27th Festival International de Jazz de Montréal: A superb indoor program

By Ann Braithwaite
 

Photo: Etta James.

Paul Simon, B.B. King, Brad Mehldau, Etta James, Salif Keita, Tony Bennett, John Pizzarelli, Dave Brubeck, John Zorn, Amadou and Mariam, Daniel Lanois and Emmylou Harris, Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Biréli Lagrène and many more! Montreal, Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006 -

Photo: Dee Dee Bridgewater.

It's the time of year for balmy days and nights, happy crowds and cool grooves, and this year's going to be something truly special. In two months' time, more than 2000 musicians from the four corners of the earth will be filling the downtown streets and concert halls with jazz, rhythm & blues, soul; contemporary sounds and traditional; from world beat to electro, Latin and gypsy. It'll all be happening at the 27th Festival International de Jazz de Montréal-presented by General Motors of Canada, chief sponsor and official presenter of the event set to take place from June 28th to July 9th, 2006.  Over 140 ticketed indoor concerts thematically divided into a total of 15 series are scheduled in a variety of downtown venues, from the classiest to the funkiest.

Photo: Paul Simon.

This year, there's an unusual number of luminaries on the roster, names like Paul Simon, B.B. King, Tony Bennett and McCoy Tyner, plus Brad Mehldau, who's this year's recipient of the Prix Miles-Davis.  Etta James will be awarded  the Prix Ella Fitzgerald and Salif Keita will receive the 2006 Prix Antonio Carlos Jobim. John Pizzarelli will be opening the event and Dave Brubeck will be closing it. John Zorn, Nils Petter Molvaer, Ravi Coltrane, Yusef Lateef and many other exponents of everything cool and eclectic will be blowing into town, too, keeping up the momentum as the Festival rolls into its second quarter-century.

Photo: B.B. King

Amadou and Mariam, Daniel Lanois and Emmylou Harris; Elvis Costello and Allen Toussaint; Ani Difranco, Baaba Maal, David Clayton-Thomas and The Roots together give a good idea of the variety in store.  And Year 2000 winner of the Prix Ella-Fitzgerald Dee Dee Bridgewater will be back in the city that served as a springboard for her re-entry to the Americas, way back in 1993. Some other musicians for whom the jazz fest has been a launching pad will also be on hand: Yannick Rieu, this year's winner of the Prix Oscar Peterson (with François Bourassa), Susie Arioli in an all-new show, the Lorraine Desmarais Big Band, Steve Amirault, Michel Donato and Jean François Groulx. Brazil will be featured this year, represented by some new discoveries like Seu Jorge, Badi Assad and CeU. But Europe will get some glory too, especially via the Invitation series of which the first part will be entrusted to guitar virtuoso Biréli Lagrène and the second to drummer Aldo Romano. Italy, in fact, will have a special place of honor at this year's festival through the Suono Italia series that will be presented every night at the Cabaret.  Ciné-Jazz series will be happening at the Cinémathèque québécoise (at 4 & 6 p.m.), featuring Frank Cassenti. And about 350 free outdoor shows will be announced this coming June 6th, for a total of 500 musical events involving about 2500 musicians plus hundreds of street performers and animators.