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Montreal`s annual summer soiree for jazz fanatics (and music fans of all stripes), officially ends Tuesday. The festival suffered a bit of an off year in 2010, locals said, as sets from Lou Reed (with John Zorn) were booed and cancellations of anticipated appearances from Rakim and Daniel Lanois`Black Dub dogged determined show seekers. But there were more than enough bright spots among the festivals expertly currated late night gigs (which run concurrent to the festival) at smart downtown venues such as Club Soda and Metropolis to make up for any cancelations at larger Jazzfest forums.
Case in point? Canada’s premier jazz festival partnered up with UK-based Ninja Tune this year again for a series of shows to help the influential imprint (which has its North tunAmerican offices in Quebec) celebrate 20 years in business. Kid Koala, Anti-Pop Consortium and Spank Rock all helped NT toast twenty years (Ninja Tune founders Coldcut will present a massive October concert in London that will serve as the lager party) during Jazzfest at three different special shows running concurrent with Jazzfest.
The best of the bunch might have been the July 3rd show at Metropolis, featuring Andreya Triana, Bonobo and Mr. Scruff. The triple bill captured the attention of Montréal’s twentysomething set, drawing nearly 2200 people out for a night of herbalising to the next wave of jazz.
England`s Andreya Triana impressed with a short soulful set to start the evening out, recalling Erykah Badu at several junctures. But the vast majority of the crowd, many of whom drove in from upstate New York, were there to see one of Ninja Tune` marquis artists, Bonobo. And the English DJ (and all around downtempo champion) did not let the crowd down.
photo by www.flickr.com/photos/evablue/
Fresh off a performance at Glastonbury, Bonobo unleashed his band, backed by Jack Baker`s steady snare, to a crowd ready to dance. And dance they did: to tracks mostly culled from his latest offering, including “Kong” and “Eyesdown.” Mike Lesage’s woodwind playing was exceptional, as was Ewan Wallace’s guitar playing throughout the set. However, it was Bonobo himself front-and-center directing traffic; and he was at his best when he tweaked samples on the fly, looking like he was having the time of his life as the smell of BC’s finest wafted through the venue. By the time he dropped the eponymous track off his most recent Black Sands album late in his set, he owned the night.
Mr. Scruff followed Bonobo with a sweaty, sunny DJ set to match the Montreal heat, heavy on danceable reggae. The grinning spinner proved that vinyl is not dead, and he brought considerable weight to the argument that real djs still prefer vinyl for an authentic big night out. Kicking off his set with Black Sheep, Scruff rarely looked back to hip-hop—opting instead to turn Montreal into Kingston-via-Manchester (his take on Mungo Hi-Fi’s “ing” was a winner Saturday night). Extra points for the visuals Scruff brought to the party, featuring drawings of booming speakers and name checking several Montreal neighborhoods (big up Montreal massive, indeed).
photo by www.flickr.com/photos/evablue/
Other highlights from the festival included Anti Pop Consortium’s set Friday, July 2nd, where the hip-hop act ripped through their catalog, offering up spirited takes on classics such as “New Frontier,” “Shine” and “Capricorn One” over minimal, almost Tackhead style beats.
“A lot of trends come and go but Ninja Tune has been here for like 1000 years,” the group’s MC said from stage Friday. The crowd roared back with chants of “APC” and APC responded in kind: dropping “Ping Pong” to get the room moving. It’s hard not to like any act that manages to drop a Keith Olbermann reference into any song, and APC managed to satiate jazzfest’s thirst for hip-hop that Rakim failed to deliver on (rumor has it the legendary lyricist had visa issues).
To snag a free one hour download of the Bonobo + Mr. Scruff gig mixed by Mr. Scruff, go to www.mrscruff.com this week, click on the download code icon and enter the following code: LadXZy
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