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Montreal Gazette
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Montreal Gazette
Dunlevy: Mavis Staples kicks off 45th Montreal jazz fest with a whole lotta soul
Music It was a cool night for a hot start to the 45th Montreal International Jazz Festival as Chicago soul legend Mavis Staples showed tens of thousands of music fans how it's done in the opening night free outdoor blowout. Temperatures hovered just under the 20-degree mark, which wasn't so bad, but coming off an oppressive early-summer heat wave, it felt almost like fall. That wasn't enough to stop the throngs from taking in the sights and sounds on the free stages early in the evening. Or to prevent everyone from gathering in front of the main TD stage just after sunset. Staples made her entrance just after 9:30 p.m., bringing along a lifetime of soul singing that started with her siblings when she was just a little girl. Her dad was pals with Martin Luther King, Jr., leading the family band The Staple Singers (of which she is the last surviving member) to become closely associated with the civil rights movement. 'Montreal!' Staples shouted a few songs in, to enthusiastic cheers and an impromptu call and response. 'Yeah!' she called out. 'Yeah!' the audience called back. 'Oh my,' Staples continued. 'We're so happy to be with you, so happy to see all these smiling faces. Yes indeed. I tell you, we've been trying to get here; we finally made it. Well now, we bring you greetings from the Windy City — Chicago, Ill. We've come this evening to bring you some joy, some happiness, inspiration and some positive vibrations.' She did all that and then some. It was two weeks before her 87th birthday and Staples was in fine form, and fine voice. Her trademark rasp hasn't lost any of its depth, and she let it rip on such songs as her 1996 Gospel number I'll Fly Away From Here, love jam I'm Just Another Soldier and an appropriately rugged rendition of Tom Waits's Chicago. She sounded righteous in delivering her old band's 1984 cover of Talking Heads' 1983 hit Slippery People, bringing out the song's Gospel influences without omitting its new wave edge. And she took us back to the '60s while performing the Staple Singers' downright funky 1967 version of Buffalo Springfield's 1966 peace anthem For What It's Worth. Far from mere nostalgia, Staples delivered her lines like she was belting them out for the first time — with passion and feeling. She unleashed another heartfelt 'Yeah!' at song's end. 'Y'all feel alright? Do you feel alright? OK, I feel pretty good myself.' Then came the Staple Singers' 1971 classic Respect Yourself, covered by Bruce Willis for a pop chart smash in 1986. Staples sang it with brooding purpose and Gospel-infused intensity. She took it down a notch for Friendship, her touching 2023 collaboration with Norah Jones, in the final stretch. As satisfying as her performance was, Staples left fans hanging by leaving the Staple Singers best-known song I'll Take You There off the set list. It's not like there wasn't time. The band wrapped up just shy of 10:40 p.m. The stage was booked 'till 11. It was a baffling finish to an otherwise memorable show. Earlier on, Philadelphia R&B artist Bilal exhibited his jazz chops in a far-ranging, virtuosic set on the Rogers Stage. Colombia's Balthvs had warmed up the main stage crowd with a trippy batch of psychedelic instrumental grooves; and at the corner of Jeanne-Mance and Ste-Catherine Sts., their countrymen Kombilesa Mi fused hip-hop chants with frenetic, traditional percussion to intoxicating effect. Meanwhile indoors, Mexico's Natalia Lafourcade, Montreal DJ Kid Koala, Grammy- and Pulitzer Prize-winning North Carolina multi-instrumentalist Rhiannon Giddens, Pakistani-American vocalist Arooj Aftab and American jazz freaks Clown Core held court at various venues as the jazz fest got off to a rousing start.
Ottawa Citizen
27-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Ottawa Citizen
Dunlevy: Mavis Staples kicks off 45th Montreal jazz fest with a whole lotta soul
Article content It was a cool night for a hot start to the 45th Montreal International Jazz Festival as Chicago soul legend Mavis Staples showed tens of thousands of music fans how it's done in the opening night free outdoor blowout. Article content Temperatures hovered just under the 20-degree mark, which wasn't so bad, but coming off an oppressive early-summer heat wave, it felt almost like fall. That wasn't enough to stop the throngs from taking in the sights and sounds on the free stages early in the evening. Or to prevent everyone from gathering in front of the main TD stage just after sunset. Article content Article content Staples made her entrance just after 9:30 p.m., bringing along a lifetime of soul singing that started with her siblings when she was just a little girl. Her dad was pals with Martin Luther King, Jr., leading the family band The Staple Singers (of which she is the last surviving member) to become closely associated with the civil rights movement. Article content Article content 'Montreal!' Staples shouted a few songs in, to enthusiastic cheers and an impromptu call and response. 'Yeah!' she called out. 'Yeah!' the audience called back. Article content 'Oh my,' Staples continued. 'We're so happy to be with you, so happy to see all these smiling faces. Yes indeed. I tell you, we've been trying to get here; we finally made it. Well now, we bring you greetings from the Windy City — Chicago, Ill. We've come this evening to bring you some joy, some happiness, inspiration and some positive vibrations.' She did all that and then some. It was two weeks before her 87th birthday and Staples was in fine form, and fine voice. Her trademark rasp hasn't lost any of its depth, and she let it rip on such songs as her 1996 Gospel number I'll Fly Away From Here, love jam I'm Just Another Soldier and an appropriately rugged rendition of Tom Waits's Chicago. Article content She sounded righteous in delivering her old band's 1984 cover of Talking Heads' 1983 hit Slippery People, bringing out the song's Gospel influences without omitting its new wave edge. Article content And she took us back to the '60s while performing the Staple Singers' downright funky 1967 version of Buffalo Springfield's 1966 peace anthem For What It's Worth. Far from mere nostalgia, Staples delivered her lines like she was belting them out for the first time — with passion and feeling. Article content She unleashed another heartfelt 'Yeah!' at song's end. 'Y'all feel alright? Do you feel alright? OK, I feel pretty good myself.'
