SOIL AND PIMP SESSIONS AT THE MONTREAL JAZZ FESTIVAL

JAZZ FOR THE NEW AGE

Last weekend I left the Toronto Jazz festival scene and took the 5 hour journey over to the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal (Montreal Jazz Festival).  This jazz festival is world renown for not only its attraction of great talent over the years but also its fantastic venues and always superb hospitality.

I went to as many bands as I could fit in but as I mentioned in my blog on June 27th here my aim this year was to check out the lessor known but hugely talented bands.  In the three days I was there I was rarely disappointed.  There were acts from big bands on big stages to to duets and trios in tight little bars to weird vehicles with built in instruments. Music from gospel to blues, from dixieland to Jewish folk, from jazz to funk to blues and virtually everything in between.

The stand out concert for me was a group called Soil And The Pimp Sessions.  Wow, these guys came to play.  You’ve got to check these guys out. Huge energy with bright and intelligent playing.  It did not take long for the front of the stage to be filled with young twenty somethings moshing and pumping to the rock, funk and hip hop infused jazz.

Did I mention these dudes were from Japan?  The group was fronted by the “pimp”, who played no instrument or sang any tunes but pranced around the stage in a robe snapping his fingers, grooving to the music and occasionally stirring up the crowd.  The other band members were each quite talented in there own right.

The group played a few standards but arranged with their own contemporary touch.  The majority of their songs were high energy originals, laced with electrifying and very creative solos.

I loved this group not only because they were really a very good jazz band, but they incorporate the music of now and seem to be willing and able to take the music forward.

You can find out more about the group here.

Here are a couple short video clips.