JAZZTIMES.COM 7The gathering benefits from its
cultural geography as much as its phys-
ical location, said co-founder André
Ménard, who’s officially exiting the
fest’s leadership after the 40th edition.
“Montreal, with its French culture and
English culture, is a bit of a crossroads
for America and Europe,” Menard
commented, relaxing on a couch in the
fest’s press lounge. “It has become what
we call the Montreal formula, a mix of
free events [outdoors] and paid events
in concert halls. It’s like the best of both
worlds crammed into one festival over
three blocks, and two metro stations.
You cannot reproduce that in many
cities—closing the main street and then
finding great-quality
halls varying in size
from 200 seats to
3000.”
Those well-ap-
pointed, acoustically
fine-tuned concert
halls—four located in
the sprawling Place
des Arts, Canada’s
largest performing
arts complex—again
were home to some of
the fest’s most highly
anticipated concerts,
at least two of which
featured celebrated
pianists.
Mehldau, winding
down a short summer
tour with a quintet
featuring trumpeter Ambrose Akin-
musire and saxophonist Joel Frahm,
injected new life into classic hard bop
and soul-jazz at the 2,100-seat Maison
Symphonique. The pianist variously of-
fered call-and-response with the horns,
deployed them for counterlines, and let
them loose on fearless improvisations.
Supported by the pliable grooves of
bassist Joe Sanders and drummer Leon
Parker, a standout soloist, the group
offered refreshing takes on “Besame
Mucho,” Monk’s octave-jumping “Pan-
nonica,” Coltrane’s “Straight Street,”
and Hank Mobley’s “Chain Reaction.”
Valdés, at the same hall, sported
something of a stripped-down sound,
as he was joined by his Jazz Batá group,
with double-bassist Ramón Vázquez,batá drummer and vocalist Dreiser
Durruthy Bombalé, and percussionist
Yaroldy Abreu Robles. The four special-
ized in montuño rhythms, with the lead-
er variously applying his virtuoso chops
to folkish melodies and long improvi-
sations. And the nightcap: a beautifully
realized medley of “People,” “Waltz for
Debby,” and “But Not for Me.”
Coltrane, at the Theatre Maison-
neuve, was joined by pianist David
Virelles, bassist Dezron Douglas, and
drummer Johnathan Blake for nearly
two hours’ worth of satisfying and
sometimes adventurous postbop and
Latin tunes benefiting from the saxo-
phonist’s dark, biting tenor tone, brightsoprano sound, and urgent soloing. The
group drew from originals, as well as
compositions by John Coltrane (“Satel-
lite”) and Alice Coltrane; for the latter’s
“Los Caballos,” not-so-secret weapon
Blake built up a mini-symphony of syn-
copation over a repeating piano/bass
figure before continuing with a brilliant
unaccompanied solo. Antonio Sánchez
& Migration opened the concert at the
1,453-seat venue with a 100-minute set
of intricately arranged, intensely played
music from the drummer’s recent polit-
ically charged album Lines in the Sand.
The quintet, with Chase Baird on tenor
and EWI and Thana Alexa on (mostly)
wordless vocals, played compositions,
often built around rise-and-fall struc-
tures, that ranged from impressionisticSASHA BERLINER x FAREWELLSto raging. Some, like the 28-minute
opener, felt overlong. Sánchez, a dual
citizen of the U.S. and his native Mex-
ico, spoke of his empathy for immi-
grants. “I’m trying to institute ‘Hug a
Mexican’ day,” he joked, in front of an
enthusiastic audience that included his
mother and other family members.
Returning festival favorite Melody
Gardot, who made her debut there in
2008, charmed the Salle Wilfrid-Pelleti-
er audience with carefully constructed,
dramatic arrangements of her songs of
romance. Backed by a rhythm section
and a dozen or so string players, and
sometimes singing in French, the sing-
er/songwriter effectively transformed
the nearly 3,000-seat
hall into a Parisian
café or street corner
circa the 1930s. Occa-
sionally playing piano
or guitar, she drew
heavily from her 2018
Live in Europe album,
making a virtue of
vulnerability with
such songs as “The
Rain,” “Goodbye,”
the bossa-driven “So
Long,” “Our Love Is
Easy,” “Baby I’m a
Fool” and “My One
and Only Thrill.”
Gesù, a 425-seat
theater beneath a
150-year-old baroque
stone church and one
of the fest’s most intimate stages, again
was the site of concerts by acclaimed
rising stars. Melissa Aldana led her
quartet through the bracing, chal-
lenging compositions on the gifted
Chilean-born tenor saxophonist’s
new album Visions, inspired by the
work of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.
McCaslin, with Jason Lindner on keys,
bassist Tim LeFebvre, drummer Zach
Danziger, and singer Ryan Dahle,
aired out the songs from the tenor
saxophonist’s 2018 Blow album. The
music, hinting at the likes of King
Crimson and David Bowie, with whom
McCaslin worked on 2016’s Blackstar,
was turbulent, experimental-minded,
and emotionally volatile.
ALE PHILIP BOOTH
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The Melissa Aldana
Quartet at Gesùx Live Review: The second week of the 40th Montreal Jazz Festival