Ross Porter in Montreal Day3 at the Fest.

Ross Porter is on assignment covering the 33rd edition of the Montreal Jazz Festival. He sent us this report about his day 3 activities.

A little bit of Broadway, and a whole lot of Vegas made its way to the Montreal Jazz Festival Thursday night with the Liza Minnelli love in, at Place Des Arts. A sold out show of almost 3,000, gathered to see the charismatic performer.

Minnelli, who is 66, is an Oscar, Grammy, Emmy and Tony award winner. She is the consummate entertainment professional, and even with a broken ankle, the show must go on. Six songs in she apologized for hobbling on stage, and trying to make it look like nothing had happened, when in fact, she had tripped over her dog,

Minnelli laid her soul bare on stage and was utterly secure and confident, as she navigated her way through the 90 minute show. She opened with Irving Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band", delved into the musical Chicago and sang "Class", the only song from the Broadway show that didn't make it into the movie. There were the crowd pleasers "New York, New York" and "Cabaret", however one of the evening's highlights was her rendition of "And As They Say", a song written by her sometime time stage partner, Charles Aznavour, a moving and sad song about a lonely drag queen who lives with his mother. Minnelli  was backed for the evening by a seven piece band, under the direction of her pianist Billy Stritch. Minnelli explained she heard Stritch play the piano in a Manhattan bar one night and offered him the job as her pianist immediately.

Tonight was show business, in all its glory, from start to finish!

The evening ended on another a high point when Montreal Jazz Festival President Alain Simard presented Minnelli with the festival's annual Ella Fitzgerald Award. Minnelli was deeply appreciative and talked about the impact Ella's music had and that she owns every recording Ella made.

An hour later, at the Theatre Maisonneuve in Place Des Arts, another equally talented artist was acknowledged. Toronto's Peter Appleyard, who turns 84 this summer, received the Oscar Peterson Award. Each year a Canadian musician who has made a significant contribution to jazz in this country, receives the award.

Appropriately, Oliver Jones, a friend of Oscar's and one of the first recipients in 1990, made the presentation during Peter's show. It was a special moment. Peter, who has not been a highly visible performer in Quebec was touched and throughout  the evening played beautifully, and entertained and wowed all. He brought the A team with him from Toronto, with John Sherwood on piano, Terry Clark on drums and former Shearing sidemen Reg Schwager on guitar and Neil Swainson on bass.

Peter finished his 70 minute concert with his familiar crowd pleaser, Sweet Georgia Brown, featuring him as a triple threat on vibes, piano and drums. Post concert in the lobby, it was clear he had made fans in Montreal as dozens were lined up to buy his CDs and have them autographed.

Each year the festival presents six awards and earlier in the week bassist Ron Carter received the Miles Davis Award, record company executive Michael Cuscuna was given the Bruce Lundvall Award, and James Taylor was presented with the Montreal Jazz Festival Spirit Award. This weekend Emir Kusturica will receive the Antonio Carlos Jobim Award.

Interesting facts about the Montreal Jazz Festival.

Did you know ...

- Montreal Jazz Festival holds the Guinness World Record for largest jazz festival in the world.