Jazz as unifying force: 44th edition of Montreal International Jazz Festival delights fans across 10 days

Launched in 2014, PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YourStory, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In the earlier 785 posts, we featured an art festival, cartoon gallery, world music festival, telecom expo, millets fair, climate change expo, wildlife conference, startup festival, Diwali rangoli, and jazz festival.

For ten days, the annual Montreal International Jazz Festival (MIJF) delighted music fans this summer with a treat of almost 30 performances a day. The genres spanned jazz, blues, soul, funk, and electronica (see our photo essays from five earlier editions here).

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The 44th edition of this musical extravaganza was supported by TD Bank Group, Rio Tinto, Rogers, and a range of government agencies such as the Canada Council for the Arts. With a mix of free outdoor venues and ticketed indoor stages, there was something for every mood and every budget.

Some of the stars of the festival included Norah Jones, Al Di Meola, Stanley Clarke, and Marcus Miller, with a wide range of emerging artists as well. Attending every single performance was clearly an impossible task, but a good problem to have!

“What an enormous privilege it is to have such a popular event here—one that is loved, even idolised, by both the public and the artists,” Maurin Auxéméry, Programming Director, tells YourStory.

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He commends the people of Montreal and the province of Quebec for being so open to outside music and to festival-goers from around the world, and for making the large event such a safe and welcoming one as well.

The summer season in Montreal is packed with other events on French music, African culture, circus arts, mural art shows, and cultural exhibitions. The museums and art galleries are popular draws as well (see our photo essays on the McCord Museum and Montreal Museum of Fine Arts).

Sustainability was a cross-cutting theme at the festival. There were special initiatives to collect refundable cans, provide refillable water bottles made from aluminium, and water fountains across the venues.

There were a number of bands from overseas lending a flavour of ‘world jazz’ to the event, particularly from Africa and Latin America, as seen in this photo essay. “We hope to have more bands from India as well in future,” Auxéméry signs off.

Now what have you done today to pause in your busy schedule and harness your creative side for a better world?

Adi Oasis is a French Caribbean, Brooklyn-based soul-funk artist. The bassist-vocalist had the crowd on their feet for a packed indoor set. Her recent album, Lotus Glow, features her trademark soaring vocals and funky bass. Themes of her immigrant experience feature in her songs, along with her growth as an artist. Oasis has appeared with performers such as Lenny Kravitz and Gilles Peterson and has toured globally.

Aja Monet is a contemporary poet, writer, lyricist, and activist from Los Angeles. Her poems are about empowerment, love and the quest for joy. She has published a wide collection of poems that shine even more when accompanied by live background music. She is a Grand Slam Champion at the Nuyorican Poets Café and has won wide acclaim for her roles as griot, storyteller, and chronicler.

Al Di Meola is an award-winning guitarist whose four-decade career spans three gold albums and more than six million record sales worldwide. His 20 albums feature him alongside other jazz greats like Chick Corea, John McLaughlin, and Jean-Luc Ponty. He pioneered a blend of jazz with world music, including flamenco, tango, Middle Eastern, Brazilian, and African music. He played to a standing ovation at the Montreal festival.

André 3000 is the stage name of American rapper, songwriter and actor André Lauren Benjamin. He was born in Georgia and constituted the hip-hop duo Outkast along with fellow-rapper Big Boi. He has acted in a range of films and TV series and is also known for his advocacy of animal rights. Some of his popular tracks include Dream State, Life of the Party, and Millionaire. As an entrepreneur, he has launched a clothing line as well.

Apashe is the professional name of John De Buck, a Belgium-born musician who is currently based in Montreal. He studied electroacoustics at Concordia University and co-produced the sound design for a range of video games at companies like Ubisoft before striking out into the music world with his blend of electronic and classical music. He wowed the festival audience with a spectacular outdoor show including fireworks and costumed stage musicians.

Cory Wong is a guitarist, songwriter, and producer based in Minneapolis. Playing with a big band, he delivered a superb outdoor performance in Montreal with a blend of a number of genres, including jazz, rock and funk. His albums include Live in Amsterdam, Even Uneven, and Meditations. He has performed in a range of jazz clubs and festivals around the world.

Dominique Fils-Aimé is a Montreal-based singer-songwriter who has won the JUNO Award twice already. Her music blends genres of blues, jazz and soul, inspired by the likes of Billie Holiday, Nina Simone and Etta James. Her albums include Nameless and Stay Tuned, featuring strong calls for social transformation and reconciliation. Her captivating stage presence had the crowd on their feet during her outdoor performance.

Marcus Miller is a legendary bass guitarist who has performed with jazz giants like Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, David Sanborn, and George Benson. “I have also played with Zakir Hussain and Trilok Gurtu,” he tells YourStory. With a career of over 30 years, he is also a film music composer and winner of two Grammy Awards. His unique combination of funk, groove and soul enthralled the audience at his set which spanned over two hours.

Norah Jones is a nine-time Grammy Award winner and plays piano, keyboards and guitar in addition to melodic vocals. Her most recent album, from which she played many tracks at the Montreal festival, is titled Visions. She is regarded as a top jazz artist by Billboard magazine; her music also blends folk and blues. Jones is the daughter of the late great Pandit Ravi Shankar.

Pink Martini is a multi-lingual multi-genre band founded by Oregon pianist Thomas Lauderdale. They perform a range of jazz, swing and Latin styles, led by vocalists China Forbes and Storm Large. “If the United Nations had a house band, hopefully, we'd be it,” the band jokes in its social media posts. Themes range from worker rights to social tolerance, sung in over 25 languages with sales of over three million albums worldwide.

The Preservation Hall Jazz Band is a legendary jazz band founded in New Orleans by tuba player Allan Jaffe. The band derives its name from Preservation Hall in the French Quarter. They are winners of the National Medal of Arts (2006). Many of the older musicians have passed away, but a new generation of performers keeps the music alive while also adding more contemporary textures. Leaders of the band have included the trumpeter brothers Wendell and John Brunious.

Robohands is the experimental collaborative project of London-based composer and instrumentalist Andy Baxter. Their albums include Green, Dusk, Shape, and Violet. The group played in trio format at the indoor venue Gesu, with an unusual accompaniment on the harp. Baxter has headlined at a number of venues in cities like Lisbon as well.

Shabaka Hutchins is a multi-instrumental performer and composer born in London and raised in Barbados. He has spearheaded three bands: Sons of Kemet, The Comet is Coming, and Shabaka and the Ancestors. His music has blended jazz with Afro-Caribbean and South African sounds. At the Montreal festival, he showcased his dexterity on a range of flutes.

Stanley Clarke is a legendary bassist and composer, with four Grammy Awards to his credit. He showed his virtuosity on both acoustic and electric bass at the Montreal festival. He made his professional debut in the US at the age of 15 and went on to play with jazz greats such as Art Blakey, Dexter Gordon, Joe Henderson, Pharaoh Saunders, Chick Corea, and Stan Getz. In his able hands, the bass is transformed into a melodic and harmonic lead instrument; he is a winner of Bass Player Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Sunny War is a guitarist-vocalist from Nashville, who jokingly describes herself as a balance between two sides: self-destructive and creative. Her style blends folk, blues, punk, and even gospel. Music has been a lifeline through the ups and downs of her journey, as she explained during her duo performance at the outdoor Rogers stage in Montreal.

Thee Sacred Souls is a talented band from San Diego spearheaded by Josh Lane (vocals), Riley Dunn (piano), and Shay Stulz (guitar). They describe their sound as R&B and sweet soul music. Like some resilient musicians, they also recorded (socially distanced) during the pandemic. Their tracks include Give Us Justice, an anti-violence anthem written in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis.

(All photographs courtesy MIJF: Frédérique Ménard Aubin, Benoit Rousseau and Victor Diaz Lamich.)