Montreal International Jazz Festival To Be Open With A Free Concert By Rufus Wainwright

Rufus Wainwright's new album Out of the Game is due April 24. Photograph by: Handout , Postmedia News files

Rufus Wainwright's Free Concert June 28 To Open Montreal International Jazz Festival -- Montreal Gazette

MONTREAL - Singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright will open the 33rd Montreal International Jazz Festival with a free outdoor blowout concert at Place des Festivals on June 28.

Wainwright revealed the information to The Gazette during an interview a couple of weeks ago, but asked that it be kept off the record. The information was confirmed by jazz fest co-founder André Ménard in La Presse on Monday morning.

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My Comment: 10 more weeks (give or take) for the festival to begin.

Blowouts Double Up In The Heat Of The Moment

Afro-Cuban All Stars perform at Sunday's Fiesta Cubana blowout.
Photograph by: Tyrel Featherstone, The Gazette

From The Montreal Gazette:

Cubans, Ben Harper end 30th edition.

Havana, meet Montreal. Oh - you've met?

Given the instant vibe of sultry summer familiarity that rolled from the stage up Ste. Catherine St. and back again at last night's jazz fest closing event(s), you could have been forgiven for thinking the Afro-Cuban All Stars, Los Van Van and this massive crowd knew each other - in every sense, including biblical. Fiesta Cubana, in the universal language of the hips.

Typically ambitious to the end, the festival was sending the 30th edition into history with its first-ever double-closing concert - triple, really, given the Afro-Cuban All Stars, Los Van Van and Ben Harper and Relentless7 were lined up to lay down the Latin, salsa, son, chachacha, bolero, funk, soul and balls-out rock 'n' roll. In pretty much that order.

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Montreal Jazz Festival Wraps Up: In With The Old, In With The New

Ben Harper closes the Montreal International Jazz Festival's 30th edition Sunday night. Photograph by: Tyrel Featherstone, The Gazette

From The Montreal Gazette:

For its 30th edition, the Montreal International Jazz Festival gave itself a facelift, but kept its grasp on the traditions that keep music lovers coming back every year.

Such contrasts always dominate the event, but perhaps that was even more true this year. The new-look festival played host to one of its most impressive lists of veteran players ever. The joy of seeing breakout artists truly arriving was tempered by the sad departure of the walking encyclopedia who defined jazz in this city. And, of course, the lousy weather, which defied the law of averages, was mostly overshadowed by brilliant performances.

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Montreal Jazz Festival Revels In New Venue And A New Sponsor

From The Toronto Star:

Montreal–The debuts of a permanent public space and year-round multiple-use building, along with the announcement of a new title sponsor, defined the 30th edition of Festival International de Jazz de Montréal which closes tonight with Ben Harper and Relentless 7.

Sure, there were the usual crowds – about 2 million people over 13 days – high-profile performers such as Tony Bennett, Wynton Marsalis and Ornette Coleman, and the eclectic, inspired programming which has earned the event both popular and critical acclaim and a ranking as the world's biggest jazz festival. But these latest initiatives have cemented the festival to the city, which has benefited from $100 million annually in economic spinoffs for the last decade.

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Montreal Jazz Festival: Dave Brubeck, Miles From India

From The National Post:

The Montreal Jazz Festival has survived for 30 years by refusing to be conservative; even its tribute concerts are often forward-thinking. A case in point: the inventive project Miles from India, which gave its only Canadian performance on Saturday night.

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Montreal Jazz Fest Goes Intimate

From drummer Dave King to singer Wendy Lewis, the fest has been offering a nice personal feel.

From The Globe And Mail:

For its 30th anniversary, the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal got two new venues. One, the Place des Festivals, is precisely the sort of large, outdoor space you'd expect of an event where crowds sometimes stretch into six-digit figures.

L'Astral is exactly the opposite, an intimate, two-tiered club off the ground-floor entrance to the Maison du Festival, yet it will probably be as valuable to FIJM as its larger sibling. How so? Mainly because the feel of a band in a club is different from that of even a small theatre, and the benefits of this difference were immediately obvious while watching the Bad Plus perform there Wednesday.

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Stevie Wonder Pays Tribute To Jackson At Montreal Jazz Fest

Stevie Wonder performs at the Montreal International Jazz Festival in Montreal on June 30, 2009. Photograph by: Phil Carpenter, The Gazette

From The Montreal Gazette:

MONTREAL - If you believe in things that you don't understand, then you suffer... so better to understand, then.

Last night, under steady near-biblical rain, a sea of umbrellas gathered on the radically revamped Jazzfest site north of Ste. Catherine St. And they knew why. And they believed.

Jazzfest organizers had spent literally 30 years working to make A Wonder's Summer Night happen. Naturally, this massive 30th anniversary Stevie Wonder blowout had to face its share of tests - Did we mention it was raining? And that Michael Jackson died? And yet, people were ready for a papal audience with a pop figure whose discography and world-embracing spirit would tend to inspire faith in something bigger.

And then, at 9:25, the rain tailed off. So, you know, this 'belief' thing...

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A (Stevie) Wonder-Full Opening To Jazz Fest

Stevie Wonder (left) with his daugther Aicha (right) performs at the eighth Mawazine international music festival in Rabat on May 23, 2009. He'll perform at the June 30 opening-night free show for the 2009 edition of the Montreal International Jazz Festival. Photograph by: Abdelhak Senna, AFP/Getty Images

From The Montreal Gazette:

MONTREAL - There is more than a little irony – and fixing of past wrongs – in the fact that, after performing an incredible concert to a mere 8,700 people at the Bell Centre in 2007, music legend Stevie Wonder returns on Tuesday to play a free show for more than 100,000 people to kick off the 30th edition of the Montreal International Jazz Festival.

And it could be well over 100,000.

Have you felt the buzz? It’s a testament to both Wonder’s generation-spanning appeal and the timelessness of his music that absolutely everyone in town is talking about – and apparently going to – this concert.

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Pop Music Legend Stevie Wonder To Play Montreal

Pop star Stevie Wonder sings a few songs during a news conference prior to his evening performance on Thursday, Oct. 25, 2007 in Montreal. (CP File Photo)

From CTV News:

Pop music legend Stevie Wonder will be the headline act at the 30th Montreal International Jazz Festival this summer - and his concert will be free.

The outdoor extravaganza will be held on June 30.

Wonder will be the first artist to play at the newly-configured downtown festival section.

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Montreal Jazz Fest To Toast Anniversaries

From The CBC:

Davis's Kind of Blue, Blue Note Records, Newport fest also celebrating landmark dates.

To celebrate its 30th anniversary this year, the Montreal Jazz Festival plans to share the spotlight with others also celebrating milestones, including the 50th anniversary of Miles Davis's seminal album Kind of Blue and the 70th anniversary of the Blue Note record label.

Drummer Jimmy Cobb, the last surviving musician from the original Kind of Blue sessions, will bring his So What Band to the festival to celebrate the album's anniversary. Davis — the late trumpeter, bandleader and composer — will be the inspiration for other concerts, including Miles from India (a fusion of Davis's music and Indian culture) and Sketches of MD, a tribute to Davis by saxophonist Kenny Garrett.

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Montreal Offering Vacation Deals For Jazz Festival

From The Montreal Gazette:

MONTREAL—The Montreal Jazz Festival, July 1-12, celebrates its 30th birthday this year, but the event includes a lot more than just jazz.

More than 3,000 artists from 30 countries will present a variety of music at 650 concerts, held noon to midnight. More than half of the performances take place on free outdoor stages.

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Headline Performers To Montreal's International Jazz Festival 2008

Montreal Jazz Festival

On Friday, June 26, 2008, the 29th edition of Montreal's Jazz Festival will start.

The 2008 scheduled artist line-up are the following:
Leonard Cohen
Dee Dee Bridgewater
Katie Melua
Joe Lavano
Dave Liebman
Ravi Coltrane
Chick Corea
Stanley Clarke
Al di Meola
Lenny White
James Taylor
Coral Egan
Omar Portuondo
Woody Allen and his New Orleans Band
Charlie Haden
Anat Cohen
Catherine Russell
Ladytron
Aretha Franklin
Glenn Miller Orchestra
Tommy Dorsey Orchestra

Montreal Jazz Festival: June 26 - July 6, 2008

Montreal Jazz Festival

On Friday, June 26, 2008, the 29th edition of Montreal's Jazz Festival will start. This edition is dedicated to jazz giant, Montreal pianist, Oscar Peterson, who passed away December 23, 2007.

The 2008 scheduled artist line-up is Steely Dan, Leonard Cohen, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Red Earth, Katie Melua, Joe Lavano, Dave Liebman, Ravi Coltrane, Chick Corea, Stanley Clarke, Al di Meola, Lenny White, James Taylor, Coral Egan, Omar Portuondo, Woody Allen and his New Orleans Band, Charlie Haden, Anat Cohen, Catherine Russell, Ladytron, Aretha Franklin, Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in addition to the ever present local talent.

The official site for Montreal's jazz festival is here.

The performers at this years Jazz festival are listed here.

To purchase tickets, the list of venues are here.

Some useful links for Montreal's Jazz Festival are the following:
Montreal Jazz Festival -- Wikipedia
Montreal Jazz Festival -- Google News Results
Restaurants Near The Jazz Festival
A Passion For Jazz
Montreal Jazz Festival Videos -- YouTube