Late afternoon, April 28, 2026, “I’ll Remember April” (Gene de Paul) served as the opening standard performed by Montreal pianist Chad Linsley, first in an acoustic trio (Devon Gillingham on double bass, Rich Irwin on drums) before proceeding to the official program led by the musician and his fellow singers, soprano Kerry-Anne Kutz and mezzo Kristin Hoff. It’s worth noting that these two women are both accomplished singers and passionate advocates for vocal art, representing the Festival de la voix (best known in the west end of the island) and Opéra M3F, respectively—the latter being a co-presenter of the concert season at the 9th Floor of the Eaton Centre. That is what we’re discussing here.
After just a few bars, it was clear what kind of keys the Montreal musician was playing! A worthy heir to the pianists at the crossroads of modern jazz and swing who came before him—in short, the triumphant jazz piano of the 1945–1965 era—Chad Linsley masters this style that my own parents and their contemporaries adored, and with which I myself grew up while also loving the blues, hard rock, then progressive rock, jazz-rock, and much more thereafter.
The unapologetic classicism of Chad Linsley’s piano playing draws direct inspiration from the greatest African-American pianists of modern swing—one thinks here of Oscar Peterson, but also of Teddy Wilson, Jaki Byard, Phineas Newborn Jr., and others like Bud Powell—brilliant virtuosos who were also capable of slowing down the tempo for ballads, for most of the jazz transformations of the Great American Songbook.
The trio then becomes a quartet with the arrival of trumpeter Michael Cartile, to welcome Kerry-Anne Kutz for a lovely rendition of Michel Legrand’s standard “Windmills of Your Mind” (English version of “Les Moulins de mon coeur”). One immediately notices the singer’s hybrid style, particularly when she holds long, silky notes, yet is equally capable of scat singing and grasping the rhythmic nuances of modern jazz.
“Angel Eyes” (Matt Dennis/Earl K. Brent), the next standard, was then performed by Kristin Hoff—a very different interpretation from the previous one, more muscular, more robust, and concluding with a beautiful display of energy.
Chad Linsley then offered an instrumental piece with a typical Oscar Peterson ballad, “Wheatland,” followed by “Polka Dots and Moonbeams” (Jimmy Van Heusen/Johnny Burke), a standard that Chet Baker has transcended time and again. Once again, we savored Chad Linsley’s chops before Kerry-Anne Kutz performed her own composition, a ballad titled “We Are One Again.”
The next performance was another opportunity to observe the singers’ hybrid approach, this time coming together for “Et si tu n’existais pas”, the French cover of the famous Italian hit “Oasis,” composed by Pasquale Losito and Toto Cutugno, and popularized in French by Joe Dassin in 1975 with lyrics adapted by the great songwriters Pierre Delanoë and Claude Lemesle. This explains the choice of Oscar Peterson’s “Nigerian Marketplace,” whose harmonic progression captures a spirit similar to that of Joe Dassin’s classic.
The concert concludes on a celebratory note with a heartfelt rendition of “On the Sunny Side of the Street” (Jimmy McHugh/Dorothy Fields), another standard from the American songbook—a nearly century-old piece (1930)—sung by two clearly inspired vocalists, accompanied by lovely solos (trumpet and piano), all capped off by a lovely improvised ballad in the spirit of New York bars from an era that feels increasingly distant.
We conclude that this jazz from another era, performed by talented musicians from the local scene, has also become… a classic.
