22nd Edition of the Festival International de Montreal de Jazz

Montreal, Friday 22rd February 2001 - Planet jazz will once again descend on Montreal from June 28 to July 8 when the metropolis welcomes many masters of improvisation. The Festival International de Montreal de Jazz, presented by General Motors Canada in collaboration with Labatt Blues, returns with programming of exceptional quality and diversity. As part of its tourist packages, the Festival is putting on sale in late March a number of tickets for special concerts, to give visiting music lovers an advance taste. The festival's reputation is solidly established, but the concert schedule for the 2001 edition confirms that its organizers have no intention of resting on their laurels.

As evidence, an evening with Diana Krall, our Canadian queen of jazz who won a Grammy award last year for the Best Jazz Vocal Performance. This opening concert of the Pleins Feux General Motors series promises to be mellow and heart-felt. Another celebrated visitor in the Pleins Feux General Motors series is Ibrahim Ferrer, presented by the Buena Vista Social Club. Fronting the Orqueta Ibrahim Ferrer, the septuagenarian will perform songs from his first solo album, spiced with echoes of the classic Buena Vista sound. His opening act will be Ruben Gonzalez, a Cuban musician who has greatly contributed to developing the musical sound of Castro's Island, as we know it today.

Saxophonist Wayne Shorter, the man considered by many to be the world's most brilliant composer of progressive music, will perform in the Grand Concerts series. To satisfy his many fans, he returns to the Festival accompanied by the members of a quartet assembled for the occasion (John Patitucci, Danilo Perez, Brian Blades). Neither musical veterans nor jazz neophytes should miss the concert 'Remember Shakti' (Pleins Feux General Motors series) which brings together, more than a quarter century after their worldwide triumph, the virtuoso guitarist John McLaughlin and the tabla master Zakir Hussain. Their first visit to the Festival in 1999 created such a buzz that they are back to perform the music created by their indo-jazz acoustic ensemble in the mid 70s. This show promises to be rich in the rhythms and harmonies of world music.

The Cape Verde singer Cesaeria Evora (Grand Concerts series) will return to Montreal to perform songs from her most recent album entitled Caf