FIJM | Samara Joy: Pushing Classic Vocal Jazz Repertoire to its Limits

by Harry Skinner

When Samara Joy entered the stage at Maison Symphonique amid theatrical swells from her horn section, there was a degree of pomp and circumstance about the moment. It was the kind of introduction that can easily feel self-indulgent if the one making the entrance doesn’t back it up with their performance. Luckily it was made clear very quickly that this was not the case – Joy’s vocal stylings are instantly captivating and reflect a level of maturity one rarely hears in such a young performer.

The set started with a rendition of Thelonious Monk’s classic ‘Round Midnight with Joy singing the same set of lyrics as the great Ella Fitzgerald, in contrast to those she sang on the same tune on her 2022 album Linger Awhile. The arrangement, by tenor saxophonist Kendric McCallister, took the piece through several different grooves, moving into double, triple, and quadruple time during the solo section. The maximalist style of the arrangement came across as almost tongue in cheek, without ever losing a sense of reverence for the piece or its countless classic versions.

The arrangements continued to suit the ensemble and Joy’s performances throughout the evening, as the band paid homage to other great singers of the past, namely Betty Carter and Billie Holiday. It is worth noting the interesting ways in which Joy’s voice was used within the ensemble – in multiple pieces she joined the horn section during a shout chorus or took a solo without using scat syllables, a refreshing way to bring out the lyrical quality of her melodies.

What is most impressive about Samara Joy’s singing is her versatility; she has a rich alto range, but does not shy away or falter in the higher register of her instrument. Likewise, she moves seamlessly between fast, rhythmic passages and slow, lyrical ones. She can fill a concert hall with a climactic belt or bring her voice down to a near whisper without losing any melodic or rhythmic authority. In fact, her light and airy soft phrasing is reminiscent of her contemporary Cecile McLorin Salvant (a generational talent in her own right). This level of technical proficiency and musicality in someone aged twenty-five is truly special to hear.

Endless praise could be heaped onto Samara Joy and her strikingly mature voice, but what also shone through in this performance was the polished cohesion of her band (composed of trumpeter Jason Charos, trombonist Donavan Austin, also saxophonist David Mason, tenor saxophonist Kendric McCallister, pianist Connor Rohrer, bassist Paul Sikivie, and drummer Evan Sherman). Throughout the set the arrangements exploded with ideas without overwhelming the listener. It is clear that whichever member arranges a particular piece, there is a collective understanding of how the group sounds. There seems to be a desire to see just how far each song will bend, and the joy the band takes in pushing each selection to its limit is palpable. The performance was at once a complete statement and an exciting look at what is to come for jazz’s younger generation.

Hip Hop / Instrumental Hip Hop / Orchestral Pop

FIJM | Nas symphonic and Nas not symphonic

by Alain Brunet

As symphonic rap continues to gain momentum among form fans, it’s Nas’ turn to make the trip and get his audience tripping. Gala outfit, bow tie, black suit, smoked glasses. Behind him, a jazz-groove-hip-hop band, drums, double bass, keyboards, DJ. Behind the band, a full symphony orchestra under the direction of Jean-Michel Malouf, artistic director and conductor of the Orchestre symphonique du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and the Orchestre symphonique de Sherbrooke. Big business!

Nas emerged from the pack in 1994 with the acclaimed first of his 15 albums, Illmatic. Today, it’s considered a classic of East Coast hip-hop, so much so that a symphonic version is being performed all over the rap world for the ^30th anniversary of its release. And Montreal is no exception, its authority unquestionable 31 years on: two sold-out Wilfrid-Pelletier halls in as many nights.

Nas, 51, is a formidable figure. This authentic showman knows how to heat up a room of this size, and his word is golden to the ears of his fans, who know all about this emblematic album, typical of ’90s New York and featuring beatmakers and guests who were very important at the time: Large Professor (Nas’s teenage buddy and main collaborator on this opus), but also Marley Marl, Rockwilde, MC Serch, Nick Fury, Pete Rock, Faith N and even the archbishops of the boom-bap sound, Q-Tip and DJ Premier.

Au programme, donc, tous ces classiques d’Illmatic : The Genesis , NY State of Mind, Life’s a Bitch, The World Is Yours, Halftime, Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park), One Love, One Time 4 Your Mind, Represent, It Ain’t Hard to Tell.

Galvanized by this encounter, the audience knew all the lines, applauding wildly at every step of the program. Unfortunately, the sound system for such a marriage of rap, band and symphony wasn’t up to scratch, with the strings generally buried by the otherwise excellent electric band and its MC. The brass and reeds fared better in the context, but we can’t conclude that the orchestral symbiosis between symphony, groove and hip-hop was a success. It’s impossible to make up one’s mind about the arrangements… In any case, there’s every reason to believe that the sound engineer and the acoustics of the hall didn’t really help the cause of intelligibility.Galvanized by this encounter, the audience knew all the lines, applauding wildly at every step of the program. Unfortunately, the sound system for such a marriage of rap, band and symphony wasn’t up to scratch, with the strings generally buried by the otherwise excellent electric band and its MC. The brass and reeds fared better in the context, but we can’t conclude that the orchestral symbiosis between symphony, groove and hip-hop was a success. It’s impossible to make up one’s mind about the arrangements… In any case, there’s every reason to believe that the sound engineer and the acoustics of the hall didn’t really help the cause of intelligibility.

Ce qui, d’ailleurs, n’a pas eu l’air de déranger les fans, plus qu’heureux d’être là devant un showman à la hauteur de la situation. Ajoutons néanmoins que la partie du concert sans orchestre symphonique, mitraillée durant la dernière demi-heure, a été la plus percutante: The Message (Grand Master Flash), Street Dreams (moins sweet que ceux des Eurythmics), Got Ur Self a Gun, Oochie Wally, You Owe Me, Made You Look, The Don , If I Ruled the World (Imagine That), One Mic.

Gotcha!

photos : Victor Diaz Lamich

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Queercore

Suoni | The Jellicle KIKI Ball #2 – Feline Grace is Served

by Z Neto Vinheiras

Suoni has transformed La Sala Rossa into a Ball Room and welcomes for the second time the Jellicle Kiki Ball! A long awaited (and again sold-out!) night made by and for black, queer and trans community… and excellence.

The Kiki Balls are usually events focused around community and dedicated to the younger queers and, apart from distributing many prizes, Kiki expands its community cause to a humanitarian one – 600$ were raised Friday night towards Keffiyehs for Direct Action, a SWANA and queer mutual aid initiative providing direct support towards Palestinians (check ig and website).

Put together and presented by Legendary Godmother Phoenix Sankofa – who became tonight the new Overall Mother Sankofa – Father Noam Juicy Couture and Mags Old Navy, with DJ Father Cherry KFC and MC Father Broadway Mulan, the theme of this edition is, similarly to last one, – the feline, cats, kitties, pussycats, purrs and meows… one year after the mystical “Cats: The Jellicle Ball” in New York City, a ball adaptation of the iconic musical “Cats” by Andrew Lloyd Webber, itself based on T.S Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.

This #2 Jellicle Kiki Ball offered new categories such as Nails Done, where the most extravagant catty-nail art is called to walk; a high burning, hard-fought battle between Old and New Way; the sexiest Lip Sync’s; the wildest and juiciest Tag Team Sex Siren battle, and was blessed by the invincible walks of iconic voguer and Overall Mother Koppi Mizrahi, from Tokyo, Japan.

Solo walkers, productions, house walkers – so much talent, brilliance and high level taste and devoted work from the performers + the all time euphoric and hyping energy from the crowd couldn’t possibly fit a physical space but this is what community does – it elevates us to higher layers of possibility, it breaks society’s imposed limits and norms over one’s own power and existence – The Jellicle Kiki Ball #2 and every walker served only grace and we ate!

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expérimental / contemporain

Suoni | The Dark, Wicked, Warm and Absurd on the Same Dish

by Z Neto Vinheiras

Casa opens the doors in a charged, but carefully arranged, blend of dark-folk, neoclassical, noise and post-punk in the hands and voice of Fae Sirois, performing her project Girl Circles – “the art of spite and wxmenly sexual energy”, as she describes.

In a somber yet intimate setting, Girl Circles is a space of spells and curses, of a very raw confession of embodying one’s own shadows and from there, finding light. Fae Sirois guides us through storytelling, from her raw scratched violin to a very melodious, lyrical, one; organic and tortured machinery, and screamo techniques.

In the midst of all the noise, sharp frequencies traversing the spectrum, whipping feedback – Fae listens attentively. She knows exactly what kind of power she embodies and experiments with.

Second act of the night is served by Ylang Ylang & Così e Così in a performance dedicated to everyone “who [was] present and anyone who spends a lot of time in hospitals”. The vulnerable, piercing poetry of Così e Così couldn’t fit in a better place than the warm bed of synths and thoughtful beats of Ylang Ylang. The duo transports us to the insides of a love letter, or else a sad glitchy flower, curating the soundtrack of the ride – it is soft and warm, melancholic yet comforting and somewhat energising, nostalgic and so touching.

Trading Places: Un Échange artist-in-residence in collaboration with Suoni brings us Cordelia Donovan, originally from Manitoba and based in Vancouver. Donovan stretches the performative moment to a raw exploration of voice layering, texture and dynamics – she tells us about grief, inviting us to breathe together with and through it.

The headliners Ishi Tishi conquer our hearts and laughs with a playfully inventive set, scooping from the absurd and the slightly provocative while still being real about today’s doom – from keyboard synths, to vocal harmonising and electronic experiments, the trio embraces the weird and awkwardness of being a human in this mess, and does so with such a lightheartedness difficult to leave a place in a bad mood.

Jazz Fusion

FIJM | Azimuth: Brazilian Jazz Fusion of the Highest Order

by Michel Labrecque

The Azimuth band is a legend in Brazil. It started out in 1973, in Rio de Janeiro, juggling Brazilian popular music, rock and jazz. Over the years, the trio has become increasingly jazz-fusion, without ever abandoning its Brazilian roots.

Fifty-two years after his birth, Azimuth presented himself at the Gesu in spectacular form, and had the vast majority of the audience in his pocket from the very first piece, taken from his recent album Marca Passo, released this month.

Azimuth is a kind of Brazilian Weather Report, in a different form: a keyboardist, a bassist and a drummer. Of the original line-up, only bassist Alex Malheiros remains, still going strong despite his 78 years. Kiko Continento has officiated on keyboards since 2015, and Renato Massa Calmon handles drums and percussion.

The three musicians are very close-knit and offer music that is both complex and festive, sometimes a little dated because of the keyboards: a Korg synthesizer, a Rhodes electric piano and an organ whose brand I haven’t seen. Kiko Contentino, the 55-year-old youngster in the band, plays his instruments like a teenager, while being very versatile.

Alex Malheiros handles his bass with intelligence, occasionally using slap, but not excessively. In this kind of band, the bass is more than an accompaniment, it’s an essential instrument, and the moustachioed Brazilian also knows how to solo.

Rebato Calmon brought the crowd to its feet on several occasions with his drum solos. Personally, I find him best when he accompanies with great virtuosity, mixing Brazilian percussion with drums and cymbals.

This is jazz fusion of the highest order. But the most delightful and original moments came when the band displayed their Brazilian-ness. Wordless vocal harmonies, whistles, a percussion trio – the little things that make a difference. Having lived in Rio de Janeiro for two years and listened to a lot of Brazilian music, I particularly appreciate this.

I also often say that with this kind of virtuoso band, it’s when they play ballads or slow pieces that you really notice the quality.

In Azimuth’s case, that moment arrived when they opened with Last Summer in Rio, from Marca Passo. They had us singing along as they deployed their improvisational skills. And we, the audience, began to levitate.

The almost-full Gesu remained in this state right up to the end.

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Jazz / jazz groove

FIJM | Anomalie and Lewis: Two hour Jam by Two Heavy Hitters

by Vitta Morales

The night of June 27th saw Le Gesù playing host to Montreal’s very own Anomalie as well as Toronto’s Larnell Lewis.

This was a pairing that Anomalie himself confirmed had never been done in any official capacity. Indeed, when the show was first announced it felt to me like a funny crossover episode of TV; here we had two heavy hitting Canadian fusion artists that seemed firmly in their own lanes but who were now suddenly collaborating. My initial reaction was of mild surprise which lasted only a moment before realizing: “Oh, yeah. That actually makes a lot of sense.” So how would the stylings of the man behind the groovy and slick sounds of “Velours” (2017) pair with those of the man responsible for the furious and driving sound on “We Like it Here” (2014)? Well, pretty well to be honest.

Prior to the show starting we were informed that what we were about to hear was improvised in its entirety. In other words, a two hour jam by two heavy hitters of fusion jazz. Anomalie, for his part, made use of all the sounds for which he is known including his many lead synths, piano, fast moving arpeggios, and pitch bent chords through the use of an expression pedal. Some soundscapes were sparse, some more groovy and ostinato based, and on a couple occasions he really let himself go with a burning solo. This however, really did only occur on a couple occasions. I don’t know whether it was by design, from nerves, or self-consciousness, but Anomalie ceded the spotlight quite a bit to Lewis who would play significantly more solos on the night. Seeing as it was a duo setting, I would have wanted this aspect to be more equal. And it would have been nice for him to take more risks in his playing as well. He seemingly clung to safety by playing things he knew he wouldn’t mess up. Oh, well. I won’t hold it against him.

Lewis, for his part, employed mallets and hotrod sticks when the music needed to be softer and more sparse, but he quickly ramped things up when necessary by playing dense fills around the kit, quick 16th note grooves on his bass drum with one foot, and even at one point playing quick 32nd notes on his hi-hat in a trap style. A splash cymbal placed on the snare at other points achieved the classic “stacked cymbal” sound. He also got a lot of mileage out of his cowbell grooves which of course made an appearance as well. Lewis, In other words, whether playing sparsely, quietly, or furiously, treated us to a seemingly endless vault of drum vocabulary.

Overall, I have to commend Anomalie and Lewis for a solid evening of music; but in particular their transitions were very impressive to me. Considering there are no real starts and ends to the “songs” in a jam, the transitions are the hardest thing to get right. The musical instincts and experience were on full display by both men, however, as they were able to play off each other and anticipate the other’s decisions. Many of the transitions sounded like they could have been rehearsed in fact. Anomalie even closed out the set with a jazzy cadenza on his piano which he faded out. With that, everyone in the audience seemed to understand that the night had come to an end. I think we may very well see these two play again in the future. And personally, if this was them improvising, I’m now wondering what they could achieve with some time to rehearse.

expérimental / contemporain / Indian Classical / Indie Pop / Jazz / South Asian / transculturel

FIJM | Thanya Iyer and Arooj Aftab, Perfect Transplants!

by Alain Brunet

The evening of Thursday June 26 was marked by an Indian and cross-cultural imprint. We’re all very excited about Arooj Aftab, who played to a packed house at Club Soda, but any music lover here must also see our South Asian jewel shine: Montrealer Thanya Iyer has been seducing audiences for a few years now, and we could tell on Thursday that the stone had been chiseled.

This Montreal-based multi-instrumentalist (violin, viola, keyboards, synthesizers, electronics) has an excellent taste for perfectly measured hybridizations in which she layers the melodies that carry the words of her interiority.

The microtonal undulations of classical Indian (Carnatic) music, indie pop, chamber pop, contemporary jazz, modern or contemporary Western classical music, ethereal wave, American minimalism… and this soft, airy voice that straddles these styles, influences and eras.

Harp, strings, choir, keyboards, guitar, bass. This extensive instrumentation implies fine arrangements in a diversity of proposals for a contemporary chamber orchestra. The arrangements were also conceived by Thanya Iyer, an exceptional talent. The material for this program can be found on the album Tide/Tied, released this spring. Don’t miss out!

This very first concert of my FIJM 2025 was followed by the much-anticipated Arooj Aftab, a Pakistani singer-songwriter transplanted to New York and frequented by top-quality artists. In 2023, we heard her alongside Vijay Iyer and Shahzad Ismaily on the excellent album Love in Exile.

This album is more exploratory than the recent Night Reign, closer to song forms, more consonant with the West, a little less marked by southern Asia. The approach is therefore a little smoother, more consensual, with harp, keyboards, guitars, vibraphone and so on.

It’s hardly surprising that the Night Reign album has had a greater indie pop impact in the West, since the reference points are overwhelmingly obvious. And this artist’s touch is contagious, to say the least! Superb centered voice, self-mockery, fierce stance against traditional morality, laughing cynicism: in short, this woman is free and takes what she wants from her past. And that’s why she performed to a packed Club Soda and a delighted audience.

Photo Julien Jaffré

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Jazz

FIJM 2025 | King Makaya triumphs again

by Frédéric Cardin

A total, irrepressible intensity, a strength of character that imposes its vision, leaving the acolytes to support (brilliantly, of course), never to deflect, the king in his musical velléités. This is a concert by drummer Makaya McCraven, a modern icon of jazz drumming. The propulsive power of this American is quite simply remarkable, and his genius for form, rhythmic metamorphosis and overall discourse is awe-inspiring. But that’s nothing new. Our colleague Alain Brunet, who was also present at the event, remarked that it resembled last year’s show. It’s been three years since McCraven released an album. To quote Alain: “Makaya, it’s really great, but we’re due for a new album”. Which will apparently be the case in September. By the way, in the last ten minutes or so, wasn’t that new material we were hearing? Anyway, it doesn’t matter, because I’d missed last year’s perfo, which kept my listening a little “fresher”. And anyway, such an expressive personality can sustain repetition, so visceral and superior is it.

A rhythmic sax, sometimes atmospheric, never lyrical, a colorful vibraphone, a voluble but respectful bass. It’s what surrounds the master without taking up space. That’s the way it is, and we like it.

The opening act, Theon Cross (Sons of Kemet), brought the Club Soda to its feet with a plump, remarkably swift tuba groove. This guy is an amazing virtuoso. The depth of sound of this instrument doesn’t usually make it easy to understand what’s going on, but Cross apparently achieves the impossible, and does so by twirling more notes than would be humanly possible. A new album is due in July, very soon indeed. You won’t want to

Alt Folk / musique du monde / musique traditionnelle mexicaine

FIJM | Natalia Lafourcade Sparks a Place des Arts Gone Mexican

by Michel Labrecque

It’s become a cliché, but sometimes clichés just come to life. All you had to do was stroll through the corridors of Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier to understand and hear that the majority of the 3,000 spectators were Spanish-speaking, most of them Mexicans, who had come to listen to one of their artists who best embodies the soul of this great country.

Natalia Lafourcade was back at FIJM for the second year running, but with a radically different concert. In 2024, she presented her album De Todas Las Flores, accompanied by a group of brilliant musicians. This time, for her Cancionera tour, the title of her most recent album, she presented herself alone, with an amplified classical guitar and a bottle of mezcal on a small table, just to be a singer.

Natalia Lafourcade is an exceptional artist. She always takes unpredictable paths. The album Cancionera, which I reviewed in our pages, is a highly polished album, with some fifteen musicians, which modernizes traditional Mexican and Latin styles in a very subtle way. But, in this ultra-intimate concert, Natalia largely abandons this album, keeping at most two pieces, and offers us in exchange a mix of songs that sum up her career, as well as traditional songs from her country.

I confess: at first, I was surprised, as I love the highly sophisticated arrangements that Natalia and her director, Adan Jodorowsky, make as a group. But, like the vast majority of the audience, I was won over by this stripped-down concert, which gave way to the voice, soul and emotions of this extraordinary artist, who was awarded the Jazz Festival’s Antonio-Carlos Jobim Prize for her contribution to “world” music at the end of the concert.

Whether with the songs De Todas Las Flores, Pajarito Colibri, La Soledad y el Mar, Mexicana Hermosa, or with her reinterpretations of La Llorona, La Bamba and Cucurucu Paloma, Natalia Lafourcade took us deep into Mexican culture and her home region of Veracruz. And shared it with the crowd, encouraging everyone to sing along. The longer the concert went on, the more people sang around me.

Her classical guitar playing sometimes reminded me of Texan Willie Nelson or Uruguayan Jorge Drexler, with whom she often collaborated. Her playing filled the musical space very well. And that voice! It seems to me that it’s becoming more confident, more assertive, more emotional.

Natalia Lafourcade also spoke to us, largely in Spanish, about her love for Mexico, the sea and solitude, “which sometimes gives great ideas, but also terrible thoughts”. This tour is also a way for her to celebrate her fortieth birthday, a sort of time for taking stock.

Natalia Lafourcade loves her country, its culture and landscapes, but she’s also aware of its problems and inequalities. She reminded us of this when she finished her concert with El Derecho de Nacimiento, a song written in 2012 in support of a student movement for greater social justice.

Natalia Lafourcade is whole and complete. A concentrate of soul! And the audience returned the favor.

We’ll be back tonight for a second concert.

Photo credit: Émanuel Novak-Bélanger

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expérimental / contemporain / Grindcore / Jazz / Métal

FIJM | Clown Core: the theatre of extremes, between Pennywise and Krusty

by Frédéric Cardin

Clown Core is a duo of anonymous musicians wearing clown masks who have achieved cult status since 2010. Despite only three albums, the longest of which is 17 minutes long, their totally truculent homemade videos (in a chemical toilet, in a van, etc.) and, above all, their violent mix of genres have made Clown Core famous among a fringe of the underground.

The two guys (we assume) from Nevada set the M Telus alight last night. How to describe the CC product? Musically speaking, they go from hellish grindcore with added free jazz to cheap muzak, from deep growling to childish post-polka ritornello, without any transition and in flights of fancy that last no more than a few dozen seconds, for the most extended. Spiritual heirs to Mr. Bungle, less intellectual. All this with saxophone, drums and electronics.

But there’s so much more to a Clown Core show. The visuals and staging are reminiscent of trash-absurdist art, happening style. High art and low art copulating wildly. A giant screen projects images at breathtaking speed, from cosmic epics to morphing genitals and seniors’ porn to organic nausea and unhealthy food. A few dynamic breaks take us to an American suburb, or to digital reefs of pieces of steak on a strange sea.

The mostly metal crowd was delighted, if occasionally impatient with the very slow introduction that eventually led to the show itself. Clown Core are a bit provocative, you see. Case in point: for about twenty minutes before their entrance (itself delayed by long minutes of nothing on a background of astronomical images of planets), a masked guy (seen in their videos) sits in front of the audience, smokes a cigarette and listens to New Age tunes on his phone….

That said, the wait was rewarded with a performance that shattered eardrums and conventions alike. The audience screamed out loud (for joy). Montreal band Karneesh had warmed up the room adequately beforehand, but it was mainly a picture of four cute orange-white kittens that got everyone excited before the clowns arrived (an honest mistake, or a strategic one?). So much so that when it was removed, everyone wanted it back and started shouting ‘Cats, cats, cats’! Who said the hearts of metalheads were as hard as steel?

Clown Core is unclassifiable and above all memorable. Never bring your grandmother there, unless she’s the coolest in History.

Contemporary Jazz / Modern Jazz

FIJM | Wynton & JLCO: Something of an Opening Ceremony

by Harry Skinner

With the Montreal Jazz Festival officially starting on June 26th, the June 25th performance by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra could be seen as something of an opening ceremony. This is somewhat fitting given the ambassadorial stature that Wynton Marsalis and co. have assumed over the years.

From the start of the program it was clear that the repertoire was selected deliberately to allude to the current political climate in the United States – the band began with three notable works of black protest music: Marsalis’ own Black Codes from the Underground, Charles Mingus’ Fables of Faubus, and John Coltrane’s Alabama. The latter was well served by a somewhat minimalist arrangement that left plenty of room for baritone saxophonist Paul Nedzela’s interpretation of Coltrane’s melody. The soft muted chords played by the rest of the horn section contributed to a beautiful and haunting soundscape. The most direct political message, however, came during Fables of Faubus. Trombonists Chris Crenshaw and Vincent Gardner sang Mingus’ original lyrics, which explicitly criticize Nazis, fascism, and the KKK – a poignant sentiment with the current rise of right wing extremism in the US and around the world.

The band went on to showcase compositions by several of its members; Carlos Enriquez, Chris Crenshaw, Elliot Mason, and Vincent Gardner, with a highlight being Crenshaw’s Bearden (The Block). This gospel-influenced piece cycled through several contrasting grooves, while kept grounded by consistent harmonic language. It featured one of the highlights of the set – a tasteful yet understated tenor saxophone solo by Chris Lewis – and finished with a vocal call and response section that had the ensemble gradually getting softer in a way that was reminiscent of a faded ending on a record.

At the tail end of the set there was a warm reception for an interpretation of March Past, the seventh movement from Oscar Peterson’s Canadiana Suite, arranged by Vincent Gardner.

With this year being his centennial, the Montreal crowd were especially keen to show their appreciation for such a local legend, and that energy was matched in the performance. The band then concluded the set with a Gardner original, entitled Up From Down. Marsalis had few words to say about this piece, simply stating, “It’s about these times.” The piece featured plenty of dissonant harmonies and overlapping, discordant rhythms, with brief moments of levity in resolution, which could be taken to illustrate the practice of finding joy during difficult times.

Jazz at Lincoln Center is often the subject of discourse surrounding ‘old vs. new’ debates in jazz, and is often seen as a proponent of the tradition – a comment often levied at Marsalis himself. While there is truth to the sentiment, it feels like a narrow perspective, as the ensemble consistently brings new ideas to the table when playing the music of the late jazz greats. Their renditions of Mingus, Coltrane, and Peterson don’t feel like exhibits in a museum; they are filled with contemporary ideas and interpretations. We see this in the makeup of the band, with several younger musicians mixing in seamlessly with the more established members, emphasizing the importance of keeping one foot in the past and one in the future.

Experimental / Contemporary / Groove / Hip Hop / Soul/R&B

SUONI | Kalmunity: STARS SHINE DARKLY in a night of powerful words, words of love and raging roars, healing grooves and dissent manners

by Z Neto Vinheiras

Active since 2003, the oldest and largest improv collective in Canada, Kalmunity, presents us STARS SHINE DARLKY – a full night of powerful words, words of love and raging roars, healing grooves and dissent manners. Soul of the project Jahsun, curated a special evening of solos, duos and trios of musicians, poets and creatives to come together and improvise the night away. A night that felt like community, that echoed gratitude and resistance.

In a world where “leaders” and governments keep failing us, genocide is live streamed, racism and deportation cracks the land open, separates and traumatises families, the poet D-na reminds us of the age of this collective wound – “Are you done now?”, she asks repeatedly accompanied by the swirling saxophone of Aaron Leaney, while Stella Adjokê reminds us the power of poetry, confessing why she decided to become a poet – “poetry is a way to viscerally explain the explosion”, – followed by a healing preach-like poem about love and fear, to the sound of Aaron Leaney’s and Eric Hove’s saxophones.

The loquacious pianist Zach Frampton and the inspired, and inspiring, poet and improviser Zibz BlacKurrent slammed the piano and the words together into a conversation on nostalgia, gratitude, who you are and where you go, – BlacKurrent doesn’t let us part without demanding to “STOP it in Gaza, Sudan and Congo”.

Jahsun and Fred Bazil unite for an explosive set, with a grounded but frantic at times drumming and a roaring saxophone; Engone Endong embarks us into the rich and tasty journey of texture, sampling and sound design and Jason “Blackbird” Selman shares with us his feelings of Caribbean manhood, alongside his poem “8 things that make a black man cry”, a very heartfelt exchange accompanied by the grooviest bass lines by the legend Mark Alan Haynes.

Closer to an end but not quite, Skin Tone, Jairus Sharif and Mustafa Rafiq come together not only in a musical journey but a spiritual one in all its beautiful encounters and twisted turns where noise fusions with drone, free jazz and electronic – the sounds of hope, freedom and vision.

On a third and last set, Brussels based self taught bassist Farida Amadou, who played her solo show on the same stage the day after, joins Jahsun and Engone Endong in an unbridled performance, making the way to the iconic group Dark Maatr’ and a final all-together improvisation moment that leaves Casa flooding in electrifying sound waves and a holy-like energy.

Improvisation is not just a moment of play, but an intentional and rather emotional, intimate, empowering space for community, nourishment and care; challenging structures and systems and not just musical ones; listening, giving and taking space, liberating one self and one another – Kalmunity is the project that brings the very musical and the very political sounding unison on the stage and outside of it; that brings the realness of life and struggle into hope, celebration, love, gratitude and resistance.