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Bourne @ FIJM: The 25-Year Reunion of UZEB

UZEB Play FIJM
Victor Diaz Lamich for FIJM
UZEB Play FIJM

25 years ago, I first came to Festival International de JAZZ de Montreal.

25 years ago, the jazz/rock trio UZEB played the first Grande Evenement.

Every festival since that first in 1992, free "great events" have happened on one of the streets around Place des Arts in the heart of Montreal.  Sometimes as many as a hundred thousand folks drink, dance, and enjoy whatever music is on the biggest outdoor stage.

I especially remember Stevie Wonder in the rain.  I'll never forget Cirque du Soleil twice -- with acrobats and clowns everywhere.  I actually shouted "WOW" -- frequently.  FIJM celebrated New Orleans with Allen Toussaint and a Mardi Gras float that was driven up from NOLA.  DJ Champion played a stage full of electronic whizbangs, alone and bustling about under a plastic tarp.  Being musically all-encompassing (like jazz) festival events also have spotlighted a Balkan band and a Turkish band, disco and a hip-hop extravangaza. 

Diana Krall was "grande" indeed one year, and Jamie Cullum was beyond flabbergasting last year.  Jamie played and sang ecstatically with a big band of Montreal's best.  He musically meandered the crowd, and after two hours non-stop, he slumped off the stage.  "This is the best gig I've ever played," he shouted, and the crowd chanted him back.  When he walked back out in a spotlight, his face was enormous in the Jumbotrons, with rivulets of sweat and happy tears.  Jamie's "evenement" was for me one of the greatest concerts I've attended anywhere.

UZEB play FIJM
Credit Victor Diaz Lamich for FIJM
Paul Brochu and Alain Carron of UZEB

I don't remember much about the music of that first "grand event."  I'd never heard UZEB before, or even heard of  UZEB, though they'd been recording best-selling and award-winning albums since the mid-70's.  Innovators of what came to be called "jazz fusion," UZEB was a power trio like Cream -- without the vocals.  And this year's concert, indoors at the biggest hall of Place des Arts, was the trio's reunion.

Michel Cusson of UZEB
Credit Victor Diaz Lamich for FIJM
Michel Cusson of UZEB

Alain Caron playing electric bass was herculean.  I've rarely heard a bassist's fingers playing so quickly (articulating every note) on the strings.  Or playing so lyrically, even through (especially through) all the reverb and other tech.  Caron's bass often sounded as if  playing the lead.   Michel Cusson nonetheless played spectacularly on the guitar, often sounding orchestral.  Cusson's solo of "Goodbye Porkpie Hat" was haunting.  And through it all, Paul Brochu at the drums was explosive.

The Montreal Jazz Festival is for me always a grande evenement.

                                -- 30 --

Michael Bourne, who died on August 21, 2022, was a presence on the air at WBGO between the end of 1984 and the start of 2022 when he retired from full-time hosting duty. He is the host of the Singers Unlimited Podcast by WBGO Studios. Previously, he hosted the popular Singers Unlimited (1985-2022). He also hosted the equally popular Blues Break for several years. Michael is a senior contributor to Down Beat, with the magazine since 1969. Doctor Bourne earned a PhD in Theatre from Indiana University -- which comes in handy when he's a theatre critic for the WBGO Journal.