The jazz hunter…

Ok - so people say “Montreal is only a jazz city for 2 weeks out of the year.” And there have been times that I’ve been inclined to agree. I mean - for a city that has the biggest jazz festival in north america (maybe the world - gotta check up on that one), you’d figure there’d be a few decent jazz clubs. Now I know, I know… there’s always Upstairs and House of Jazz. Hmmmm - see here’s the thing with me and those clubs: they tend to be full of rich people that are too busy eating and drinking and talking to listen to the music. Also … not many of the jazz fans I know (or even people who aren’t necessarily jazz fans but feel the need for some jazz on a given night) can really pay the covers that are often more than 10 dollars, and then buy drinks at inflated prices to cover their 1 (sometimes 2) drink minimum.

Now I’m going to let you all in on a little secret… Vic Vogel is a Montreal jazz legend. Actually, you hardly even have to qualify that statement with Montreal specifically. Vic Vogel’s big band - who are all world class musicians - practice for FREE every Monday night at Barfly. Allow a digression here for a moment… Barfly used to be called Cleo’s and was my favourite jazz club until it shut down. I guess when a jazz club doesn’t charge exorbitant covers, it’s hard to keep it in business, jazz being for some mysterious reason less popular than dance music…. Anyway, until they take their summer break - you can go and listen to amazing musicians playing beautifully arranged big band charts for free every Monday night at Barfly between 730 and 930. Oh yeah, and the pints are pretty cheap too. Now, it’s a practice… so sometimes the songs get cut off by the notoriously crotchety Vogel yelling something like “Play it like you MEAN it, damn it!!” But hey, that’s part of the fun.

Also - every Wednesday and Thursday night this month, the illustrious Dave Turner will be playing at Upstairs. Dave, besides being an incredible sax player, is also very open and a natural educator and so besides the memory of a great night, you’ll probably also leave with a few insights into the jazz tradition. Now I know I just got done complaining about Upstairs - and usually I don’t hang there, but on these nights, the cover is 3 bucks! Just don’t order a glass of 12 year old scotch… cause you won’t be able to make rent in June if you do.

So those are some safe bets for inexpensive and great jazz in Montreal. The Kemia is also usually very good for that, no matter what night or who’s playing… and I believe every Sunday for a while, Jason Sharp will be playing at BOA with different cats, and the evenings are “by donation”.

So yeah - you just have to know where to look… see you at Barfly… I’ll be the one with my jaw on my lap when they play Vic’s arrangement of Night in Tunisia.