Montreal Jazz Diary, Day 2

Submitted by Seth Rogovoy on July 9, 2009 - 10:33am

 

 

MONTREAL JAZZ DIARY, DAY TWO
Montreal International Jazz Festival
July 10, 2009
 
 
By Seth Rogovoy
 
 
It’s been thirty-six hours here in Montreal, and I’ve already heard dozens of bands and musicians at this glorious event called the Montreal International Jazz Festival. I’ve heard everything from reggae to Malian Afropop to Texas blues to classic Southern R&B to Carter Family country to Nashville-slick bluegrass to Balkan brass band to psychedelic jam-rock and then some.
 
 
Everything but what anyone would call “jazz.”
 
 
But the thing is, hearing all these styles of music we don’t ordinarily associate with “jazz” here at the festival recontextualizes all of them. It’s a subtle but magical thing, so that when you hear jazz icon Charlie Haden leading an all-star cast of Nashville instrumental talent, including fiddler Stuart Duncan, mandolinist Sam Bush, banjoist Dan Tyminski, dobroist Rob Ickes, guitarists Bryan Sutton and Russ Barenberg, swapping their virtuoso licks with bassist Haden, who seems happy as a pig in shit returning to his musical roots (as a child he was part of the Haden Family bluegrass outfit, appearing on radio and on stages throughout the south alongside family friends including the Carter Family), it’s nothing but jazz, of course (in spite the notably visible response of about ten percent of the audience who voted with their feet and left seemingly disappointed that they’d paid good money to hear the iconic jazz bassist/composer leading a band and singing Stanley Brothers gospel hymns).
 
 
But the music spoke louder than the categories – and Haden paid tribute to the audience’s ears, “Everybody should hear good music no matter what the category is,” he noted, and then added that he’s never thought of music in terms of category.
 
 
Joining the all-star cast of instrumentalists were Haden’s lovely triplets, Petra, Rachel, and Tanya, and his son Josh, all of whom sang lead and harmony, as well as a cameo appearance by their mom, Ruth Cameron. It’s the live version of Haden’s latest recording project, Ramblin’ Boy, credited to Charlie Haden Family and Friends, and the concert was very much in the spirit of a backyard picking session.
 
 
Perhaps the most surprising moment of the concert was when Haden introduced his version of the old American folk song “Old Joe Clark” by way of explaining how his solo on a number on Ornette Coleman’s landmark The Shape of Jazz to Come drew from this song, which apparently was favored by English rocker Ian Dury, who borrowed the melodic riff and turned it into “Sex and Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll.” Indeed, the basic hook of that song ran through the players’ solos and Haden’s bass runs to the point of pleasurable distraction.
 
 
On the way over to hear Alpha Blondy and Oumou Sangare, I was lured over to an outdoor stage by the sounds of what turned out to be La Fanfare du Belgistan, a Belgian brass and percussion outfit playing a blend of music it purports to derive from a region called “Belgistan” in Eastern Belgium. The combination of woodwinds, horns, and percussion are applied to a blend of Balkan, Gypsy, and Middle Eastern sounds combined with Asian rhythms. It was hard to tear myself away from this dynamic discovery, but I had a valuable ticket to see two of Africa’s top stars.
 
 
Oumou Sangare, the “songbird of Wassoulou,” led her ensemble that combined traditional Malian instruments (most notably the large calabash, sort of an overgrown banjo), sounds, and dance with modern influences to make for a vibrant, contemporary Afropop. She was a spectacular performer and vocalist, whose songs spoke about women’s oppression and love and marriage. Sangare was followed by Alpha Blondy from Ivory Coast, who kicked off his set of hard-rocking reggae with his signature hit, “Jerusalem,” which makes the case for world unity via the commonalities of religion – he sings Hebrew and Arabic, among other languages, in the number.
 
 
A walk around the corner and Coolooloosh, from the real Jerusalem, was performing its unique blend of funky jam-rock and hip-hop. Fronted by black rapper Rebel Sun, the group came across as a Middle Eastern blend of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Phish, with guitarist Yuval Gerstein and woodwind player Arik Levy coloring the numbers with their Hebrew and Arabic maqam-based modes. Yogev Shitrit laid down the solid pulse on drums, and Ori Winokur would have given Flea a run for his money on any night. The group’s sophisticated, universalistic music could well run free of Rebel Sun’s vocals, but he did bring focus to the jams as well as adding the surprising (to some) sight of a black rapper fronting an Israeli band.
 
 
Late into the night, from stage to stage, sounds continued, including a modern take on classic Chicago blues by Canadian guitar hero Jimmy James, and a throwback to classic Southern R&B by Georgia native Ryan Shaw, who began life as a gospel singer and now performs in the vein of Wilson Pickett and other stars of Memphis soul music.
 
 
There are other delights to be found along the way – a New Orleans brass band in a plaza, a quirky trio called Klaxon playing Eastern European swing on an improvised riser, clowns, life-sized puppets, music springing from every street corner. What’s most amazing is that all of it is of such high quality – whoever curates this festival deserves a gold medal.
 
 
And this was only day two…..
 
 
 
Seth Rogovoy is Berkshire Living’s award-winning music critic and editor-in-chief.
 
 
 
 

 

 

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