Do you like loose jazz?
In almost every French-speaking city in the world, this question would be translated as: “Are you talking about avant-garde jazz?But at Canada’s Montreal International Jazz Festival, better known as the Montreal Jazz Festival, the question is misleading in a number of ways.
Most of the performances of this 10-day summer music marathon in the French-speaking province of Quebec’s largest city are absolutely free. And while the 2024 lineup will feature jazz favorites like pianist Jason Moran and saxophonists Joshua Redman, Chris Potter, and Melissa Aldana, it will also feature a wide diversity of other styles.
This year’s roster includes everything from synth-pop organization Future Islands, San Diego neo-soul organization Thee Sacred Souls and proud country singer Orville Peck to eclectic blues veteran Cedric Burnside. Norah Jones and hip-hop favorites like Andre 3000, Killer Mike, and Freddie Gibbs.
Best of all, more than two-thirds of the more than 225 concerts at this year’s edition, which runs from June 27 to July 6, are free. Performances take place on six stages and in 10 indoor venues, ranging from intimate nightclubs to historic venues. theaters and the concert hall of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra.
The festival’s daily 8 hours of live music starts at five o’clock in the afternoon every day. This provides festival-goers with plenty of time during the day to explore this 382-year-old island town, which offers nearly equal portions of the foreign and the familiar.
“Montreal is very cosmopolitan,” said Rafael Payare, music director of the San Diego Symphony, who is also music director of the Montreal Symphony. “When you’re here, you feel like one part of you is in North America and the other part is in Europe. “
True to Payare’s words, you don’t have to stray far from the imprint of the downtown jazz festival known as the Quartier des Spectacles to appreciate this delightful sense of duality that spans an entire continent.
On the three-kilometer promenade that connects the charming mid-century Place des Arts, home to the largest indoor festival and concert venue, to Montreal’s Old Port, the sidewalk gives way to cobblestone streets and high-rise buildings give way to well-preserved ones. buildings from centuries past. . .
“Montgenuine is a lovely pedestrian city and many of the festival’s indoor concerts are held in historic venues,” said David Beckett, Vermont Jazz Radio DJ and real estate agent, who is a longtime participant in the festival.
“El Gesù, which has been a live theatre since 1992, is housed in a Catholic church inaugurated in 1865. The National Theatre School of Canada, also known as a National Monument, opened in 1893 and is the oldest theatre in Quebec. Edith Piaf: I sang there once. Just by attending concerts at the venues where the festival takes place, you’ll notice some of Montreal’s most memorable art venues.
A detour around almost any corner is likely to lead to a welcome new discovery, whether it’s a 21-story, 10,000-square-foot mural depicting Montreal-born Leonard Cohen animated through a photograph taken through his daughter Lorca, or a Frenchman. -Chinese food place with the quaint Beijing Fondue.
To add to the European flavor, French is the official language of Quebec, the province that counts Montreal as its largest city. Our French is limited to a dozen words, but almost every word we found in Montreal spoke English. The menus of almost every single place to eat at which we ate were in French and English.
Some of the city’s firms are necessarily European or Canadian, but exclusive to Montreal. Its iconic wrought-iron staircases adorn many apartment buildings (called “plexes”).
There are more than 30,000 of them in the city and they vary in shape and size: straight, spiral, L-shaped, and various other configurations. While the prospect of taking some of those stairs in Montreal’s frigid winters is alarming to visitors, they are a sight to behold in summer.
Another old logo of the city is poutine: fries topped with new curd cheese, topped with a thick, brown sauce. Generally considered a Canadian dish, it originated in rural Quebec in the mid-20th century and arrived in Montreal about a decade later. . Poutine can be eaten in many restaurants in Montreal, from diners to upscale restaurants. Most offer their own versions, adding smoked meat, ravioli, popcorn, pulled pork, and much more.
Montreal also prides itself on its bagels, with competing boutiques in St-Viateur and Fairmount rated among locals and the like. Montreal bagels stand out because they are boiled in honey and water, then baked in a wood-fired oven, for a sweeter flavor and crunchier texture. The St-Viateur bagel shop is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. It serves more than 12,000 bagels a day.
“There are a lot of festivals between New York and Montreal to see who has the most productive bagels,” said Payare, who is no stranger to either city. “I would say it’s Montreal. “
During the summer, some stretches of streets in several neighborhoods are car-free as “pedestrian zones”, specifically through the festival center in the Quartier des Spectacles.
Adding to the pedestrian features is the nearly 20-mile network of underpasses, open year-round but built for citizens to escape, at least temporarily, the brutal cruelty of winter. The hallways are lined with shops, restaurants, and amazing works of art.
On our first day in Montreal at the end of June, we took a stroll around the captivating campus of McGill University. Located about 3 kilometers from the festival grounds, the campus is located at the bottom of Mount Royal, from where the English call Montreal. Comes. Mount Royal is home to a 692-acre green park designed by Frederick Law, whose best-known credits are Central Park in New York City.
Briefly rubbing shoulders with a visiting student organization, we learned that some of McGill’s best-known alumni include Leonard Cohen, Burt Bacharach, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, William Shatner, architect Moshe Safdie, and comedian Samantha Bee.
McGill’s more than 80 buildings span 80 acres overlooking downtown Montreal and the St. Louis River. Lawrence. Su neoclassical art building, completed in 1843, is the oldest on campus. In summer, the school’s lawn is filled with colorful flowers and greenery. It fills much of the campus for pedestrians and bicyclists.
The next day, we walked down Rue de Bleury from the festival grounds through Old Montreal to the Old Port, which stretches for over a mile along the St. Lawrence River. Ideal for pedestrians and cyclists, pedal boats can also be rented, check out ziplining or embarking on river cruises.
Between the river and the nearby historic clock tower, a reproduction of Big Ben, is a sandy beach, umbrellas, and seating for 800 people. The Old Port is also home to a Ferris wheel about 200 feet high, the Montreal Ferris Wheel, which thanks to its temperature-controlled cabins, is open year-round and offers breathtaking views of Montreal.
While we took between 11,000 and 19,000 steps per day of our visit, we were glad we bought a week-long metro pass. Worth $22 per user (credit cards only, no money accepted), he offered us unlimited rides. on all 4 metro lines. Pass in hand, we toured several destinations for miles from the city center, and then walked to our heart’s content.
One day we visited the Verdun district in Montreal. There you will find the Promenade Wellington, a pedestrian promenade that stretches for 11 blocks and has more than 250 trendy businesses, as well as a wide variety of bars, restaurants, cafes, ice cream parlors and much more. Voted the “coolest street in the world” by TimeOut magazine in 2022, Promenade Wellington gets crowded on Saturdays and Sundays, so come on weekdays if you need crowds.
The next day, we took the subway line to the Montreal Botanical Garden, which occupies more than 185 hectares and has 10 greenhouses open to the public. Located next to the Olympic Village and the Biodôme, the Biosphere and the Montreal Planetarium, it also has a herbarium and an insectarium. Highlights include Chinese, Japanese, and First Nations turf, as well as a rock lawn arranged according to geographic regions. Full-day tickets are $23. 25 for adults and $12 for youth ages 5-17.
Another day, we took the metro to the last station on the green line to Parc Angrignon, which had caught our attention through a local journalist for its beauty, lack of tourists, and easy access. An oasis of lush tranquility in the middle of a metropolis, the 240-acre park features ponds, picnic tables, multiple walking and motorcycle trails, and playgrounds. We also came across a teepee hidden in a dense part of the park’s forest area.
Each day, after an early dinner, we were able to enjoy music both outside and inside, adding relaxed functionality through an amazing orchestra of one hundred electric guitarists. They ran in the middle of the Complexe Desjardins, the vast indoor center for buying groceries. next to the DoubleTree passing through Hilton, where we stayed for 10 days.
The mall is home to a giant food court with a wide diversity of options. Its sturdy air conditioning was ideal for a quick respite when the outside temperature reached 80 degrees, as it did for several days in a row during our visit. On a particularly hot and humid day, we were surprised when, within minutes, the scorching sun gave way to rain and then a brief but intense hailstorm.
As we walked from festival level to festival to listen to unfeisty performances by such notable artists as blues guitar titan Christone “Kingfish” Ingram and soulful singer Macy Gray, we were inspired by the friendliness of multigenerational crowds. And that reminded us of San Diego’s street scene, when it took up a foothold on the streets of the Gaslamp Quarter in the 1980s and 1990s, with new musical discoveries waiting around every corner.
This sheer duration partly explains why the annual attendance at the Montreal festival is approximately 2 million, or 100,000 participants per day. But with the diversity of intimate indoor venues of the event, it’s easy for the sprawling crowds if needed. By opting for either (big and small, exterior and interior), we enjoy the most productive of both worlds in a city where the old and the new continually converge.
Festival de Jazz de Montreal
The 2024 edition of the festival begins on June 27 and ends on July 6. More than two-thirds of the event’s more than 225 concerts are free. All programming and tickets can be obtained at montrealjazzfest. com/fr.
Transportation
Several airlines offer round-trip flights from San Diego to Montreal, but Air Canada is the one that offers nonstop service. Depending on the time and day of departure, economy fares start at around $789 for a round-trip ticket.
lodging
We chose the DoubleTree across the Hilton Montreal because of its proximity: it has a direct view of the festival’s two most gigantic outdoor stages and has a giant indoor pool. The rooms on the opposite side of the festival are quiet, but the ones facing the two stages offer a bird’s-eye view. The same goes for the courtyard overlooking the pool and the popular Bivouac Terrace dining spot and bar. The hotel’s generous breakfast buffet package, included in the room rate, was a great choice. The DoubleTree is located at 1255 Jeanne- Mance Street. Rates for festival tours in June and July start at $289 per night, (514) 285-1450; bit. ly/HiltonDoubletreeMontreal
Restaurants
Dining in Montreal is every foodie’s dream come true, from sidewalk bistros to bagel bakeries to high-end restaurants. Here are three of our private favorites and each of them offers food:
Wood is a freelance writer; Varga is the critic for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
george. varga@sduniontribune. com
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