Diana Krall beautifully reconnected with her Montreal audience on Tuesday night as part of the Montreal International Jazz Festival, where she was the main headliner.
The 58-year-old British-Colombian singer almost secretly took the stage at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier on the Place des Arts and earned brief applause.
“Good evening, I’m very pleased to be here tonight,” she said in beautiful Anglophone-accented French as she quickly sat down at her piano – which she never left for the entire concert.
On stage, the artist from Nanaimo has bite, something mysterious and beguiling. When she sings and strums, the audience is very attentive, even static, but every time the music stopped, thunderous applause could be heard.
MARTIN ALARIE / MONTREAL JOURNAL
On the other hand, the singer’s performances in front of the audience were all very short and mainly served to present her songs. “Montreal is my favorite place to play jazz. “Being here brings back so many memories,” she alternated between two songs in the premise of “Isn’t This a Lovely Day Today” and “Devil May Care “.
MARTIN ALARIE / MONTREAL JOURNAL
The jazz singer — the only one whose eight albums debuted at the top of the Billboard jazz chart — has offered numerous covers throughout her program, including Nat King Cole’s “You Call It Madness (But I Call It Love)”, “Exactly Like You” by Nina Simone and “Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars” by Sarah Vaughan.
She said she loves the rain and also offered a touching, original version of Leonard Cohen’s famous blue raincoat. However, she did not sing her big hit “The Look of Love”.
MARTIN ALARIE / MONTREAL JOURNAL
Diana Krall was joined on Tuesday by Anthony Wilson on guitar, Jeff Hamilton on drums and John Clayton on double bass.
The festival is on the way to achieving its goals
The Montreal International Jazz Festival this year is expected to see attendance comparable to pre-pandemic levels, with nearly a million visitors to its locations.
In an interview last week, Maurin Auxéméry, the new program director of FIJM (and the Francos) – to whom Laurent Saulnier passed the torch last year – said he was optimistic, although this variant was difficult to assess and the festival itself was rather financial as human goals.
“Last year we had a lot of people at the festival but we felt we were missing the touristic aspect. I think we’ll find those people this year with the unconditional reopening of America’s borders,” he said, noting that the weather also played a role.
The program director also stated that the hotels on the first weekend of the festival were “almost all fully booked since November”. The organizers also assume that slightly less than a third of the festival visitors (28.7%) are tourists and day trippers.
As for indoor concerts, Mr Auxéméry estimates that 90% of the tickets available on the market will be sold.
The 43rd edition of the Montreal International Jazz Festival lasts until July 8th. For the entire program: montrealjazzfest.com
Diana Krall will be back at the Place des Arts on Wednesday evening.
A rejuvenation treatment
The organizers of the Montreal International Jazz Festival have seen a significant rejuvenation of the audience since last year almost 50% of people under the age of 35 attended the site.
“It’s a good trend. We have a feeling that it will be renewed, the style of jazz will be renewed, and that’s good news for us! “There’s a breath of fresh air in jazz, which is still niche music but is becoming a cool niche again,” said program director Maurin Auxéméry.