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Montreal Jazz Fest 2004 - Day 1

Saw Johnny Clegg and his band doing their sound check around 1 o'clock. Good thing I caught this (very good BTW) as the evening show was super crowded. We couldn't get anywhere near the stage so no pics at night. We didn't even stay for his whole show (just too crowded and we were tired). However I did get a shot of the moon on our way home.

Not a star but certainly a heavenly body...

We did catch Jimmy James at 7 PM - he was really good. I've heard a lot about him and even played some clubs where he was playing (circa 1986) but I'd never seen him. Wow ! Really good, really bluesy with some other influences (steel guitar type stuff, etc...) - very enjoyable. Great voice too. I'm just amazed I'd never seen him before.




Jimmy James playing some rockin' blues on the first night of the Jazz Fest!

To view more pictures from the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, 2004-06-30 to 2004-07-11, check out my photo gallery at photos.kennynolet.com/JazzFest2004/

Montreal Jazz Fest 2004 - Day 2

Caught a bit of a guitarist called D'Gary (around 6:30 pm) - Played a muted, percussive fingerstyle. Sorta Al DiMeola takes up finger picking in a Malagasy style (whatever that is :)). Obviously good but he didn't grab me.

Headed down to the blues stage and caught Jim Zeller @ 7:00 pm. Well.... what can I say - at least he didn't play harmonica over the vocals (after all, he was singing). The band sounded pretty good at first but as the show wore on things did tend to get a little excessive: tape looped, phased, heavily reverbed with slap echo harp solos. Not exactly my taste although the crowd seemed to enjoy it.

Later that evening saw Susie Arioli - really good classic era swing jazz and the main guitarist to her right, Jordan Officer, was excellent in the style - good technique, melodic, wasn't afraid of leaving breathing room in his solos. Also, even though he had gobs of technique he would sometimes play very sparse with no excess of technique (or so it seemed - as he actually placed his notes at just the right spot rhythmically which , as we know, is harder than just letting rip continuous eighth notes). They also played a Charlie Christian tune, "Air Mail Special", which is pretty rare - I don't think I've ever heard someone play a Charlie Chritian tune live. One of the songs, during the first show (9:00 - 10:00 pm) was televised live on CBC as part of the Canada Day celebrations.


Jordan Officer, Susie Arioli, and their bass player...

To view more pictures from the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, 2004-06-30 to 2004-07-11, check out my photo gallery at photos.kennynolet.com/JazzFest2004/

Montreal Jazz Fest 2004 - Day 3

Saw this guy Celso Machado at the solo guitar stage (Carrefour GM). Quite good. Played and sang some bossa nova stuff a la Gilberto and Jobim. He also liked to be very percussive, whether using his guitar, voice, drums and tambourines, and hitting his chest and throat. Very entertaining.

Next we caught Jon Paris, Johnny Winter's former bassist. Is this correct? I can't place him but he played guitar and harmonica and was a lot of fun. He was more a rock oriented blues but it was an excellent live show.

To view more pictures from the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, 2004-06-30 to 2004-07-11, check out my photo gallery at photos.kennynolet.com/JazzFest2004/

Montreal Jazz Fest 2004 - Day 4

No jazz fest on Sunday - well, there WAS a jazz fest, it's just that we didn't go. Caught part of the Carifiesta parade.

To view more pictures from the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, 2004-06-30 to 2004-07-11, check out my photo gallery at photos.kennynolet.com/JazzFest2004/

Montreal Jazz Fest 2004 - Day 5

Ok, on with the show. Have you seen Jimmy Bowskill ?   He's a 14 year old blues whiz from Ontario. Well, we caught him on July 4th. Not bad at all and he drew a huge crowd (perhaps because of the age factor - but still, he held his own). I checked him out after the show and found his website with a few extracts from his 1st CD. I'm happy to say that his voice has changed and he no longer sounds like a kid when he sings. Anyway - a good time was had.

During the afternoon we caught the Funk Bros doing their sound check and last minute rehearsals. The older guys in this group have played on numerous Motown hits as studio musicians and you could certainly hear it - really good and authentic renditions of all the hits. Certainly glad we caught them during the afternoon as the evening show was a zoo. We stayed for 3 tunes but it was nuts - we couldn't even see the stage.

To view more pictures from the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, 2004-06-30 to 2004-07-11, check out my photo gallery at photos.kennynolet.com/JazzFest2004/

Montreal Jazz Fest 2004 - Day 6

Day 6 was Tommy Emmanuel all the way. The day was gray and rain was on and off. There was sprinkling as TE started his show but he didn't miss a beat and the crowd never went away. I don't know what to say.... He is simply amazing! Whatever he plays on his CDs sounds even better live, AND he is entertaining in every sense of the word. I have to stop gushing :) :)

Tommy Emmanuel wailing away on his acoustic...

We also caught Matt Dusk the Ontario crooner.

To view more pictures from the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, 2004-06-30 to 2004-07-11, check out my photo gallery at photos.kennynolet.com/JazzFest2004/

Montreal Jazz Fest 2004 - Day 7

Day 7 was Tommy Emmanuel again for his second show. This time he got good weather and the crowd was out of this world. I've never seen one person attract so many people. Once they started listening they were hooked! :)

Immediately after Tommy ended we scooted over to the Labatt Blue stage to catch the last half to the Granary All-Stars Blues Band (Brian Monty et al). We stayed for a couple of tunes but had to leave to grab a bite and then we were off to Metropolis to see Colin James.

Well..... never again will I go see a concert at Metroplis. We went to see Luther Allison and Buddy Guy there a few years back and the venue was crap back then too!!! First off there are NO seats. Secondly, I'm convinced that people who go to Metropolis go there to socialize and not to catch the acts. People are talking or shouting or using their cell phones etc... grrr... Colin James was pretty good (as usual) although he had more of a rock slant than blues. He was on first (thank God). After an intermission George Thorogood came on. I could tell by the size of his stupid looking bandana that this was not going to be pretty. This guy was a bad one-hit-wonder 20 years ago and he wasn't any better now. Of course, since they were the headliners (I don't quite get that) they got to play much LOUDER than Colin James. Did I MENTION THAT THEY WERE LOUD????? I guess the good thing about them being LOUD is that we couldn't hear the cell phones any more. After three excruciating, uh, tunes (I guess that's what they were) we decided to cut our losses and get out of there.

We headed back to the Labatt Blues stage where Brian Monty and friends were starting their 11 pm show. We had a beer and enjoyed some real blues. Brian still plays really soulful blues, but his voice, wow, I don't remember it being that good. Listening to an hour of their music healed us after the assault on our senses.

Healing our senses :)

To view more pictures from the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, 2004-06-30 to 2004-07-11, check out my photo gallery at photos.kennynolet.com/JazzFest2004/

Montreal Jazz Fest 2004 - Day 8

Decided to do something different today. Went to the EcoMuseum in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue to check out a different kind of animal. You can see some of our pictures here.

On the Scène Labatt Bleue at 9:00 pm with a slight drizzle falling 'Roomful of Blues' kicked off their set of jumping, swinging blues and R&B complete with a superb horn section. The rain didn't seem to dampen anyone's enthusiasm.

Jumpin' and Jivin' with Roomful of Blues

To view more pictures from the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, 2004-06-30 to 2004-07-11, check out my photo gallery at photos.kennynolet.com/JazzFest2004/

Montreal Jazz Fest 2004 - Day 9

It was back to the Scène Labatt Bleue, this time to catch Johnny Jones & The Groove Dudes. I can't believe I've never heard of this guy before. Check out his bio on allmusic.com. He's worked or jammed with Junior Wells, guitarist Freddie King, Jimi Hendrix, Bobby "Blue" Bland, etc... His playing dates back to the fifties. Check him out if you get a chance.

To view more pictures from the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, 2004-06-30 to 2004-07-11, check out my photo gallery at photos.kennynolet.com/JazzFest2004/

Montreal Jazz Fest 2004 - Day 10

From southwest Louisiana via three nights of playing with Zachary Richard, Sonny Landreth electrified the Scène Labatt Bleue with his own distinct and unorthodox style of slide guitar.

Sonny Landreth...

To view more pictures from the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, 2004-06-30 to 2004-07-11, check out my photo gallery at photos.kennynolet.com/JazzFest2004/

Montreal Jazz Fest 2004 - Day 11

You can check out Nuno's website here (this is in english but the 'latest news' talks about a May 1999 album recording in Austin, details to follow). If you understand spanish then this seems to be the latest. Check out this quote from Bandit Blues Radio: "The CD that I have been waiting for ever since we lost SRV... flat out full tilt killer blues." What did I think of it? Nice hot blues for a hot summer evening. This guy seemed very comfortable up on stage.

Nuno wailing away....

To view more pictures from the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, 2004-06-30 to 2004-07-11, check out my photo gallery at photos.kennynolet.com/JazzFest2004/

Montreal Jazz Fest 2004 - Day 12

Huge Jazz Fest/Cirque du Soleil blow out. Over 130 circus artists, entertainers and street performers, as well as 60 musicians on several stages, performing a coordinated show. This show started at 9:00 pm but it was just about impossible to get access by 7:00 so.... we decided to watch it on live TV from the comfort of home

To view more pictures from the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal, 2004-06-30 to 2004-07-11, check out my photo gallery at photos.kennynolet.com/JazzFest2004/