It’s the 32nd annual Festival International de Jazz de Montreal. MAGNET’s Mitch Myers translates the action.
Let’s jump right in. I’m back in Canada attending the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal. While the Undead Jazz Festival in New York this week offers plenty of quality improvisation and jazzy eclecticism for omnivorous music fans, our northern neighbors throw a party on a far larger and much wider scale. Speaking of NYC, I began my sojourn with a couple of Manhattan-based acts. The first was at my favorite venue, the small and intimate Gesù, with the David Binney Quartet. This particular quartet has played together for years and displays Binney’s strength as a composer as well as his prowess on the saxophone. Binney is a thoroughly modern alto player and produced a steady stream of intricate, creative lines of sound, but drummer Dan Weiss stole the show repeatedly with an impressive barrage of rhythmic counterpoint as the band laid down its carefully structured foundations. You can usually catch this quartet playing at the 55 Bar in NYC and should definitely do so.
Then it was off to the Théâtre Jean-Duceppe to see ace guitarist Marc Ribot’s trio, Ceramic Dog. Ribot has performed at the Montreal fest many times, and this year he’s hosting several nights with different musicians as part of the Invitation Series. Although the venue on Saturday was only half-full (or half-empty), the band put on a very powerful show. Ribot’s guitar was burning with intensity as Ches Smith pounded the drums (and added a series of electronic textures to the mix) with bassist Shahzad Ismaily prodding the group from underneath. They played a convincing version of Hendrix’s “The Wind Cries Mary,” but I preferred Brubeck’s “Take Five” where Ribot juxtaposed traditional jazz sounds with the bracing style of guitar heroes like Mike Bloomfield, Carlos Santana and B.B. King. This was a left-end-of-the-dial encounter and only points to Ribot’s diversity as a player and a bandleader. More on him as the week progresses.
I only saw about a half-hour of Brazilian singer Milton Nascimento but can testify that he still has one of the most amazing romantic voices in the world. While I don’t speak Portuguese, there’s never a problem absorbing the intense and beautiful emotions he conveys, and when Nascimento let go with his wordless crooning falsetto, I was completely transfixed. The only reason I abandoned Nascimento was to run back to the Gesù for a solo show by pianist Brad Mehldau. Mehldau is a festival favorite—and with good reason. He’s one of the best piano players on the planet. As usual, Mehldau played with focused concentration and often-amazing complexity. Besides performing Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” he interpreted some Radiohead and Massive Attack before tackling an intricately melodic version of “My Favorite Things” and a beautiful take on Paul McCartney’s “Blackbird.” The only thing that could tear me away from such a performance was the clarion call of Prince’s midnight show down the street at the Metropolis nightclub.
Prince’s second night of two special shows was off the hook. While he’d just played for nearly four hours the evening before, Prince’s show was fun-filled and relentless. Featuring his typically rocking band and special saxophone soul man Maceo Parker, the Purple One served up a mix of totally hard funk, frenetic black rock, a surplus of Hendrixian guitar stylings and plenty of sexy soul numbers. Drawing from his deep repertoire, he sang favorites like “Controversy,” “Pop Life,” “D.M.S.R.” and “Take Me With U.” He also went into a driving version of Chic’s “Le Freak” and Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music White Boy” as well as the Time’s “Jungle Love” and Shelia E.’s “A Love Bizarre.” The show just went on and on and on (and on). At three in the morning, Prince came back for a third (or fourth) encore and did a triumphant version of “Purple Rain,” then came back again to supposedly end with “Kiss.” I walked out of the Metropolis at 3:30 wondering if I might have missed yet another encore, but in any case, score one for the opening night of the Montreal Jazz Festival.
