Decent tribute at the jazz festival. Enjoyable, but hit and miss. A setlist and some first impressions:
Show begins with a recording of Leonard Cohen, local boy, reciting The Sound of Silence. Cohen interspersed variations on “Paul Simon, Wednesday Morning, 3AM, The Sound of Silence” between verses (stanzas?). Kinda cool. Kinda odd. Not really jazz. Whatever.
Colin “Cougar Mellencamp” James:
The Obvious Child (with local Brazilian-style drum troupe Kumpa ‘Nia). Colin, baby, either learn the words or learn to read off the lyric sheet. But don’t try both. Also, there’s a reason why there are no “Blueshammer” solos in Paul Simon songs. Miss.
Cecilia. Marginally better. Not as lively as Paul will sing it tomorrow.
Holly “Don’t Call Me Paula” Cole
Kodachrome. Nice. Excellent Fender Rhodes or whatever. Band is tight, learned their arrangements. Kudos to the musical director.
Mrs. Robinson. Great performance. Excellent vocals, extended scat jam at the end. Holly is so underrated.
Bedouin Soundclash
Mother & Child Reunion. Faithful rendition. Forgettable.
Elvis Costello
Peace Like A River. First live performance by anyone ever? Maybe. Nice rendition. No crazy guitar solo. Elvis is a great interpreter of songs. Nicely done.
Elvis brings out Allen Toussaint for…
American Tune. Nice. Good acoustic guitar from the band. Drums were too much.
Elvis leaves and Allen introduces Zachary Richard.
They nail Take Me To The Mardi Gras. Richard’s falsetto is great. Nice extended coda from the better than average horn section.
Zachary splits and out comes Francophone sensation Michel Rivard. Lovely version of America. Stupid woman wonders why he’s singing in English. Faithful arrangement (again). Michel introduces Ariane Moffatt and they sing…
The Boxer. Faithful (again again). Extended coda like it’s 1969. Singalong. So not jazz.
If it isn’t Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy. Who sings…
Still Crazy. Sax solo comes in very late, but Jim handles the tricky song nicely. Introduces Kevin Parent, saying he’ll play Art Garfunkel to his Paul Simon. Oh yeah? Why are you holding a guitar? And they do an OK job on…
Homeward Bound. Jim splits and it’s time for…
Me & Julio. Fun. Kevin’s singing is kinda lousy, but the arrangement is really fun. Party time.
Jamie Cullum comes out. Whoever he is, he nailed it with the best performance of the evening on…
50 Ways. Manic piano solo. The key to 50 Ways is a great piano solo. Funky enough to call it jazz. Big reception; big impression.
Let me just say that the house band at this outdoor show (100,000 people?), Daniel Thouin et ses musiciens, was fantastic, especially since they barely had time to rehearse with the singers. Kudos. Remember how lousy the band was at the Kennedy Center? This was the opposite.
Then there was some gospel choir stuff from Jeri Brown and the JB Pumped Singers of Montreal. Jeri shrieks. Not a nice sound. The choir was good but forgettable. Did Loves Me Like a Rock and Diamonds. Totally overshadowed the band, that nailed Diamonds. Low point.
Then came local boy Sam Roberts, who had the fortune of doing Late In The Evening and Call Me Al. Brought the party to the street, y’all. Fun times. Dancing and clapping. Yay!
This is where the encore was/would be if it were a regular show. We forgot who was left. Ah yes, the great Quebecer, Daniel Lanois.
Brought a female vocalist in a killer black dress and his own drummer. Did three minutes of Neil Youngesque instrumental guitar stuff (no other musicians; two voices, an electric guitar and drums) on The Sound of Silence. Crazy beautfiul. Daniel and his singer kinda fumbled a verse but the effect of the feedbacky, loud guitar was mesmerizing. He nailed the soul of a classic. Kudos.
For the finale, some of the JB Pumped singers, who had been on a line up a flight of stairs that formed the back of the stage, came forward and did a slow, foot-tapping version of Slip Slidin’ Away. They must have sang it three or four times, allowing the band to take a much-deserved bow, followed by all the performers (or most; I don’t think I saw Elvis Costello). Lovely performance.
All in all, a great night. Beautfiul songs, inspired, if off-and-on performances, and the rain, which had been dumping all afternoon and evening, let up, revealing a cloudless night sky, halfmoon and all for a wonderful celebration of song. On the walk home, as we hummed the tunes fresh in our memory and tried to recall the setlist, the clouds returned in a thick patch of fog, closing what will remain a special night.
Paul plays his own Montreal International Jazz Festival show tomorrow night; it sold out quickly and is probably a harder ticket to come by than Madonna’s shows here last month. Tonight’s hommage will be broadcast in Canada on the CBC and ARTV in the coming months. I hope you all get to see it.
