On this last evening of June, the two sets at Pub Molson were filled with black and American jazz. Trumpet, piano/keyboards, double bass, drums, Chicago quartet led by veteran trumpeter Marquis Hill.
The musician certainly possesses the technique needed for the international circuit: sound, power, articulation, speed, qualities to which he adds a velvety, comfortable quality.
The black side of jazz and American popular culture is very much to the fore in this mostly acoustic aesthetic, but with a touch of hip-hop, soul/R&B, not forgetting post-bop and polyrhythmic swing. Like their employer, the ensemble’s excellent sidemen are steeped in it: pianist Michael King, drummer Corey Fonville and bassist Micah Collier.
All the refinement of Afro-America is expressed in this music, which remains jazz in its instrumentation, in the articulation of its soloists and in their virtuoso execution of works that include improvisation. Once again, there’s no particular break in the evolution of jazz groove, whose first funk forms date back to the 50s, to Horace Silver and co. Still an important avenue of jazz, this black approach has been defended ever since, and today we can count on leaders like Marquis Hill, who take up this tradition and contribute to it nicely, without achieving any great innovations.
Photo: Emmanuel Novak-Bélanger
