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Montreal International Jazz Festival, Day 1

It’s the 33nd annual Festival International de Jazz de Montreal. MAGNET’s Mitch Myers translates the action.

I had to go all the way (north) to Canada to beat the crazy American heat, but the onset of Montreal’s 33rd annual Festival International de Jazz served as a welcome reminder of how cool this city can be—even on a hot summer night. Decidedly populist in its approach to music programming, the Montreal festival doesn’t ever get hung up on the definition of jazz, topping off its Thursday-night potpourri with a mammoth outdoor free concert showcasing favorite son Rufus Wainwright.

It was something of a homecoming for the Montreal-born singer, and Wainwright took advantage of the opportunity by pulling out all the stops and escalating his usual concert performance to a wider revue that included family, friends and Francophiles. Resplendent in a glittery red outfit (dedicated to Liza with a “z”), Wainwright indulged himself and his audience for nearly two hours, pouring it all out onstage and leaving nothing left for the morrow. And yes, he did sing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” to great fanfare. Unfortunately, the massive outdoor sound system had a lot of problems, and it failed to properly service many thousands of indulgent fans standing more than a block away in the very crowded square.

While the Wainwright show was a heavily promoted spectacle that attracted loads of attention, there were many other high-profile performances going on around town including Ziggy Marley, Stanley Clarke and even James Taylor. Still, the most satisfying show (musically speaking) had to be guitarist Bill Frisell’s early evening tribute to John Lennon, entitled All We Are Saying. Performing instrumental versions of Lennon compositions at the Club Soda, Frisell was extremely well accompanied by pedal-steel/guitar player Greg Liesz and the ace rhythm section of bassist Tony Scherr and drummer Kenny Wollesen.

This was a hypnotic performance that just got better and better as Leisz’s atmospheric steel guitar weaved and parried with Frisell’s own playing, and the Wollesen/Scherr tandem laid down a flowing groove that couldn’t be beat. Naturally, the Lennon melodies were beautiful, with the band flowing in and out of songs like “Across The Universe,” “You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away” and “In My Life.” Frisell’s guitar playing integrated his love for jazz, rock and country/bluegrass, resulting in a sound that actually resembled Jerry Garcia at his most improvisational—and that was a good thing. The sold-out crowd was enthusiastic but politely restrained, my fantasies of a Dead-styled dance party evaporated with the fading strains of “Imagine,” and I was out on the street again before it even got dark.

The music here is sure to amaze as the week progresses, and as long as the summer weather stays tolerable, this festival is a viable alternative to frankfurters, fireworks and the good old July 4.

Stay tuned.