The Star
Ashante Infantry
Pop & Jazz Critic
Fest revels in new venue
Montreal–The debuts of a permanent public space and year-round multiple-use building, along with the announcement of a new title sponsor, defined the 30th edition of Festival International de Jazz de Montréal which closes tonight with Ben Harper and Relentless 7.
Sure, there were the usual crowds – about 2 million people over 13 days – high-profile performers such as Tony Bennett, Wynton Marsalis and Ornette Coleman, and the eclectic, inspired programming which has earned the event both popular and critical acclaim and a ranking as the world's biggest jazz festival. But these latest initiatives have cemented the festival to the city, which has benefited from $100 million annually in economic spinoffs for the last decade.
The jewel is Place des Festivals, a vast public plaza – think Dundas Square times 10 – in the city's core. Condo and office tower construction, which abounds in the three-block quadrant the festival utilizes, was eating up space for the 300 outdoor concerts – across seven stages – that are key to the event.
"The festival has been squatting in vacant lots and open-air parking lots," said president and founder Alain Simard of pressuring the government to build the plaza, which was inaugurated June 30 with a performance by Stevie Wonder.
The paved area with grassy sidelines, which will be utilized by other city fetes, features 250 ground fountains. Opposite the plaza, on Ste. Catherine St., is the seven-storey Maison du Festival Rio Tinto Alcan, the jazz fest's first dedicated headquarters, which houses a year-round restaurant, 360-seat nightclub and administrative offices. Plans call for a tourist-enticing jazz hall of fame. At night, the windows overlooking Place des Festivals are lit with the faces of 24 music icons.
Concerns for the festival's future, after General Motors' January announcement that it was withdrawing as primary funder after a decade, were set aside following word last week that secondary sponsor TD Canada Trust will move into the principal slot next year. This brings to eight the number of jazz festivals the bank makes substantial contributions to across the country.
Aside from the stability of a five-year sponsorship commitment, Simard said he also relishes the opportunity to tap into the American market of the financial institution, which now has more branches in the U.S. than Canada.
Like a beaming grandfather, American impresario George Wein, 84, praised the festival's success.
He's recognized as having launched the world's first outdoor jazz festival in Newport in 1954 with bluebloods Louis and Elaine Lorillard. He went on to found jazz festivals in New York and New Orleans, and spawned copycats from Monterey to Montreux.
When Wein – a piano player also playing at the festival – was lauded at a news conference Thursday, he turned the praise back on his hosts.
"To have the centre of a major city dedicated to jazz is amazing," he said, recalling that his greatest challenge launching the Newport festival was getting residents of the affluent seaside town to accept the idea of music outdoors.
Simard concurred, recalling the noise complaints and dismissive bureaucratic attitude that greeted the inaugural Montreal festival in 1980. The festival now gets significant government funding – 34 per cent of its $30 million budget from all levels – and obtained the political goodwill necessary to erect the plaza and its permanent home.
Source :
http://www.thestar.com/article/664756
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