Jared Bloch
Paleo crowd at the Grand Scene on closing night
NYON, SWITZERLAND – Six days, 195 shows, record rainfall, and the death of a scheduled performer marked the 2011 Paleo festival which closed 24 July.
Concert goers enjoyed one of the few dry evenings of the festival Sunday night, all the better to soak up the classic Dominican Bachata sounds of Joaquin Diaz and his band.
Joaquin Diaz, Rey de la Bachata
Jared Bloch
Rick James unplugged
NYON, SWITZERLAND – Who were those masked men performing last night at 20:45 on Paleo’s Grand Scene? Never mind, in a world of throw away covers, the acapello rendition of Bon Jovi’s “Living on a Prayer,” was spot on and well received by the crowd enjoying one of the sunnier moments at this year’s festival.
It was with some trepidation that I made my way through the fields to the music venue yesterday evening, having had to wade through mud pools on Wednesday night.
Kudos to the Paleo staff are in order; the grounds on Friday night were heavily padded with straw making the going much kinder on the body (and the camera).
Jared Bloch
Day 2: horns dominate
Sunset, Day 2 Paleo
NYON, SWITZERLAND – Still reeling from the horn blasting I received at the Montreux Jazz Festival, I got an earful last night, 20 July on Day two of the Paléo Festival.
Chanson à l’Americaine
US band, Beirut warmed up the cool Nyon evening with their Balkan and Chanson inspired accordion, ukelele and horn section.
The nostalgia infused songs burned hot and were the perfect antidote to the ankle deep mud quagmire that has subsumed the festival grounds over the past few days.
Beirut is that band that you will never remember where you first heard them, and forever after will be singing to in quiet moments.
Los de Abajo: Prêt-à-Partay
Read more…
Jared Bloch
Deep Purple front man Ian Gillan - Photo © Lionel Flusin MJF
MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND – The best way to describe Deep Purple’s performance at last night’s closing of the 45th Montreux Jazz Festival, is to tell you that I left with a renewed vow to collect and listen to all the old Purple, Sabbath, and Rainbow albums I can beg, borrow or steal.
While their cover of Hush may have put the band on the charts initially, their work on songs like Child in Time makes me think I didn’t waste enough of my youth.
The concert wasn’t the loudest I’ve heard this year – the Guiness Book of World Records once listed DP as “the loudest pop band ever” - but the classic extreme funk sound of Purple was in fine form last night and a credit to every hard rock band playing into their would be retirement years (front man Ian Gillan and bassist Roger Glover were both born in 1945).
Jared Bloch
ASA at Stravinski Hall-Photo © Lionel Flusin MJF
MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND – The Montreux Jazz Festival had a bit of everything for everyone on Tuesday 12 July.
World Beat revisited
Nigerian artist ASA wowed Stravinski Hall, with her school marm cool and rich pop tunes.
Dressed in a red pants suit and spinning funky pop rhythms, Asa calls to mind the secretary in the “Number One Ladies Detective Agency – unassuming, yet intelligent and soulful.
Pop may be a misnomer for this Nigerian born singer based in France, but then again, she is a testament to the warm embrace of world beat by more traditional music audiences.
Asa has a wonderfully understated rhythm, loose, but always on the drop.
I found myself wanting to dance, but wished she would throw off her reserve and let loose with her considerable vocal talent. Asa’s songs are pretty, and she is all class; with the confidence of age, and life’s inevitable beauty scars, she will be a great singer.
Seal serenades Montreux, again Read more…
Jared Bloch
Ricky Martin and his entourage - Photo © Lionel Flusin
MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND – The big name at Montreux last night 6 July, was Ricky Martin, packing ‘em in Stravinsky Hall, but for my money Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue 7/6 has set the bar this year for all out musicality and adrenaline rush.
Ricky Martin still a showman
I started off the evening in the filled to capacity Stravinsky Hall, appreciating Martin’s slickly choreographed dance routines and high energy crooning – and if you like that sort of thing, he is very good.
Martin, who followed fellow Latin American icon Ruben Blades, on stage, noted during an interview: “I would love to share the stage with Ruben Blades … or Quincy Jones who is also here tonight, what an honor.”
The Latino contingent from the Lake Geneva area was out in force, especially women and when Martin launched into “Vuelve,” the first of several old Spanish ballads, the crowd easily carried the chorus (OK, even I am a sap for this great song).
Whether Solid Gold dancers are your cup of tea or not, Martin is a consummate showman, clearly drawing deep from a well of creative energy to put on a dynamic show.
Dr. John grooves Montreux
Dr. John & the Lower 911 - Photo Daniel Balmat, MJF
If on the other hand, you find solace in the beauteous underbelly of musical funk, then there was no finer place on earth last night than Miles Davis Hall where Dr. John presided over the room, followed by Trombone Shorty.
The room is small and watching Dr. John at the piano, with his modest 4 piece band, playing bluesy odes to New Orleans last night was like catching a jam session at the local barber shop; the one where Robert Johnson is cutting hair and John Lee Hooker is giving shaves.
Trombone Shorty blows ‘em away
Jared Bloch
MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND – Sadly I was only able to catch the the last half of the Susan Tedeschi and Derek Trucks show on Saturday night, 2 July in Stravinsky Hall, courtesy of a several car pile up by the airport.
Tedeschi and Trucks - Photo ©Lionel Flusin, MJF
Having seen Tedeschi for the first time in 2009 at Montreux, with BB King, I knew exactly what I was missing as I watched emergency vehicles whizz by me. But I had never seen Tedeschi perform with her husband and now co-band leader, Derek Trucks.
Seeing the Tedeschi Trucks band last night reminded me of fantasy sports line ups – what if Jordan played with Chamberlain, Iverson and Irving – kind of thing; that’s the kind of energy they let off on stage, and the crowd went crazy, both during and at the end of the show. Read more…
Jared Bloch
Lexis Aguilera inciting the crowd
MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND – I was ready to call it quits last night 1 July around midnight, but the silhouettes behind a white screen strung across the stage in Vernex Park, and the random horn and conga sounds sporadically emerging, kept me waiting on to see what was afoot.
A lot, as it turns out, Lexis Aguilera, the lovely Yanesi Oquendo and the rest of “Los Guasoneros” were getting ready to bring down the house (or the tents as it was) as part of the free concerts of the Montreux Jazz Festival.
Los Guasoneros draw their name from the Guaso river, near Guantánamo, Cuba where the band hails from. Read more…
Jared Bloch
The heat is on at the Montreux Jazz Festival
MONTREUX, SWITZERLAND – It is that time once again when the Swiss Riviera is alive bursting with the sounds of musical greats from the world over.
The 45th Montreux Jazz Festival officially opened this evening with Carlos Santana sharing the stage at Stravinsky Hall with fellow guitar legend John McClaughlin.
“John and I have a lot in common,” Santana told a fired up crowd, “We resonate in that we like to have fun.”
Carlos Santana and John McLaughlin - Photo ©Lionel Flusin, MJF
The fun was apparent as Santana and McClaughlin wandered in and out of fugue states, playing off of one another in loose abandon like a couple of pro ball players.
Jared Bloch
Ramin (courtesy of Visions du Réel film festival)
Nyon, Switzerland – One of my favorite films at the Visions du Réel film festival this past week was Audrius Stonys’ “Ramin” which adeptly captures Georgian tastes and textures, through the eyes of septuagenarian protagonist and former wrestling champion, Ramin.
The movie, which began as a “cultural works” project on Georgian wrestling history, evolved into a bittersweet revisiting of one notable man’s accomplishments and regrets.
The screenplay, co-written by Stonys and Givi Odisharia follows the elderly Ramin as he embarks on a would be end-of-life vision quest, only Ramin has more energy than most 40 year old men and an eternal hopefulness.
Scenes of Ramin travelling down overgrown local highways, and lost in reflection in a crowded train car, are stand ins for his voyage backwards through time.