The Montreal Jazz Festival 2017 - New York City Article

Although New York remains the epicenter of the jazz world, with the demise of the JVC Jazz Festival (can it really be almost ten years ago?), the number one festival in the Western Hemisphere is now, almost without any competition, The Montreal Jazz Festival, which for almost 40 years, has been held at the end of June and the beginning of July. The MJF is at once diverse and consistent, featuring nearly all the jazz headliners that there are (this is where Diana Krall really launched her career) as well as many sympathetic visitors from other musical realms, ie, if you like jazz, chances are that you’ll probably also like Bob Dylan (June 30) and King Crimson (July 2). But what makes this such a unique festival - unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in New York - is the incredible amount of free music presented al fresco - in the Complexe Desjardins, a huge Lincoln Center-like plaza that, during the afternoon, always seems to have at least four bands playing at once in each of its corner stages, all afternoon. While there are no shortage of American stars, this is also the festival that does more than any other (at least in this continent) to promote the idea of jazz as a world music. The headliners come out in the evening for the ticketed concerts, and they are always the main attraction, but it’s the bands that play outdoors - many of them local - during the daylight hours that give the festival its unique flavor. And yes, it’s well worth the trip for New Yorkers.