By: Staff
Montreal Guitar Show
The closer we get to summer, the more excited guitar fans get: because the summer sunshine brings us the Montreal Guitar Show! And this year is a very special one: presenting its 5th edition, the MGS brings us a boffo six-string celebration, welcoming 150 exhibitors, including more than 130 acoustic and electric luthiers, among the world’s greatest practitioners of their art, as well as top-of-the-line accessories manufacturers (amplifiers, effects, pedals…).
From July 1 to 3, the Hyatt Regency Montréal, in the heart of the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal site, is the place to be to see, touch, admire and even purchase guitars, guitars and more guitars! And you can listen to the masters play them: along with our famed workshops and activities devoted to the guitar, fans can enjoy an amazing array of concerts by renowned guitarists—many of them free—including the incredible program of the Guitarissimo The Gazette series, offering three concerts every evening, three nights straight, in the Cinquième Salle, Place des Arts. Tickets for the concerts are on sale now.
Enjoy 9 incredible concerts presented in the Guitarissimo The Gazette series
Erik Mongrain — July 1, 6 p.m., Cinquième Salle, PdA — Who better to kick off the 2011 season of Guitarissimo than Erik Mongrain, a leading practitioner of the “lap tapping” technique and a genuine Montreal success story! After Fates with Serge Fiori in 2006 and Equilibrium in 2008, Mongrain—who plays here far too seldom—arrives with a selection of highly-anticipated new pieces offered exclusively in concert (Aftermath, The Daisy Fields, Verso…) and a new DVD. Fans, prepare to be amazed!
Kaki King — July 1, 8 p.m., Cinquième Salle, PdA — Since her last Festival appearance opening for Ani DiFranco in 2006, King has received a Golden Globes nomination for the soundtrack to the film Into The Wild and released a 5th album, Junior. Leaving behind the “guitar tapping” style momentarily to concentrate on songcraft, this rock goddess (according to Rolling Stone) has concocted a fabulously rich tapestry of compositions inspired by indie rock. Precision picking for the purists, power for the rockers!
Laurence Juber — July 1, 10 p.m., Cinquième Salle, PdA — The Guitarissimo series is thrilled to welcome one of the most highly respected acoustic virtuosos in the industry, Laurence Juber. A two-time Grammy winner and former guitarist with Wings, with 18 solo albums to his credit, Juber is internationally renowned for his fingerstyle virtuosity. Composer, arranger—and one of the greatest players of all time according to Acoustic Guitar magazine—he presents the album LJ Plays The Beatles, Vol.2, an interpretation of the classics that’s absolutely fab.
MG3 — July 2, 6 p.m., Cinquième Salle, PdA — Renowned for their dynamism and energy, the MG3 Montréal Guitare Trio (considered the “hottest guitar ensemble in Canada” by the CBC) hasn’t sat still for a moment since marking their 10th anniversary. After a highly-regarded performance in L’Astral with the California Guitar Trio in March 2010, the threesome roars in like a lion with a 4th album, further enhancing their planetary success and sending them off on another unbridled tour, including this must-see Festival show!
California Guitar Trio — July 2, 8 p.m., Cinquième Salle de la PdA — The New York Times and the Los Angeles Times rave, and apparently the astronauts of the Space Shuttle Endeavor wake up to the sound of the California Guitar Trio! Renowned for their virtuosity and sense of humour, the CGT took off on a 20th anniversary tour with their latest album, Andromeda, their first release to combine original material and improvisational pieces. It’s a balance between acoustic and electric sounds, an instrumental whirlwind fusing classical, rock, blues, jazz, world music, surf… Wow!
Freddy Koella — July 2, 10 p.m., Cinquième Salle de la PdA — Zachary Richard, Bob Dylan, Lhasa de Sela, Carla Bruni and Francis Cabrel are among those who’ve heard the fluidity, passion, invention and poetry in Freddy Koella’s guitar. After a debut solo acoustic effort in 2005 (Minimal), he further reveals the intimacy of his musical world with Undone: 10 refined, dreamlike pieces, suggesting a sometimes deconstructed blues, folk and jazz, the whole conjuring a momentary escape or sidestep from the hurlyburly of the everyday world, a hymn to taking things slowly.
Eric Bibb — July 3, 6 p.m., Cinquième Salle de la PdA — Ranked 3rd among the Top 10 jazz albums of the year by the Sunday Times, Eric Bibb’s Booker’s Guitar is powerful and intimate. An open-hearted tribute to American blues guitarist and singer Bukka White, the album—and the simple, pure vocals, guitar and harmonica Bibb brings us—confirm a talent steeped in the traditions of Mississippi Delta Blues, soul, gospel, folk… An absolute marvel.
Jake Shimabukuro — July 3, 8 p.m., Cinquième Salle de la PdA — Peace Love Ukulele: The way Jake Shimabukuro sees it, if everyone played this “instrument of peace,” the world would be a better place! Nicknamed the “Jimi Hendrix of the ukulele,” Shimabukuro is one of the world’s greatest aces on this miniature—equally amazing whether riffing on a virtuoso rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody, a superb version of Somewhere Over The Rainbow, blowing away listeners with his interpretations of Thriller and While My Guitar Gently Weeps, or offering his own compositions… Exciting, innovative and utterly unique!
Kurt Rosenwinkel — July 3, 10 p.m. — Young, outlandishly talented, professor of guitar at the Jazz Institute in Berlin, Rosenwinkel displays a complete mastery of both technique AND groove. He’s even considered a jazz guru, welcomed to the highest echelon by the purists of the genre. Kurt Rosenwinkel isn’t just a good or great jazz guitarist – he’s one of the best, ranked just below Pat Metheny, John McLaughlin and Bill Frisell in Downbeat’s Reader’s Poll… Astonishing, original and daring.
Tickets are on sale now
Tickets for these amazing concerts are on sale now. Get yours at Place des Arts (175 Sainte-Catherine Street West), by calling 514 842-2112 or visiting laplacedesarts.com.
The MGS organizing team would like to acknowledge the support received from the SODEC (the Société de développement des entreprises culturelles).
See you all there at the 5th edition of the Montreal Guitar Show, from July 1 to 3, at the Hyatt Regency Montreal. To find out all there is to know about the Show—and keep you going until summer!—visit the Web site at montrealguitarshow.com.
