Expect high energy in blowout concert
Anderson .Paak and the Free Nationals (9:30 p.m., TD Stage, Place des Festivals, free). Paak’s highly impressive disc Malibu, released last year, was a sonic delight, mixing rap, R&B and classic soul in a tour de force of style and production that somehow retained a future-jazz looseness. Prediction: while such audio perfectionism will be lost in a large outdoor blowout situation, expect the band to compensate with live energy.
ALSO
The Deslondes (5 and 7 p.m., Place Heineken, SteCatherine and Bleury Sts., free). You don’t generally expect a New Orleans band to put this much tuneful country and rough-edged harmony in its roadhouse rock ’n’ roll. At times sounding as if Doug Sahm had briefly joined Gram Parsons’s band, they make it all sound fabulous with top-notch songs. Those who remember the late, lamented group Rank and File will not want to miss this. Parlor Social with Dessy Di Lauro and Ric’key Pageot
(6 p.m., L’Astral, 305 SteCatherine St. W., $33 to $36). Not so much ragtime revivalists as post-hip-hop ragtime redefiners, this duo takes the old-school showmanship of Cab Calloway and beefs up the catchy speakeasy jive with throbbing electronics, all the while adopting a heavy dose of neo-soul. The buzz also tells us that this is a must-see live act. Blick Bassy: Tribute to Skip James (7 p.m., Cinquième Salle of Place des Arts, $38.75). The Cameroonian singer’s latest disc, Akö, honours bluesman Skip James, but its West African sounds, sung in Bassa — one of Cameroon’s 260 dialects — make its link with American blues a more spiritual one. So if the tribute idea goes somewhat beyond “covers” here, Bassy’s spare, delicate, haunting music — which even has traces of bossa nova — is its own history lesson. Tony Allen: Tribute to Art Blakey (8 p.m., MonumentNational, 1182 St-Laurent Blvd., $50.75). In another tribute show, Nigerian Afrobeat creator Allen celebrates the Jazz Messengers, founded by Blakey, another drummer ranked among the best to pick up a pair of sticks. A superb opportunity to consider how American jazz influenced Allen and how African rhythms left their mark on Blakey.