Concert review

Jazz

FIJM 2026 | Kalia Vandever’s Nocturnal Trombone creates the right mood

by Frédéric Cardin

At the Molson Pub, on the Jazz Fest’s Esplanade Tranquille, we were quite a crowd Wednesday night to savour the music of Kalia Vandever, a new voice on the trombone, whose reflections you can further explore by reading the interview I conducted with them.

READ THE INTERVIEW WITH KALIA VANDEVER

The artist based in New York (Brooklyn) manipulates her instrument in a way different from her usual jazz colleagues. Don’t think of Trombone Shorty, Steve Turre, Wycliffe Gordon, etc. Vandever does not take much pleasure in distributing bouquets of notes in virtuosic fireworks. It is the long and patient melodic lines, as many cushions for elegant improvisations, that inspire them.

Vandever creates atmospheres that oscillate between ambient and chamber rock groove inherited from the previous generation (E.S.T.), endorsed by the current one (Bad Plus). They are solidly supported by their colleagues on stage in the deployment of well-structured horizontal frameworks. The rhythmic backbone is well maintained by Kayvon Gordon (drums) and Kanoa Mendenhall (double bass), the same as on the album Another View (released in 2025), which constitutes the essence of the performance. On guitar, the only deviation from the album’s lineup, Gregory Uhlmann knows his stuff. Although Mary Halvorsen is inimitable in her unusual timbral creations, Uhlmann still manages to hold his own. He knows how to colour the discourse and even generate astonishing soundscapes. He surprises us by imitating a saxophone in a stunning passage.

A performance that leaves a pleasant memory, like a soft moment of nocturnal and groovy mood at the end of a humid and slightly rainy evening.

Much, much to like.

Americana / Jazz

FIJM 2026 | BEATrio: A Deluge of Warm Notes

by Michel Labrecque

“We’re the weirdest jazz band on the planet,” said drummer Antonio Sanchez on stage at a packed Théâtre Maisonneuve on July 1, referring to himself and his two bandmates, Edmar Castañeda and Bela Fleck. A banjo, a Colombian harp, and a drum set—it is, indeed, a little weird.

I’ve already expressed how much I love this band, selecting their one-of-a-kind album as one of my top five picks of 2025 for PAN M 360. After a concert that lasted nearly two hours, I walked out blown away, just like most of the audience.

Especially since the Mexican Antonio Sanchez told us, “Please don’t become the fifty-first state of the United States—you deserve better,” to thunderous applause.

This unlikely trio exemplifies musical openness and American music at its best. Here, “America” refers to the territory stretching from Baffin Island to southern Argentina. A Colombian, a Mexican, and a New Yorker who met in New York, where they have all lived.

We’re dealing with three virtuosos on their instruments who are open to a wide range of styles. Bela Fleck has played Bach on the banjo, improvised with the great jazz pianist Chick Corea, performed with Indian and African musicians, and recorded bluegrass albums with his wife, Abigail Washington.

Antonio Sanchez played for several years with guitarist Pat Metheny and recently performed with the Elipsis Trio, alongside Cuban musician Pedrito Sanchez and multi-instrumentalist Michael League, who leads several bands, including Snarky Puppy.

And Edmar Castañeda has played his Latin American harp with a wide range of artists, from the Mexican singer Lila Downs to the Japanese pianist Hiromi.

On July 1, Edmar Castañeda seemed to be in particularly good form. I’ll admit: sometimes I worried about his Llanera harp, which is smaller than the Western harp and has a very distinctive sound. He would fiddle with it, tap it, and stretch it to make the strings sound differently, but always with a huge smile. This instrument is sometimes processed with effects pedals. This was especially true on “Whisper of Resilience,” a song he composed during a difficult time in his life—a piece that takes us through a range of emotions, from despair to hope. A truly memorable moment.

Bela Fleck has shown us just how much can be done with a banjo by reinterpreting George Gershwin’s orchestral piece, Rhapsody in Blue, to which he dedicated an album in 2024 to mark its 100th anniversary. The piece features a complexity of harmonies and astonishing chords.

On his drum set, Antonio Sanchez can hit very hard, then scrape his cymbal to produce strange sounds. Or he can play with subtlety.

However, beyond each musician’s tremendous talent, what stands out above all is the rapport and synergy between the three. The banjo and the harp blend together, as do the percussion instruments.

“We are a democratic group, and we don’t like authoritarian rhetoric,” said Antonio Sanchez. He didn’t mention the U.S. president by name, but we all knew who he was talking about.

BEATrio—a name derived from the initials of each member’s first name—embodies the United States’ openness to immigration, diversity, and imagination. It is the exact opposite of what is advocated by the man whose name we will refrain from mentioning.

Photo: Victor Diaz Lamich

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Contemporary Jazz / Jazz

FIJM 2026 | Kind of Blue And A Love Supreme on the Same Bill?… A Supreme Blue… What’s the Connection?

by Alain Brunet

Among the programs commemorating the centennial anniversaries of Miles Davis and John Coltrane was the mashup Supreme Blue, presented late in the evening on Monday, June 29—a combined reinterpretation of the iconic albums Kind of Blue (Miles) and A Love Supreme (Coltrane) by trumpeter Nicholas Payton and the Virginia-based groove jazz group Butcher Brown — Marcus Tenney (saxophone), Morgan Burrs (guitar), Corey Fonville (percussion), and Andrew Randazzo (bass).

Butcher Brown hasn’t really given us this kind of repertoire before, so it was easy to imagine that funk grooves or even Afrobeats would be part of these arrangements, conceived in collaboration with Louisiana trumpeter Nicholas Payton, who regularly explores this repertoire himself.

In this way, tracks from Kind of Blue (“So What,” “Freddie Freeloader,” “Blue in Green,” “All Blues,” “Flamenco Sketches”) are interwoven with those from A Love Supreme (“Acknowledgement,” “Pursuance,” “Psalm”). For example, “Freddie Freeloader” can blend into “Acknowledgement” and express two states of mind that are, all things considered, quite different.

Kind of Blue was one of the first albums of modal music in modern jazz, performed by one of Davis’ finest ensembles (Coltrane, Cannonball, Bill Evans, Wynton Kelly, Paul Chambers, Jimmy Cobb), and it became one of the greatest commercial successes of modern jazz in the late 1950s (1959). This was a far cry from the massive success of A Love Supreme, released in January 1965, which was a true mystical incantation—a profession of faith in divine love—performed by Coltrane’s famous quartet (with Elvin Jones, McCoy Tyner, and Jimmy Garrison).

Positioned on the left side of the Rogers Stage, Nicholas Payton regularly provides harmonies throughout the set, complementing guitarist Morgan Burrs, while also delivering a few high-quality, powerful solos. Marcus Tenney’s tenor sax will also be put to good use, with substantial solos drawn from this musical colossus.

The fusion of these two albums into a single program is justified here by the centennial of these two musical giants, and the aim is to adapt this almost sacred repertoire to Southern and African-American jazz, deeply rooted in soul, R&B, and the blues. Payton is from Louisiana, Butcher Brown is from Virginia; this Black culture has its own distinct characteristics, and we see this here in the adaptation of the works, which are magnified through an approach closer to contemporary African American popular music. I remain, however, perplexed by the aesthetic connections between Kind of Blue and A Love Supreme, whose intentions and atmospheres are extremely different… and which have now been filtered through the lens of Southern jazz.

crédit photo: Benoît Rousseau

Contemporary Jazz / Jazz / Jazz Fusion

FIJM 2026 | Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah: Anti-Jazz Hero… Nevertheless… Chief!

by Varun Swarup

Chief Xian aTunde Adjuah’s, formerly known as Christian Scott, show at the Théâtre Jean-Duceppe last night was less a concert than a statement of intent. The Louisiana-born composer used the evening to unveil much of the music from his forthcoming 2027 album, Anti-Jazz Hero, a project that seeks to question what jazz means nearly a century after the music first emerged. Reinvention has long been central to Adjuah’s work, but this latest chapter feels like his boldest yet.

Looking beyond the conventions of modern jazz and back toward its African roots, Adjuah has developed his own instrument, Adjuah’s Bow, an intricate hybrid inspired by three different African harps. Combined with an array of effect pedals, it became the driving force behind the first half of the performance. The music often felt closer to electronic sound design than to anything recognizably jazz, built on hypnotic grooves, dense textures and explosive rhythmic interplay. The dialogue between the drummer and djembe player was especially electrifying to watch and had us fully locked in. 

The second half took a slightly different but welcome turn. Long-time collaborator Elena Pinderhughes joined the ensemble, bringing a welcome lyricism that contrasted beautifully with the raw physicality of the opening set. Setting the Adjuah Bow aside, he returned to the trumpet, reminding everyone that beneath all the experimentation remains one of the most distinctive horn voices in contemporary music. His phrasing carried the same emotional urgency that has defined his career, now framed by an ensemble equally committed to exploration.

Whether Anti-Jazz Hero can ultimately reshape the conversation around jazz remains to be seen, but this premiere made one thing clear: Chief Adjuah has little interest in preserving tradition for its own sake. 

Photo by Benoît Rousseau

Publicité panam

Contemporary Jazz / Jazz / Modern Jazz

FIJM 2026 | Elena Pinderhughes, a fine debut

by Varun Swarup

Elena Pinderhughes perhaps had one of the tougher assignments at this year’s FIJM. The Pub Molson stage, nestled between the festival’s two largest outdoor stages, isn’t the easiest place to hold an audience, and for a flautist especially it’s hardly the ideal setting to debut your band. Still, none of it seemed to faze Pinderhughes. At only 31, she already carries herself with the confidence of a seasoned bandleader, and her technique was sharp as ever, cutting through the humid and noisy air.

The set leaned heavily on material from her forthcoming album, including several numbers that have yet to be titled. They offered plenty of room for lyrical improvisation and served just fine as vehicles for Pinderhughes’ dazzling solos, but as compositions they rarely left a lasting impression. Much of the music settled into the same blend of contemporary soul and modern jazz. My favourite moment came during a duet with her brother, Samora Pinderhughes on the piano. Unencumbered by the drums and bass, the musicians could really fly. Moments like these hinted at an emotional depth that the rest of the set only occasionally reached. Certainly some more memorable melodies, or simply stronger shifts in mood would have given the performance greater definition.

Still, it speaks to Pinderhughes’ gifts as a performer that the evening never lost its charm. Her playing remained luminous even in less forgiving conditions, and her generosity on stage gave the music a warmth that the compositions alone didn’t always provide.

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Contemporary Jazz

FIJM 2026 | The Artistry of the Trio with Craig Taborn

by Alain Brunet

I’ve been a fan of Craig Taborn ever since his debut in Montreal, playing with Steve Coleman’s band. There’s no sign that my admiration for him is waning, as the American pianist delivered one of the best performances of this year’s FIJM on Tuesday. It was June 30, 2026—and that music was from June 30, 2026, both conceptually and sensually.

Craig Taborn’s exploration of harmonic motifs and rhythmic patterns on the keyboard has always been a source of surprise and admiration. He has never presented himself as a master of classical jazz or European music forms; for him, the piano is a tool for creation and exploration, as well as a vehicle for virtuosity. For this is indeed a style tailor-made for him.

The chords are very forceful, sometimes hammered out to the very edge of noise. The phrasing is always based on highly contemporary rhythmic patterns, far beyond simple binary or ternary structures. For the high-flying passages, the right hand can take off at any moment. The beauty of it all is that the rhythmic complexity doesn’t exclude the groove; the audience feels its full energy and reacts spontaneously. There’s no need to overthink it, because the balance between familiar and unfamiliar elements is always maintained—in other words, there are enough melodies, harmonies, and rhythms that everyone knows, which then allows for taking risks.

Taborn is backed by drums and double bass, creating a very powerful three-headed beast. The subtle contribution of the formidable double bassist Thomas Morgan and the playing of the formidable drummer Tim Angulo enhance Craig Taborn’s absolutely unique vision.

So, here it is: my favorite jazz trio in a piano-double bass-drums lineup in 2026.

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Caribbean / R&B

FIJM 2026 I Naïka Brings The Caribbean to Jazz Fest

by Vitta Morales

A hot and humid night did not deter music lovers from bumping shoulders to get a glimpse and an earful of Naïka’s brand of Caribbean-RnB fusion. The city, having just endured conditions akin to a chicken cage at the Angine de Poitrine show, was now braving the heat to dance and sing along to music that was at least equal in hotness to a 30-degree Montreal evening. A testament to people’s ingenuity and to Naïka’s popularity was perhaps the thirty or so people who climbed atop a shipping container bar to get a better view, as well as their reluctance to leave their spots when the barmaid gave them a scolding. All around, others had similar ideas, standing atop the concrete base of lighting poles, sneaking into the elevated VIP terraces, all in order to see her more clearly.

As the show began, the stylish artist wasted almost no time in removing layers from her person, revealing a very weather-appropriate outfit. I will defer any personal thoughts about this moment to the lady standing behind me who exclaimed “she’s so pretty!” A volume spike in the crowd as a whole seemed to second this. 

As concerns the music itself, Naïka would offer for those in attendance selections with elements of dub, kompa, reggaeton, and rock. Truly, most everything in her repertoire seems to prioritize being danceable, melodic, and vibey. Often the camera would pan to audience members singing along to her tunes.

I particularly enjoyed her performance of “For Gerard” which some will remember from a viral video in which she explains that the intro was sampled from an album recorded by her great-uncle, who was adept at whistling. Another highlight for me was “Layers” which she prefaced by saying that it was for all people of complicated origins and backgrounds, as she often felt like she had difficulty belonging in one place or another. It’s little wonder why she might write a song like this when you find out that she was born in the USA but has roots in Haiti, France and Madagascar, and grew up in multiple countries during her youth.

During the entire show, her band really held down the fort and functioned as a rock solid base on which she could impress vocally but the band too had moments to shine. In particular the guitarist Christopher (she did not provide us a last name during the intros), had more than a few impressive minor mode solos squarely in the rock idiom which were complemented by what were mostly caribbean and latin grooves on the drums.

Indeed, her brand of Pan-Carribean RnB is difficult to describe and is, of course, better experienced. I believe the crowd fundamentally understood this as they sang, danced, and scrambled to find a decent view well into the night.

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Hip Hop

FIJM 2026 I The Alchemist Exhibits Why He’s Hip Hop’s Beat and Sampling Master

by Stephan Boissonneault

Alan Daniel Maman has spent two decades building a reputation as hip-hop’s most patient archaeologist—the man behind some of the most well-known beats for Mobb Deep, Snoop Dogg Eminem, Freddie Gibbs, Larry June, Armand Hammer, Action Bronson, and Earl Sweatshirt, who dredges soul and jazz samples most people forgot existed out of crates, then warps them into something that sounds like a like a welcomed memory. Yes, under the name The Alchemist, he has been responsible for popularizing the sounds of the underground, a lackadaisical rap sound that incorporates boom bap, lo-fi, and a whole lot of samples. He’s why I know rappers Larry June, Conway the Machine, and Curren$y exist. He’s the reason I still listen to everything Freddie Gibbs has put out since Fetti in 2018. The man is also a beat-making monster at putting out new material. He put out a new Larry June and Curren$y collab album in February called Spiral Staircase, and dropped a new EP called LIQUID FORM in late June. He’s also about to drop another new album with Boldy James and a super not-so-secret album with Erykah Badu…

I had no idea what to expect from his live DJ performance at Club Soda during JazzFest. Was it just going to be a soundtrack of his recent and old greatest hits? Honestly, it was that and a bit more. The Alchemist has an indefinable energy to him, a guy who has LA energy that can get anyone moving. He had the fists pumping and the head bopping during his set. His setup was pretty standard: a DJ mixer with some scratch pads that ring in that nostalgic boom bap West Coast rap sound. He also had his own microphone to scream out a few “WHAT” or “You Feeling and Fuckin with me Montreal?’

Most of the songs were basically quick mixes that he blended with other ones. Everyone lost it for his collab song with Nas’ “No Idea’s Original,” which he morphed into the piano-led “89 Earthquake,” from his first collab with Larry June, The Great Escape. He spun “60 Days” from the same album a few minutes prior, and surprised me and some of the crowd genuinely when he rapped his own verse. I never really clued in to this, and I feel dumb for it, but The Alchemist can rap like a seasoned pro, and whenever you can’t tell who is rapping on his albums without the feature, it’s usually him. This makes total sense when you dig into his history. He was in a rap duo called The Whooliganz and went on tour with Cypress Hill and House of Pain back in the 90s.as part of the rap collective Soul Assassins.

He brought a bit of that 2000s East Coast rap flavour as he led the crowd through “We Gonna Make It,” by Jadakiss. I never really cared for the song, but live, you can’t deny the energy, especially when ALC is on the mic. We, of course, heard some Alfredo 2 tracks, his big follow-up album with Freddie Gibbs, and it seems like The Alchemist’s favourite album he’s worked on is the fantastic Life is Beautiful with Larry June and 2 Chainz. Overall, the set was thoroughly enjoyable, especially from above. It lasted close to two hours and made me realize there are so many beats made by The Alchemist that I haven’t dipped my toes into.

Contemporary Jazz

FIJM 2026 | Ostara, femmes de jazz

by Michel Labrecque

Lundi soir, le club de jazz et restaurant Upstairs de la rue McKay était plein à craquer pour le premier de deux concerts du Ostara Project, le « super groupe » féminin qui regroupe six compositrices, qui dirigent chacune leur propre ensemble.

Les membres actuelles (ça change régulièrement) sont les deux initiatrices du projet, Jodi Proznick à la contrebasse et Amanda Tosoff, au piano. Flanquée de la saxophoniste ténor Claire Devlin, la trompettiste Rachel Therrien, la batteuse Valérie Lacombe et la chanteuse Kim Zombic. 

Ce double concert marquait la fin d’une tournée pan-canadienne des nombreux festivals de jazz, de Vancouver jusqu’à Montréal. Financée en partie par le Conseil des Arts du Canadas.

Certains politiciens québécois pourraient y voir un « sombre » exemple de « Nation Building »musical au profit du fédéralisme, à l’instar du projet de train à grande vitesse. Mais ce n’est pas du tout comme ça que ces femmes le vivent. « Elles sont devenues une espèce de famille », s’est exclamé la lavalloise Valérie Lacombe en anglais, devant le public, oubliant sans doute dans quelle ville elle se trouvait.

« C’est une plateforme extraordinaire pour promouvoir le travail des femmes en jazz » m’a confié Rachel Therrien, dans une entrevue publiée sur PAN M 360. 

Le sextette a repris beaucoup de morceaux de son plus récent album, Roots (2025), dans lequel chacune des membres explorait ses racines. Cela a donné une pièce savante inspirée des origines bulgares d’Amanda Tosoff; ou encore un jazz métissé d’influences ukrainiennes, issu de la famille de Jodo Proznick, transformé en hymne anti-guerre.

Puis, pour nous surprendre, Kim Zombik, la Bostonienne devenue Montréalaise, nous a entonné Avec Le Temps de Léo Ferré, s’excusant à l’avance pour son accent anglais un peu trop prononcé. Ça a fait mouche avec le public.

Le groupe, qui n’est évidemment pas permanent, était bien soudé à l’issue d’une tournée pan canadienne. Au niveau de l’improvisation, le saxo de Claire Devlin et la trompette et le flugelhorn de Rachel Therrien se démarquent. Ces deux femmes semblent éprouver un grand plaisir à échanger musicalement.

Le projet Ostara a déjà un troisième album en banque. À suivre donc. En  attendant, restons attentif à la production solo de toutes ces artistes. Solidaires. 

Publicité panam
Indie Pop / Indie Rock / Modern Classical / pop symphonique / Post-Minimalist / post-romantique

FIJM 2026 | St. Vincent Symphonic: Pure Ecstasy

by Alain Brunet

Annie Clarke, known by her stage name St. Vincent, added another symphonic gem to her body of work on Sunday. Dressed in a simple yet elegant suit paired with scarlet shoes, she shone brightly from the first to the last second of this superb performance.

St. Vincent performed her classics with poise and authority, weaving together guitar solos and stage movements with carefully choreographed gestures, all punctuated by lavish orchestrations that elevated the entire performance.

There is no doubt about this American artist’s sensual charisma; her intellectual presence continues to impress and blends seamlessly with her rock persona—sexy, queer, electric, and incandescent. The symphonic complexity here serves a woman deeply rooted in rock culture, who is completely at ease in this context, striking a perfect balance on the tightrope connecting the two worlds.

Composed of local musicians, an orchestra of some sixty instrumentalists accompanied the fifteen or so songs on the program at the Maison symphonique, featuring arrangements by Jules Buckley, Rachel Eckroth, Sam Gale, Jochen Neuffer, Peter Riley, and Tom Trapp. Brilliant.

These arrangements are not uniform; one can observe different styles from one song to the next—sometimes post-Romantic, sometimes post-minimalist, sometimes modern, sometimes contemporary. The day after the performance, we listened to the brand-new album Live in London! and concluded that it has a beautiful cohesion.

Generally speaking, the spirit of the songs is surprisingly well preserved; the soloist’s guitars are often brought to the forefront, and the rock band backing her achieves a remarkable balance with the orchestra. We know how incredibly difficult it is to blend pop/rock and symphonic aesthetics—a feat that is still all too rarely accomplished. Here, however, the arrangements are varied and well-suited to rock expression—that of one of the most unique artists to have made a name for herself internationally since the golden age of indie rock.

St. Vincent’s symphonic repertoire is performed under the baton of British maestro Jules Buckley, who has created a wealth of orchestral arrangements tailored to various contexts and contemporary styles: today’s pop culture, jazz, and contemporary music. The conductor of the now-famous Metropol Orkest (a different ensemble from the one performing at Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier on Sunday) draws from a wide range of artists, from Patrick Watson to Louis Cole, including Emilie Claire Barlow and… St. Vincent.

For a long time, symphony orchestras enhanced popular songs by smoothing out their rough edges and emotional intensity. What we’re seeing today is quite different: the talented arrangers of our time have grasped the essence of rock’s energy, and we had a compelling example of this on Sunday—in the service of St. Vincent.

Publicité panam
Bebop / Jazz / Jazz Fusion / Jazz Rock

FIJM 2026 I Hiromi Uehara: A Musical Journey Full of (Sonic) Wonder

by Harry Skinner

Last night, the Montreal Jazz Festival hosted the Japanese piano phenom Hiromi Uehara. She took to the stage with her band, Sonicwonder – an apt name given the electric energy and sense of exploration with which they played. Trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, bassist Hadrien Féraud, and drummer Gene Coye joined Hiromi in an evening of music that left no path unexplored.

After two opening pieces, Hiromi gave the audience a chance to catch their breath and introduced her band, announcing that they would be playing her four-part suite “Out There” straight through without stopping. You could have been forgiven for losing track of the number of movements, though, as each one underwent several changes in tempo, time signature, or groove, to feel like a whole suite in and of itself. The effect was that the reprise of each movement’s theme felt like coming home from a long journey to a home that feels different upon return. 

There can be no doubting the musical abilities of Hiromi and the Sonicwonder members. Hiromi’s piano sound is ripe with influence, and her ability to offer a glimpse of her bebop or stride foundation in the midst of a jazz/rock fusion epic is something to behold. Each band member shone with solos that blended tasteful melodic content with complex rhythmic and harmonic ideas. As a unit, they played with great understanding, navigating maximalist grooves and jarring transitions with apparent ease. 

If there is one way the show suffered, it would be from the sheer volume of ideas on display. Each musical moment in the show was worthwhile and together these moments took the audience on an exhilarating journey, but perhaps the set could have found moments for levity, a calm between storms. While the maximalist nature of the set could be overwhelming at times, it is also a pleasure to hear a band that truly keeps the listener guessing throughout the performance. The Sonicwonder journey is certainly one worth taking.

Photos by Benoit Rousseau

cosmic jazz / Jazz

FIJM 2026 I Kamasi Washington Brings Us to Space

by Stephan Boissonneault

After an absolutely stellar performance from St. Vincent with the Montreal Symphony in the Salle-Wilfrid Pelletier, I raced outside to witness my first-ever Kamasi Washington performance at the Scène TD. It was kind of a big moment for me as I’ve missed Kamasi Washington every time he has played Jazzfest and his solo Montreal shows for the last five years, and I listen to his cosmic jazz epics while writing quite frequently.

The 45-year-old jazz saxophone god was dripping in style, wearing a black kimono, and clutching his tenor saxophone like a child in awe while watching singer Patrice Quinn absolutely belt out some vocals about space and the universe. She was finishing up the 12-minute song, which really stretched into 15, “Askim,” from the 2015 album The Epic. Washington led the song to a close with a spirited saxophone squeal, which seemed to stretch out for minutes. The lungs on this man are insane.

Next was “The Pslamnist,” from my personal favourite album, Heaven and Earth, which featured live solos on trumpet by Ryan Porter, thundering Double bass from Miles Mosley, and rapid drum work by Ronald Bruner Jr. (brother of Stephen Bruner aka Thundercat). Washington’s saxophone mastery is a marvel in itself to witness, but his not-so-secret weapon is his band. Every player could easily lead their own band. Take Cameron Graves’ beat-to-beat keyboard opening with Bruner. You could joke that this is just as good as Domi and JD Beck, honestly. “Any anime fans out there?” Washington asks the crowd of 10s of thousands.

The track is “Lazarus,” a song that Washington hoped would be the opening to the newer anime by Shinichirō Watanabe, Lazarus. Instead, Watanabe chose “Vortex,” but we are feeling the monolithic “Lazarus.” The backing vocals, led by Quinn, are this track’s true formula for success. Washington’s otherworldly saxophone is also, again, unreal. Mosely also unleashed a fierce bass solo on his double bass, his fingers moving like frenzied airplanes as he switched on a phaser pedal. I’ve never seen a double bass solo actually rival one of the electric bass. Mosley is another god of his craft.

After a wonderful and extended cover of “Prologue” by the Argentinian Tango composer, Astor Piazzolla, Kamasi said he will be back in Montreal soon. This was Washington’s third Jazz Fest performance, so I have no doubt we will see him again.

Photos by Victor Diaz Lamich

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