A Montreal jazzman rips into the Montreal jazzfest
Posted on | July 12, 2012 | 9 Comments
by admin
One view of the Montreal festival that could well apply to “jazz” festivals elsewhere.
Veteran Montreal bassist Normand Guilbault is slamming the shrinking footprint of jazz at what’s been called the world’s largest jazz festival.
Read the article in Peter Hum’s Ottawa Citizen jazz blog.
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9 Responses to “A Montreal jazzman rips into the Montreal jazzfest”
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July 12th, 2012 @ 5:40 pm
Amen Normand! Merci beaucoup!
September 13th, 2012 @ 11:08 pm
Dear Sir.
first of all thanks for your serrvice abou the Vancouver Cella Club.
I must apologige with you if I don’t give any comment about Montreal JazzaFest.
I keep the occasion to write you in order to known something about don Cherry live at Cellar clube:
I read in a blog: Don Cherry, Chuck Logan, and Dave Quarin
Photo courtesy of: Wally Lightbody
Don Cherry showed up again in town, unannounced with no group, just his wife….during this time he stayed at Chuck Logan’s home, mostly with his head buried in a “Theory of Music” book and kept a fairly low profile (around town).
He did a gig at the Cellar with Dave Quarin and sat in with both the Jim Kilburn and Al Neil groups at the annual jazz festival at the old Georgia Auditorium….. I remember him and I doing “Half Nelson” together……that was fun!….. he left town shortly after New Years. Dale Hillary returned from San Francisco and this time with a great new trumpet player named MIKE DOWNS. Mike hung around town for a while and we became good friends…… he was a beautiful player and a super nice cat.
Are you able to answer me and tell me the date and the personel who plays on that concert.
I wish also, if it will be possible for you, to know if do exists some taps of the concerts held by Cherry and Coleman at Cellar.
I hope to be clear
Hoping also in yor answer i send you my best regards
Luciano
September 17th, 2012 @ 5:14 pm
The Cherry story is true…he lived here and stayed with drummer Chuck Logan. He had appeared here 3 times before, first with The Jazz Messiahs: Cherry, George Newman (alto), Don Payne(bass) and Billy Higgins. I did not see this band as I was still in Montreal in 1956. I did see the second Jazz Messiahs band after moving here with my family. This was the Summer of 1957. This second edition had Cherry, Payne and Higgins and James Clay on tenor.Cherry played piano as well as trumpet and they played mostly Jazz Messenger stuff…Stablemates, Tune Up, Prince Albert etc.but they also played tunes by Ornette Coleman. No one had ever heard of Ornette then but the tunes were great! Next in November was the gig with Ornette with Cherry, Higgins, Ben Tucker (bass) and Don Friedman on piano. This was Ornette’s first out-of-town gig under his name. The reaction to Ornette’s music was mixed but more of the real Jazz guys dug the band. Cherry then later returned here on his own as mentioned and laid low but sat in with the locals. Al Neil’s band included John Dawe on trumpet, Jim Johnson on tenor, Tony Clitheroe on bass and Bill Boyle on drums.Everyone is still alive except Boyle. Guitarist Jim Kilburn’s group had Neil,Dawe,Clitheroe and Boyle. Dave Quarin’s group had Quarin (alto), Hal Kraus(piano) Clitheroe and Stan Perry (drums). Cherry told people that he was just waiting for Ornette to call him because Ornette and Co. were headed for New York and “going to revolutionize Jazz”……everyone said “yeah, sure Don” Everyone dug Cherry and he was always welcome when he sat in and played. The rest as they say is history.There was a radio broadcast (about an hour’s worth of music from The Cellar) for a local radio station but the tape was either erased or is lost forever.
I hope that this throws a little light on your question Luciano.
Regards, Gavin Walker.
October 6th, 2012 @ 1:31 pm
Great old days. Do you know what has happened to Jimmy Johnson?
October 7th, 2012 @ 2:40 pm
Jimmy is still very much alive and still plays occasionally. We chat every so often.
October 7th, 2012 @ 6:08 pm
Thank you for the information Gavin. I am glad he is doing well.
January 28th, 2013 @ 5:45 pm
Dear Gavin, I have just turned an old recording into a disc that features Al Neil, Jimmy Johnson, Willie Boyle, B. Millar, John Dawe, and J. Feyer. It was a radio recording. Wonderful to hear the old gang again. Connie Wallace.
March 21st, 2013 @ 4:08 am
Dear Gavin,
first of all: I apologize with you. I must answer to you some months ago. But only this morning I read your answer to my old question concerning Cherry at Cellar Club.
Many thanks, now I read with close attention that answer and, probably I wlll write you again for clarifications
Thank you very much
Luciano
March 21st, 2013 @ 4:37 am
You wrote:
Al Neil’s band included John Dawe on trumpet, Jim Johnson on tenor, Tony Clitheroe on bass and Bill Boyle on drums.
Guitarist Jim Kilburn’s group had Neil,Dawe,Clitheroe and Boyle. Dave Quarin’s group had Quarin (alto), Hal Kraus(piano) Clitheroe and Stan Perry (drums).
Well: plays Don Cherry on both the above band and group
greetings
Luciano