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
An estimated 200,000 visitors attended the Montreux Jazz Festival this year, 23 of 33 concerts were sold out
Quincy Jones at Montreux Jazz Festival ©Lionel Flusin
Montreux, Switzerland - This year I caught not one, but two rainbow’s on my way to the Montreux Jazz Festival (MJF). I glimpsed the first one while getting soaked on my motorcycle in a summer downpour that appeared just after Lausanne.
Friday’s light show, if less dramatic, was sweetened by the fact I was on my bicycle outside of Vevey, and had time to stop and savour the ion-filled air.
Friday 16 July was my last night for this year’s fest and the evening was something of a question mark, not having listened to anything recently from Quincy Jones.
Jared Bloch
Ben Harper ©MJF/Lionel Flusin
Montreux, Switzerland- Ben Harper took the stage on 7 July with no fanfare, but to great applause, and launched into “Diamonds on the Inside.” Having seen Harper in three live performances in Switzerland, I thought he looked calm even serene. Age has served him well.
His second number was a bluesy roll, reminiscent of Stevie Wonder (whose “Superstition” he has covered in the past). On Wednesday night he was all blues, all moaning bass, winding guitar solos and wailing drums that left me thinking of early Led Zeppelin.
For the third number he sat down and leaned into a slide guitar, moving his fingers over the fret like Jam Master J on a piece of a squeaky vinyl – this is the best intensity from Harper since “Fight for Your Life.”
Jared Bloch
Jessye Norman at a music workshop - Photo ©MJF
Montreux, Switzerland- The stars may have descended on Montreux mid-last week, but impossibly, I followed a rainbow’s arc down the highway from Lavaux on Sunday 4 July to arrive, thoroughly soaked, and high on the energy that is the Montreux Jazz Festival.
The evening headliners at Stravinsky Hall included two genre bending musicians as yet unknown to me; the pianist Brad Mehldau and the contemporary opera singer, Jessye Norman.
Jared Bloch
The Asteroïds Galaxy Tour, energizing crowds at Montreux' Jazz Cafe-Photo, Jared Bloch
Montreux, Switzerland - In the afterglow of the musical smorgasbord that is July in Switzerland, I am left wondering, what’s next? Of all the shows I had the pleasure of seeing last month, one of the highlights was the Scandinavian Night at the Montreux Jazz Festival hosted by Spot on Denmark.