, really? When we witnessed the end of his farewell tour last March Damn Right Farewell in Greensboro, North Carolina, 86-year-old Buddy Guy didn’t look like a bedridden man getting ready to put his Fenders away. In his boyish overalls, Mr. Chicago had turned up his amp to a volume that would have made Neil Young wince and used the word beginning with F with such freedom that the most naughty of rappers would have blushed. It’s a safe bet that he will be, during this FIJM, the only octogenarian to play a guitar solo with his teeth.
Dominic Tardif, The Press
Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, at 7:30 p.m.
Sam Gendel
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE MONTREAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
Sam Gendel
Sam Gendel is one of the intrigues of this festival. Coming from the Los Angeles jazz scene, this saxophonist offers a rather unique mix of ambient free jazz, psychedelia, hip-hop rhythms and current music in the most experimental sense of the term. He grew up with Coltrane and Roland Kirk, but is rather compared to Jon Hassell for his doctored sounds and hypnotic atmospheres. The guy is ultra-prolific (12 albums in six years), ultra-conceptual (his penultimate album was inspired by Japanese fabric patterns) and his new galette (Cookup) pays homage to the R’n’B of the 1990s, with ultra-personal covers by Erykah Badu, Beyonce or BoyzIIMen. In addition, his concert is ultra-free!
Jean-Christophe Laurence, The Press
10 p.m., Studio TD, free admission
John Scofield
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE JAZZ FESTIVAL
John Scofield
The venerable guitarist from Connecticut has punctually set foot in Montreal since his breathtaking solos with Miles Davis in 1982, he even received the prize named in honor of the glorious trumpeter in 1998 and the ultimate honor of an Invitation Series where the jazzman was given carte blanche to concoct collaborative and unique evenings. At 71, he can boast of having played with Joe Lovano, Chet Baker, Charlie Haden, Jack DeJohnette, Medeski, Martin & Wood, Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock to name a few. A very large size of the handle, the quintessence of free and uninhibited jazz!
Claude Côté, special collaboration
8 p.m., Monument-National
Hailu Mergia
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE MONTREAL JAZZ FESTIVAL
Hailu Mergia
It is a discovery and it is not. Discovered because outside the circle of Ethiopian music aficionados, Hailu Mergia is a complete stranger. Not a discovery because this 77-year-old keyboardist/organist is a living legend of “ethiojazz”, a style made famous in the late 1990s by the brilliant series of Ethiopians. Mergia is also a survivor, having fled the Derg dictatorship in the mid-1970s to settle in Washington, where he became a taxi driver and restaurant owner. Forgotten for more than 20 years, he resurfaced 5 years ago, thanks to a new album and the reissue of his old records, including the fabulous Tezeta, recorded in Ethiopia just before his exile. From the rare visit and quite an honor to have him at the Jazz…
Jean-Christophe Laurence, The Press
Loto-Québec stage, 6 p.m. and 10 p.m.