Polska !

I went to Stash Cafe, a Polish restaurant and I thought I would share that experience with you. It's located in the magnificent St Paul street in the old city. As the owners delicately put it they are a family restaurant with a timeless menu faithful to the secrets of the Polish kitchen. The menu is indeed very ethnic and appetizing and I can guarantee you won't recognize any familiar dishes (unless you're a polish food connoisseur, that is). Being very uninformed about local polish customs and dishes, I chose to go for the DEBUTANT menu, where they feature a hint of everything, allowing the "ignorant" to try a wide selection of dishes. My favorites were the fried potato "galette" and a Cobb/sausage/veal dish....(sorry for not remembering the actual names of the dishes)
Also noteworthy is the excellent soups and the traditional vodka they serve.

The mood of the place is really warm, with a live pianist with a repertoire that spans from radiohead to Liszt but sometimes wonders into hotel territory (which I'm not a big fan of).
The waiters are all very nice (and cute) and service was very friendly. I even got into a discussion about facebook with one of them (we're all so addicted to it that we even discuss it with waiters now).

I definetly recommend this restaurant, for anyone who's curious about foreign cuisine and fed up with traditional restaurants in the city.

Stash Café: 200, Saint-Paul Ouest ; reservations: (514) 845-6611

Jazz fest concert reviews

I was fortunate enough to catch 2 full sets yesterday at the Jazz fest. Both concerts were free outdoor events.

-The first one was Felix Stüssi's quintet performing at the Scène General Motors. The band played an hour long set showcasing tunes off their most recent album "Give me Five". This quintet consists of Felix Süssi on piano, Bruno Lamarche on tenor sax, Alex Côté on alto & soprano saxes, Clinton Ryder on double bass & Isaiah Ceccarelli on drums. They offered an extremely dynamic set of tunes. In each composition there is balance between expected jazz form (swing, progressions, blues etc.) and unexpected somewhat more experimental drifts to different feelings be it rock, funk or ambient sounds. Something I really like about this quintet is that both saxes often solo together creating some sort of "sax conversation" that builds up, intensifies and explodes in beautiful colors on most of the tunes. My favorite tunes were Zoé Félicia and Seven to Twelve (i'm not sure about the second tune's name). The former is a tune written by Félix Stüssi for his daughter who was born a few days after 9/11, it therefore blends in feelings of joy and happiness with feelings of fear and terror. The saxes joint solo was very intense and so was the unconventional piano comping throughout the entire tune. The latter featured the drummer Isaiah Ceccarelli. Despite the awkward time signature of this tune, it was really grooving. The tune started with a great fat bassline in 7/4 on top of which the drummer was improvising and moved on to saxes improv. I was blown away by the experimental structure of this tune and by the versatility of the drummer that could go in and out of time while maintain a head nodding feeling. Anyway, I think i'm gonna check out their album "Give me Five" which is on sale in all cd stores in Montreal.

-The second band is the Brandi Disterheft trio from BC. The group consists of Brandi Disterheft on Double bass, Chris Gale on tenor sax and Sly Juhas on drums. This modern jazz trio gave a fresh and energetic set last night consisting mostly of tunes free of rigid form where painful sax lines were laid on extremely dynamic basslines and versatile drum beats. Once again, I witnessed a band where the traditional jazz form was challenged which gave rise to a lot of space for improvisation both for the sax and the rhythm section. I particularly like Brandi's style of playing. Many of her basslines are based on one-note pedals that are sustained for a little while which gives a lot of harmonic freedom for the sax player to explore. This style of bass playing reminds me a bit of Dave Holland which is one of my favorite bassists of all time. Brandi also succeeded in making her compositions extremely dynamic just by altering her way of playing the bass in those tunes (from walking bass to pedals to rhythmic grooves). The drummer was extremely responsive to the changes in the basslines which made this trio's rythm section extremely tight.

Both those concerts were free outdoors events. If you like young modern jazz, keep an eye on the Club Jazz TD Canada Trust stage (parc Hydro-quebec)this is where the Brandi Disterheft trio was performing and that's where most young international talents will be performing throughout the festival.

Enjoy !!

nad

Movies this week (June 30- July 6) (updated)

Well, this week is certainly one to watch in movies. Two big productions worth checking out and a great foreign gem.

Starting off with Michael Moore's new film, Sicko. that takes a hit at the health system in the states. It is said to be controversial, not particularly democrat (as his previous movies where) and extremely funny. Seems to me like a typical Moore Movie and I'm in !

Also out is the new Pixar effort, Ratatouille. Featuring a talking mouse that gives cooking instructions to a french rookie chef, can anything really go wrong ? Plus, pixar hasn't released a bad movie EVER ! which is enough for me to check this one out. Just saw the movie and all I can say is that Pixar managed once again to top themselves and deliver a movie that is so visually stunning and whose story is so compelling that we wonder why we still watch live action films....

Lastly, on a more indie note, La Raison du plus faible, a Belgian film is out at the Ex-centris and is definetly worth checking out. I saw the film recently and I found it extremely realistic and well paced. The characters are so interesting and layered that you don't get bored for a second in the film. The tension builds naturally and leads to a very grandiose conclusion....

Other films out : Live free or Die Hard (aka die hard 4), Evening (star-studded indie drama), eagle vs. Shark, L'homme de Cuivre, Nitro (Quebec made action film)

All showtimes at cinemamontreal.com

JAZZFEST!!!

The luscious summer days are here.... & so is the 28th edition of the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal !!!
We are lucky as montrealers to host one of the biggest jazz festivals in the world. Starting on the 28th of June, the downtown Place des Arts area celebrates world music (not only jazz) for 11 consecutive days. A few years ago, the jazzfest started hosting more and more diversified music shows and other performances to suit all tastes. This year's edition is no exception to this trend. This makes the jazzfest a perfect event to chill out after work, bath in huge crowds of people, and enjoy summertime even if you don't particularily like jazz music.
That being said, there are a few shows (indoor & outdoor) that I would strongly recommend for this weekend (stay posted for next week's shows):

-Fri 29th: +Erik Truffaz quartet (10pm spectrum) -- this band is a fusion of ambiant jazz with electronica, Erik Truffaz's acclaimed electronic trumpet style is known to be very trippy :)
+Pawa up first (FREE 10pm scene bell) -- local experimental hip hop band... I'm not a fan of hip hop & I still love the sound of this band, its groovy and goes way beyond radio hip hop.

-Sat 30th: +Joshua Redman trio (6pm theatre maisonneuve) -- one of today's hottest tenor saxophonists will take you on a journey back to african drum beats, a jazz style similar to Sonny Rollins back in the 50's... not to miss...
+Roy Haynes quartet (10pm spectrum) -- Legendary jazz drummer in an unconventional quartet

-Sun 1st: +Felix Stussi & Give me five (FREE 6pm scene general motors) -- New quintet starring local pianist Stussi. Again another blend of genres that is worth checking out
+Jarrett, Peacock, DeJohnette (8pm Wilfrid-Pelletier) -- If you can afford it you should see this !! 3 pillars of modern jazz. I shall say no more...

-Mon 2nd: +Mike Stern/Bona/Roy Hargrove (7:30pm theatre Jean-Duceppe) -- Watch out for this is gonna be a GROOVY show !
+Soulive (FREE 9pm & 11pm general motors) -- Really cool US jazz funk band... & it's free ! :)

That's all for now,
Enjoy the festival !


nad

JAZZ IT UP !

The Jazz fest is back for another exciting year.
I will leave it up to the Jazz collablogator to cover the individual events. On my side, I'd like to mention that you absolutely have to go hang out on the Place des Arts surroundings at some point this week-end. you don't need to like Jazz (I don't particularly) but the mood is so great there.... Just walk around, have a hot dog or even better, a good refreshing ice cream.... Just look around at all the people, all smiling... :) You can even listen to some music if you please, it won't kill you!

The Jazz festival runs June 28-July 8th. All info on this website

BANG BANG

Alors, voila mon premier post en français.
Je profite de l'occasion pour recommander une emission télé que j'ai vue pour la première fois cette semaine et que j'ai trouvé assez réussie et originale. L'émission en question s'appelle LES FRANCS TIREURS et porte bien son nom. Les deux journalistes a la tête de l'émission sont francs et ils tirent.


Description officielle : Deux journalistes qui raffolent de la controverse; un esprit critique vitrioleur; un refus de l'unanimisme et de la langue de bois; tels sont les ingrédients à la base du coquetel détonant que propose chaque semaine Les francs-tireurs.
Le tandem Patrick Lagacé et Richard Martineau fait plus que jamais voler en éclats les idées reçues. Ils traitent de grands dossiers qui leur permettent d'aborder les questions de l'heure de façon plus approfondie — mais toujours à contre-courant de la pensée collective. Et ils n’hésitent pas à provoquer l’événement lorsque la situation le permet…
Des entrevues fortes, des reportages corrosifs sur des phénomènes sociaux et culturels frappants ou insolites et des points de vue provocants sont au menu des Francs-tireurs.

Les Francs Tireurs, Tele Quebec les mercredis a 20h, Rediffusions : Jeudi 14 h et lundi vers 23 h 30; site officiel