Montreal Jazz Festival 2004

25th Montreal Jazz Festival
June 30-July 11, 2004

Click on photo to enlarge

Photos courtesy of Bob Putignano.

Crowd Shot	Phillipe Catherine	Ray Charles Tribute	George Benson and Michael Bourne
Sophie Desbiens and Michael Bourne	Sonny Greenwich	George Benson and Bob Putignano	JJ Milteau and Bob Putignano in Press Room
Bettye LaVette	Bettye LaVette	JJ Milteau on Stage	JJ Milteau on Stage

Hard to believe that the Montreal Jazz Festival is celebrating its silver anniversary this year, time flies when so much fun and great music of various genres can be heard over the course of two weeks both indoor’s and out of doors. This year almost two million music fans made their way to downtown Montreal on Saint Catherine Street and to many of the nearby free and paid concert venues.

Where else can you find musicans from diverse genre’s all booked at one Festival? Dianna Krall with Elvis Costello, Tony Bennett, Keith Jarrett, and Montreal’s own Oliver Jones together with Oscar Peterson. The two Motown Funk Brothers themed nights – featuring The Temptations, Johnny Clegg was back in town, and the Midnight Sun show with Cirque du Soleil on closing night, staged by Michel Lemieux and Victor Pilon under the musical direction of Guy Dubuc and Marc Lessard, will remain in his memory as the best night of all. Additionally, George Benson, Patricia Barber, Dianne Reeves, Bettye Lavette, Jon Paris, Sonny Greenwich, Philip Catherine as featured guitarist with the Montreal based Bernard Primeau band were also on hand, wow!

I had the pleasure to interview, vice-president and artistic director André Menard who was most impressed by Diana Krall, Tony Bennett, Egberto Gismonti and I Musici, Benoît Charest, Tierney Sutton, Zachary Richard, George Thorogood and the Destroyers, Bud Shank, Jaga Jazzist, Renée Olstead, Besh o Drom, Joe Bonamassa, Richard Bona (bassist in the George Benson show, and David Amram.

Of all the shows I witnessed, my favorites (in no particular order) had to be Richard Bona, Bettye Lavette, Dianne Reeves, Philip Catherine, Sonny Greenwich, and Jean Jacques Milteau.

At the very intimate indoor venue Ges’u on Bleury St. just off the main drag of St. Catherine Street, I had the rare opportunity to witness one of Canada’s best kept secrets, guitarist Sonny Greenwich, who performed in duet with pianist Marilyn Lerner. Greenwich is best known for his avant-garde work from the 70’s-80’s, sparkled on guitar and was continually prodded magnificently by the soft tones of pianist Lerner.

The eight time Grammy winning headliner George Benson came out with his guitar smoking at the gorgeous Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier de la Place des Arts on St Catherine St. But the surprise of the evening (and perhaps for the whole festival for me) was opener Richard Bona who hails from Cameroon. Mr. Bona and his band-mates performed a flawless set of funk and rhythmic tunes, which had the large audience captivated for the entire 90 minutes of their set. Bona’s band consisted of Bona on bass, 2 keyboards, drums and a percussionist. The full textured sounds and dynamics that the band created was extremely impressive! The highlight of the evening had to be Bona’s tribute to another great bassist Jaco Pastorious, and their version of Weather Report’s “Birdland” was definitely the show-stopper.

One of the great reasons to visit the Montreal Jazz Festival is the opportunities to see musicians who rarely get chances to perform in North America. This was the second time with four years that I had to pleasure to enjoy the enormous talents of the Belgium guitarist Philip Catherine backed solidly by the Bernard Primeau Band from Montreal. This performance showcased Mr. Catherine’s traditional, bluesy, and contemporary styles as well as the many fine horn soloists within drummer Primeau’s band. The previously mentioned intimate venue Ges’u served as a perfect backdrop for this very fine performance. Mr. Catherine mentioned to me that he will be recording with Primeau’s band before he returns to Belgium, so be on the lookout for their up-coming CD which should be out in the stores before Christmas.

Another rarely seen artist, Jean Jacques Milteau also appeared at this years festival, although J. J. Milteau recorded his last two CD’s “Memphis” (with Mighty Sam McClain, Mighty Mo Rodgers, and Little Milton), and “Blue 3rd”: (with Gil Scott Heron, Howard Johnson, and Terry Callier), in Memphis TN, and Engelwood NJ, it is extremely rare to see Mr. Milteau perform live anywhere in North America, except for places like the Montreal Jazz Festival. And what a performance it was! Milteau backed by B3, sax, guitar, and drums, performed many of the selections from the previously mentioned recordings. Harmonica players take note, Jean Jacques harmonica playing takes a saxophonic approach with carefully crafted solo’s, without scorching your ears! During an extensive interview I had with Mr. Milteau for WFDU, J.J. told me he loves American Soul, which was obvious throughout his performance at the Spectrum Theatre (St. Catherine St), as were his choices of harp idols, which included the likes of Toots Thielemans and the late great Paul Butterfield.

Three time Grammy winner Dianne Reeves performed in a trio setting at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier de la Place des Arts with just piano, bass, and drums, and had so much command over the audience at this relatively large venue, that you could hear a pin drop during much of her superb vocal and band performance. Reeves vocals were on target throughout, and her band consisting of Peter Martin on piano, Reuben Rodgers bass, and Greg Hutchinson on drums, not only backed Reeves to perfection, but also recieved ample room to stretch out, particularly mesmerizing was pianist Peter Martin’s very well thought out solo’s.

The highest energy show I witnessed had to be 2004 W.C. Handy award wiiner for Best Soul Singer Bettye Lavette, who performed outdoors live at the General Motors Scene Stage at the crossing of St. Catherine St and Jean Mance. Bettye’s crack band from Motor City, performed flawlessly in front of a huge crowd on Saint Catherine Street. I had the good opportunity to be on stage with the band during Bettye’s performance, and had a birds eye view of all the enthusiasm in the crowd, which gave Bettye and her band-mates their overwhelming seal of approval with round after rounds of respectful applause. Bettye wooed the crowd with both slow songs where the otherwise enthused crowd listened quietly to her deliberate vocals, to raucous soul blasts, which drove the crowd to the brink of insanity. Lavette’s Handy award in the category of Soul is well deserved and long overdue, when she arrives to play in your town I highly recommend heading out to see this fabulous lady of soul at all costs!

I also must mention, that how cool it was to see Michael Bourne of WBGO (www.wbgo.org) realizing one of his dreams to broadcast from the Place des Arts in Monteal and beam the signal back to the New York Metro area. I was on hand to witness the portions of this broadcast where many of the performing artists stopped by, including Dee Dee Bridgewater, and George Benson. (picture of Benson attached).

After twenty-five years, it is great to see The Montreal Jazz Festival getting the recognition it deserves, as it has truly is one of the greatest world-class festivals worldwide. Ask any of the nearly two million people who passed through the fabulous city of Montreal during Jazz Fest, they know!

Bob Putignano, radio host @ WFDU’s “Sounds of Blue” www.BluesandJazzSounds.com
And President of the NY Blues and Jazz Society, www.NYBluesandJazz.org