Ross Porter in Montreal Day2

Ross Porter is on assignment covering the 33rd edition of the Montreal Jazz Festival. He sent us this report about his activities last night.

My second day at the Montreal Jazz Festival.  A last-minute decision to attend an early evening concert at Gesu, turned out to be very satisfying. The concert featured Norway's Tord Gustavsen, as he kicked off a four night stay at the festival.

Gustavsen's quartet features Tore Brunborg on saxophone, Mats Eilertsen on double bass, and Jarle Vespestad on drums. Their playing is thoughtful and unobtrusive, and they never collide with one another.  The quartet is often on the verge of exploring the freer aspects of jazz but their lyrical musical compass, is never far away. This group is very much about Gustavsen contributions though. His playing floats and is beautifully melodic and spacious. Gustavsen's compositions, and this could his biggest strength, are soothing and tuneful. The quartet played several new pieces, plus selections from their most recent ECM album, The Well.

In almost 20 years of attending the Montreal Jazz Festival, Tord Gustavsen's (he's 41, by the way) performance stands as a musical highpoint. He continues with more appearances at the festival in a variety of settings between now and Saturday, including playing solo and with Norwegian singer Solveig Slettahjell.

Just up a block and then left from the concert at Gesu, The Colin Vallon Trio made their festival debut at L'Astral. Sonically, they dwell in a similar musical space as Gustavsen and company. Both are ECM label-mates and share many of the same improvisational musical values. This twenty something trio from Switzerland features Vallon on piano, Patrice Moret on bass and Samuel Rohrer on drums. They play more in the abstract and have a much busier sound.  Vallon is less measured in his playing than Gustavsen and frequently plucks and strikes the strings inside his piano. This is exiting, improvised music by a trio to watch for.  

Interesting facts about the Montreal Jazz Festival.

Did you know:

- Approximately 3000 artists from 30 countries take to the stages of the festival every year. In 33 years, the festival has welcomed more than 40 million visitors, corresponding to the population of Argentina.

- The first free program of the festival was 16 pages long. This year it is 180 pages and 200,000 copies are being distributed.

- The very first artist to perform at the festival was Ray Charles, and you can find the tuxedo he wore on display at the festival

- The artist who holds the record for most festival appearances is Montréal pianist Vic Vogel- with 32 visits, over 33 festivals. 

- The dean of the festival's artists Dave Brubeck, was 91 during his concert at the festival last year, and the youngest performer was Québec singer Nikki Yanofsky, who was 12 when she made her first performance in 2006.

- When Rufus Wainwright opened the festival this year,100,000 people attended the free event. As it is a jazz festival, Rufus highlighted a jazz standard in his performance, Gershwin's The Man I Love. He closed the show with a breathtaking rendition of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah.