JAZZ FEST BOOKS FEIST
Etheridge, Bazini also in lineup
When the Montreal International Jazz Festival unveiled the complete ticketed indoor program for its 38th edition Tuesday morning, there was a distinction to be drawn between the biggest name and the biggest news.
The biggest name is undeniably Bob Dylan, whose June 30 Bell Centre concert is being co-presented by the jazz fest.
But the show had been announced in March.
The festival has taken to dropping more and more teasers ahead of the full program announcement in recent years, so prospective ticket buyers were also already aware of concerts by reunited Quebec jazz-fusion adventurers UZEB (June 29, Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier of Place des Arts); a double bill of saxophonist Charles Lloyd and Hudson, a project featuring Jack DeJohnette, Larry Grenadier, John Medeski and John Scofield (June 30, Maison symphonique); flamenco-pop legends the Gipsy Kings (July 1, Théâtre Maisonneuve of Place des Arts); the Orchestre Métropolitain performing a live soundtrack to a screening of La La Land (July 2, Salle WilfridPelletier); fusion bassist Stanley Clarke’s self-titled band (July 3, Théâtre Maisonneuve); constantly mutating progressive-rock royalty King Crimson (July 3, Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier); cocktail-hour favourites Pink Martini (two shows July 8, Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier); and nuevo-flamenco mainstay Jesse Cook (two shows July 8, Maison symphonique), among others.
That still leaves plenty of the program to explore.
Here are some highlights from among the newly announced shows, going venue by venue.
Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier: Feist — whose most recent jazz fest concert was an outdoor blowout in 2013 — may be the biggest ticket in the big-ticket Événements spéciaux TD series. She performs July 4. Also new to the program are trip-hop throwbacks Thievery Corporation (July 1), wellmatched double bills of Melissa Etheridge and Joss Stone (July 5) and the O’Jays and the Four Tops (July 6), and ambitious Quebec soul-pop wunderkind Bobby Bazini (July 7).
Théâtre Maisonneuve: Two more double bills will be presented down the hall in Place des Arts, as AfroCuban trumpeter Arturo Sandoval teams up with saxophonist/flutist Jane Bunnett’s Maqueque (July 5) and Lisa Simone (daughter of the mighty Nina) is matched with boogie-woogie crowd-pleaser Michael Kaeshammer (July 6). The Harlem Gospel Choir (June 30) and Spanish singer Buika (July 4) are also on the program.
Maison symphonique: It’s impossible to go wrong with the Montreal Jubilation Gospel Choir, which revisits its 1990 album Glory Train on July 2. Steel-lunged saxophonist Colin Stetson is on a bill with Armenian pianist Tigran Hamasyan (July 1). Festival favourite Joshua Redman brings his Still Dreaming quartet, featuring Ron Miles, Scott Colley and Brian Blade interpreting the music of Ornette Coleman alumni; their July 4 concert is a double bill alongside Panamanian pianist Danilo Pérez’s trio.
Metropolis: Quebec singer-songwriter Charlotte Cardin has added a third show at the venue on July 1, with previously announced concerts on the bookending nights. Soul dynamo Charles Bradley is back with his Extraordinaires (July 4), while rapper Joey Bada$$ scares off the jazz purists (July 5). Elegant Quebec chamber-pop collective Groenland is matched with like-minded Brooklynites San Fermin (July 7), and Serena Ryder’s holy holler will fill the room on July 8. Club Soda: Social-media-savvy Londoner Jacob Collier (July 1)
and songwriter’s songwriter Ron Sexsmith (July 2) are among the additions to the venue’s 6 p.m. Les Couleurs SAQ lineup. Standouts in the 10 p.m. Les Nuits Heineken roster include Montreal electropop elders Men Without Hats (July 2) and upstarts Kroy and Geoffroy (July 6), a U.K. bill of modern jazzers Portico Quartet and Binker & Moses (July 3), and Sheepdogs spinoff Bros (July 8).
Monument National: One of the venues more likely to offer safe haven for those who come to the jazz festival for jazz. South Korea’s Youn Sun Nah sings on opening night (June 28), while virtuoso bassist Christian McBride returns on July 1. English classical/ jazz pianist Gwilym Simock is on a double bill with the trio Phronesis (July 3). Trumpeter Dave Douglas and saxophonist Chet Doxas present their Riverside project, featuring pianist Carla Bley (July 6). Blues bender Harry Manx adds yet another notch to his jazz-fest belt on July 7, accompanied by the string quartet Quatuor esca.
Gesù: The venue hosts another round of the lovingly curated Invitation TD series at 6 p.m. The Bad Plus is up first; the flexible trio performs alone on June 29, then teams up with saxophonist Rudresh Mahanthappa (June 30) and guitarist Kurt Rosenwinkel (July 1). Guitarist/vocalist John Pizzarelli’s quartet helms a conceptual trio of shows, spotlighting singer Catherine Russell in a Frank Sinatra/Billie Holiday tribute (July 3), Pizzarelli’s wife Jessica Molaskey in an evening of Joni Mitchell and Paul McCartney songs (July 4), and a 50th-anniversary tribute to Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s self-titled 1967 recording that features the latter’s grandson Daniel Jobim (July 5). Saxophonist Ravi Coltrane’s three shows include a duo with pianist David Virelles (July 6), a quartet with guitarist Adam Rogers, bassist Yunior Terry and drummer E.J. Strickland (July 7), andaconcertwithtrombonistRobin Eubanks and trumpeter Jason Palmer (July 8). The Bill Frisell/ Thomas Morgan duo (July 2), pianist Lorraine Desmarais’s trio tribute to Bill Evans (July 7) and L’Orchestre national de jazz (July 8) are among the additions to the Gesù’s 10:30 p.m. night-owl lineup.
L’Astral: The cosy club hosts young pianist Daniel Clarke Bouchard and genre-hopping firebrand Xenia Rubinos in separate shows on June 29. Sisters Christine and Ingrid Jensen take the stage the following night with guitarist Ben Monder, who played on David Bowie’s album Blackstar. Fresh from his collaboration with the Bad Plus (see above), Kurt Rosenwinkel performs on July 2. Quebec trumpeters Hichem Khalfa and Rachel Therrien play on July 3 and 7, respectively, while B.C.-born trumpeter Bria Skonberg makes her festival debut on July 3. Jazz-swing combo Misses Satchmo and New York busking sensation Too Many Zooz are both booked for July 5. Montreal natives Dessy Di Lauro and Ric’key Pageot visit from L.A. with their “neo-ragtime” project Parlor Social on July 8.