The 38th edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal has announced 10 new concerts to be included in the festival’s upcoming summer lineup. These events will take place at a half-dozen venues throughout the span of the festival, which runs June 28 through July 8.
On June 30, the Place des Arts’ Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier, Québec’s largest performance hall, hosts a blues summit featuring guitarist-vocalist Buddy Guy, harmonica player Charlie Musselwhite and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Lucky Peterson. Then, on July 8, the Salle presents the retro cocktail-jazz sound of Pink Martini. Both these events are part of the festival’s Événements spéciaux TD series.
Another special program of events, the Festival à la Maison symphonique Turkish Airlines series, will take place at the Maison symphonique de Montréal, also found on the Place. On July 8, the Maison will present guitarist Jesse Cook, featuring music from his forthcoming, to-be-titled album.
Performing arts center Métropolis showcases Québécois vocalist-pianist Charlotte Cardin on June 30. Cardin will be featuring selections from her first EP, Big Boy, released this past July on Cult Nation Records.
Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire appears on June 29 at the historic Monument-National, performing a program including selections from his forthcoming album as part of the Jazz Beat Hyatt Regency Montréal series. The following night, this venue and series present a duo performance by pianist Hiromi and Colombian harpist Edmar Castaneda. The two artists first met at the 2016 festival, when Castaneda opened for Hiromi.
Also on June 30, the versatile Club Soda and its Nuits Heineken series serve up the groove of keyboardist Cory Henry and his Funk Apostles. Then, on July 6, the club welcomes Brazilian singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Rodrigo Amarante. Best known in the U.S. for his title theme music for the Netflix series Narcos, Amarante performs his saudade-inflected folk sounds as part of the festival’s Couleurs SAQ series.
The Place’s amphitheater-style Le Gesù will present two major jazz artists as part of the festival’s Jazz dans la nuit series. June 30 hosts saxophonist Donny McCaslin, with music from his new album, Beyond Now, a tribute to the late David Bowie, with whom McCaslin performed on Bowie’s final studio album, Blackstar, released two days before the rock legend’s death last January. Then, on July 1, Le Gesù welcomes the Mark Guiliana Jazz Quartet, the drummer joined by tenor saxophonist Jason Rigby, pianist Shai Maestro and bassist Chris Morrissey. (Guiliana is also a member of McCaslin’s group.)
The Festival International de Jazz de Montréal is presented by TD in collaboration with Rio Tinto. Tickets for all of these events are now on sale. For additional information on these and other festival performances, and to purchase tickets, visit the festival’s official website.
