précisé:
1995-07-06 Montréal (QC, Canada)
Place du Maurier Ltée, Festival International de Jazzsource:
www.montrealjazzfest.com/program/concert.aspx?id=8892Une chronique sympa, tirée d'un site disparu:
C. Vander Trio Montreal Jazz Festival, 1995
www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Alley/8366/MAGMA-ARTICLES-vander-trio-1995-live.html Written by Steve Feigenbaum
Some background. The Montreal Jazz Fest. is a HUGE affair. About 350 free concerts + about 50-75 pay shows. The festival takes over about 5 square blocks in the downtown of Montreal - really amazing that the "powers" allow this, & have done so for two decades. But then Montreal is one of the *great* North American cities - maybe the greatest. I would highly recommend it to anyone for a fun vacation!
My wife & I had planned our mini vacation (5 days) long before we knew that we would be there during part of the festival. About 2-3 weeks before we left we realised that we would be there for the festival, & then, about 4 days before we left, I found out that Christian would be performing! WOW!!
The stages are set up at street intersections. The 1st nite I was there I saw how crowded they get, & decided that I would get there early the next nite (for C.V.) So, the nite of C.V. I got to the stage an hour early – the band on before was in their last 15 minutes. As soon as they ended, the
crowd dispersed, & I got to the very from stage right & basically leaned against the streetlamp right next to it.
All bands share equipment - including drums, so it was interesting to see them remove the shiny new blue plastic drum kit everyone else had been using & bring out this tiny, tiny, beat up old Gretsch kit. There was a lot of fussing with the set up & positioning, & finally even ol' C.V. himself came out to play around with it. He was dressed in the denim jumpsuit he wears on the cover of the "Fusion" lp. He looked just like the photos – extremely recognisable.
Finally everyone seemed satisfied with the position of the kit. So one of the techs then comes out they & nailed his kit to the wooden floor (!!)
Because of all the fussing around, the trio were a little late to go on, which I could see was a big controversy backstage, since everything is supposed to go like clockwork, so that the next band can get on the stage right at the proper time.
By now, the street was jammed with people - I was very glad that I had come early & staked out a position for myself.
Then the announcement & they started. The sound reinforcement was directly over my head & about 25 feet up - so I didn't hear it. C.V. was NOT miked - he played live & LOUD - the piano & bass were miked. From my vantage point the drums were fairly overpowering of the piano & bass, but, hey, great as the other two guys were, I *was* there to see Christian, so I wasn't too disappointed at all.
I'm not going to go into a blow-by-blow, mostly because I don't know the names of the tunes well enough. They did 5 or 6 numbers - mostly from the "65!" album. I did recognise the title track to that disc, as well as the Coltrane piece.
Everyone played great, but of course, seeing C.V. actually whack those skins after all of these years was the highlight. And *whack* is the correct word. To the surprise of no one on this list I am certain, he plays very very hard. The beater for his bass drum fell off 4 times during the one hour performance. I would not like to have been the tech who had to squeeze in between Vander's various flailing limbs to put it back in place.
Also, I'm sure to no one's surprise, his playing, at least in this context, is HIGHLY reminiscent of both the visual & musical memory I have of when I saw Elvin Jones play in 1975.
So, then it was over. Before I went up to Canada, I had asked George Besnier, C.V.'s manager & the manager of Seventh, who I know pretty well via fax due to our business dealings if he would be there. He told me that he would stay in France, but that I should definitely introduce myself to C.V..
So, I went over with the Miriodor fellas & they were kind enough to introduce me "en Francais" to C.V. He was very gracious, & shook my hand, but it was also obvious that he had NO clue at all who I was, what Wayside Music was, & why I obviously expected him to know what this was all about! He was tired, I was embarrassed, & I let the matter drop!
It was a pretty hilarious end to a good show.
Hope you enjoyed my report.
Steve F.
Non, non. 
