Ottawa Jazz Fest 2008 Adds Acts
Keita, Haden, Meldhau and Knight Added To Mainstage Performer Lineup
The 2008 TD Canada Trust Ottawa International Jazz Festival rounds out its line-up with the addition of four more mainstage names
The TD Canada Trust Ottawa International Jazz Festival got a jump on the competition this week, by announcing its full line-up well ahead of the reforming Folk Festival and the bombastic BluesFest.
In addition to the confirmation of such names such as Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock and Return To Forever, ever-reliable artistic director Jacques Emond has bagged four additional acts of note: World Music icon Salif Keita, bassist Charlie Haden, pianist Brad Meldhau, and pop-soul diva Gladys Knight.
Salif Keita - June 25
World Music acts are hijacking jazz festivals more and more these days, but Ottawa, unlike Montreal, has always integrated them with temperance. This year, the genre's token takeover of the Confederation Park main stage is Mali-France music man Salif Keita. Keita, a near-blind African albino, has a distinctly Islamic sound, a result of crossbreeding the traditional griot music of his childhood with Hispanic and Portugese influences. This should prove a spirited evening, in all senses of the word.
Charlie Haden's Quartet West - June 27
A son of folk, hymns, and experimental jazz, 60 year old Iowan Charlie Haden has been playing with his Quartet West for over 20 years now. The band - Ernie Watts on sax, Alan Broadbent on piano, Larance Marable on drums - devotes itself largely to the songs of studio-era Hollywood, a repertoire it imbues with nocturnal color and a brainy directness. Once the sun sets over the main stage of Ottawa's Confederation Park, the group and the setting should blend to create a sensorially uniform experience.
Brad Meldhau - June 29
The mannered madness of piano deity Brad Meldhau tries its luck with a large outdoor venue, as this poster boy of the purists takes to the main stage for the festival's final Sunday. Meldhau, at once stick-in-the-mud formalist and improvisational extremist, always manages to appease his unusually large following with the cold poetry of his ambitious musings.
Gladys Knight - June 30
The festival closes (discounting the July 1st Canada Day tie-in) June 30, with the life raft that is keeping many a jazz fest afloat in a sea black ink, the "crossover act." This year's version is one-time pop goddess Gladys Knight, no doubt prepared to please with a light, soulful repertoire of gospel, Motown and signature hits. Okay, it ain't jazz - but as the token commercial gesture of the festival, they could have violated their mandate far worse.
Let Mr. Marsalis, the festival's first act, sound his trumpet, and let the festivities begin!
