Since I’m full of poutine and self righteousness, I must have just gotten back from my third year at the Montreal Jazz Festival. Ha! Montreal, I kid because I love. Hey, put the knife down Montreal. You know I love you.
Normally when I write about music for this site, I try to write about bands and artists I think you might care about. Or at the very least bands that I think you might actually care about that don’t make me sick to my stomach. The one exception to this is jazz festival time, when your interests don’t concern me in the slightest.
Although I was only in town for 4 days, I still had time to see some pretty amazing music.
Robert Glasper & Terrence Blanchard, with special guests Kendrick Scott & Vincente Archer – Gesu Theatre
Robert Glasper is a promising young pianist who the critics say is poised to be one of the next “greats” because of his ability to reference modern musical styles while paying tribute to the artists that created jazz in the first place. I can’t say I see what they’re talking about. I mean, he’s good. He’s got talent. But I didn’t see anything from him on Friday night that made me think that he’s any more than just another decent piano player. If anything, his solos seem so desperate to touch upon as many styles as he can that I’m not sure he even wants to be a jazz piano player at all. The always fantastic trumpet of Terence Blanchard worked hard to bring some much needed heat to the show, and the duo’s versions of “Autumn Leaves” and “Up Jumped Spring” did much to allay my fears that Glasper was nothing but a one trick pony. He’s a fun player to watch, I just think he needs a lot more seasoning. The addition of Kendrick Scott and Vincente Archer to the night’s events unfortunately brought me back to the realization that we were seeing an impromptu “band” led by a leader who maybe isn’t quite ready to lead yet. None of this mattered the next night of course when I showed my utter hypocrisy by complimenting Glasper on his “great set” from the night before.
Wanda Jackson – L’Astral
Everyone loves a comeback. After years of toiling in obscurity, the only person other than RuPaul that can really lay claim to the title of the “Queen of Rock & Roll” is back, and she’s in the middle of a comeback that makes Betty Whites look like Latoya Jacksons. Wanda Jackson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, and she has a brand new album that Jack White produced that’s coming out this fall. Although it’s always great to see legendary artists like this, the down side to seeing legends perform is that they rarely can put on a show in the way that they used to, and performances like this often come across as half-baked and maudlin, rather than relevant and necessary. Jackson falls somewhere in the middle. If it was anyone else on stage, the people would have thought “Half-decent rockabilly bar band”, as opposed to “OMYGODICANTBELIEVEIMACTUALLYWATCHINGTHEWANDAJACKSONLIVEANDSOIMGOINGTOSCREAMLOUDLYATEVERYTHINGSHEDOES”. But it wasn’t anyone else, it was the only person I’ve ever seen live that actually nailed Elvis Presley. And so if the crowd was maybe giving her credit for a half centuries worth of great performances rather than the “just ok” performance we were seeing that night, then so be it.
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