23rd edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal
Hot times and a super atmosphere!
Montreal, July 8 - The 23rd edition of the Festival International de Jazz de
Montréal will be remembered for the heat (in every sense of the word!),
wonderful musical discoveries and its fabulous atmosphere. The Festival
coincided with the long-awaited arrival of the sun, which shone upon
festival-goers nearly every day of the event. Decked out in their finest,
Mother Nature and the Festival site (revamped and more festive than ever)
brought out hundreds of thousands of broad smiles that flashed in unison and
kept harmony with the multitude of rhythms heard over the course of the
annual jazz celebration.
Occasionally stifling temperatures didn't stop jazz lovers from turning out
in huge numbers, especially after sunset. According to figures compiled by
Descaries & Complices, some 1,650,000 persons from all over attended the
event. This despite a three-day heat wave during which afternoon attendance
was much lower than normal.
With the Festival again proving extremely popular with the general public
and offering outstanding programming, no fewer than 57 concerts were
sold-out (an all-time Festival record). On-site sales rose by 15% while
sales of the Carte des Amis du Festival were up by 30% (likely owing to the
new services offered by General Motors at the Tente des Amis). This is
excellent news for Festival fans since all revenue from card and official
Festival kiosk sales is reinvested in the non-profit organization's future
events.
Thanks to such enthusiastic public support, this year the Festival will post
an estimated $300,000 surplus, which will in particular enable it to present
a superb schedule of 20 concerts during the 2002-2003 edition of the Jazz
Year-Round series. Festival-goers wishing to be among the first persons to
obtain the schedule of off-season concerts should leave their e-mail address
on the Festival's web site at www.montrealjazzfest.com. Also, $100,000 will
be put in a capitalization fund specially created to launch the Club de
Jazz, which the Festival plans to open as part of the festivities marking
its 25th anniversary. This fund will, among other things, provide musicians
performing at the club (local talent for the most part) with quality
technical conditions and jazzphiles with a concert setting that fully meets
their expectations, especially with regard to the Jam Sessions du Festival,
which will relocate to the new site. The opening of this
international-stature facility and the project involving a specialty radio
jazz station demonstrate the Festival's organizers commitment to promote
jazz and its musical cousins and make these great musical forms available to
the public on a year-long basis.
Extensive international press coverage
Approximately 400 accredited journalists covered the Festival, some from as
far away as Germany (Tobias Sparwasser of Allgemeine Zeitung), Italy
(Claudio Agostoni from Radio Popolare) and South Korea (Sun Young Lee from
Skylife TV). While many of the artists who appeared praised the many aspects
of the Festival, the majority of articles discussing the event and its
enthusiastic reception have yet to appear. Here are a few excerpts from what
has already been published:
"It's so much fun to play here (...) the Festival is so diverse and
so well organized, it's the greatest in the world." - comments reported by
Michael Brecker of the Montreal daily The Gazette
"Montreal's may be the biggest jazz festival in the world, the
reasoning goes, so it ought to have a bit of everything. The implicit
message is that nearly any jazz style, given high-quality performers, an
appealing setting and an healthy-size audience, will go down pretty well."
- Ben Ratliff, New York Times
"Montreal one of world's supreme festivals"
- from coverage by Daniel Gewertz, Boston Herald
"The Festival is a social phenomenon. The Festival itself is the
star."
- Rebecca Eckier, National Post
"Even those who aren't jazz fans end up dancing in the streets
during this ten-day open-air party." - Gail Harrington, The Fantasy Issue
Islands
"Montreal has a little something extra that the competition doesn't.
It's in another category, another galaxy." - Serge Loupien, Libération
"Montreal has the best jazz festival of them all."
- Rebecca Eckier, National Post
Particularly moving moments during Festival's 23rd edition
A number of artists particularly impressed Festival senior-president, co-founder and artistic director André Ménard:
* Richard Galliano with his tribute to Astor Piazzolla, who died a decade ago and whose talent was first demonstrated to all of North America at the Festival
* Guitar virtuoso Biréli Lagrene's stunning performance
* The intimate concert given by clarinetist Trovesi and accordionist Coscia
* The powerful performance given by Eivind Aarset and his trio
* The wild evening of entertainment provided by supercharged singer/DJ Roy Davis Jr.
* The various concerts performed by Chucho Valdés as part of
the Invitation series
For her part, Festival programming coordinator Johanne Bougie delighted in concerts performed by Tabla Beat Science, Richard Galliano, Daniel Lanois, Lauryn Hill, Sara-Jane Morris, Eivind Aarset and the Esbjorn Svensson Trio.
Meanwhile, programming VP Laurent Saulnier thrilled to the music of Rémi Bolduc Jazz Ensemble, High Tone, Bumcello, The Cool Crooners, King Changó, Dan Thouin, Daniel Lanois, Nitin Sawhney, Herbaliser, Andrew Downing and The Great Uncles of The Revolution, Aim and Bauchklang.
Assistant outdoor-programming director Dan Behrman's favourite shows were those by Project X, Harry Manx, Buster B. Jones, Johnny A., Peter Finger, Issac Delgado, Bonga, Little Freddie King, Sunpie & The Zydeco Cha Chas, The Campbell Brothers, The Holmes Brothers, The Toronto Tabla Ensemble, Mariza and Frank London and Hasidic New Wave with Yakar Rhythms.
Festival president and founder Alain Simard made particular mention of the intense emotions he experienced during the concert by legendary pianist Dave Brubeck, especially during the second part of the closing show when he was joined on stage by Jim Hall (a first in 50 years!) and again when Toots Thielemans and Angèle Dubeau joined in on the finale to Take 5. Musical history. Other memorable moments came when Omara Portuondo sang the superb Summertime alone on stage accompanied by Chucho Valdés on piano and when Lorraine Desmarais and Oliver Jones played a four-hand duet during the moving performance at Place des Arts by the winner of the 2002 Prix Oscar Peterson. Many of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra musicians accompanying Ms. Desmarais on stage that evening were discovering a formidable musician and composer. Other special moments for Alain Simard:
* The concert by singer Sarah Jane Morris, who performed with guitarist Marc Ribot
* The entire vocal series presented on the Banque Nationale stage. Excellent intimate concerts by such artists as Adam Broughton and Fredric Gary Comeau enjoyed while savouring a glass of fine wine
* The technological cabaret ZULU TIME by Robert Lepage and
Peter Gabriel (an extra week of performances was added, with the final show at Usine C to take place on July 14)
* Wynton Marsalis performing as part of a septet, which gave
him more freedom than playing within a full orchestra
Montrealers will have the chance to see Wynton again during the next edition of the Jazz Year-Round series, at which time all the members of the Marsalis family will unite on stage for the first time ever in this city. A not-to-be-missed musical event. And the same goes for the return of the amazing Dee Dee Bridgewater and the legendary Ibrahim Ferrer of the Buena Vista Social Club. Such an array of concerts should help music fans wait patiently for the 24th edition of the Festival, scheduled to run from June
26 to July 6, 2003.
Thank you to our partners and to all the members of the Festival team for
their incredible work!