Met Erik Truffaz and Michel Benita

My good friend Steve Wyatt from Yamaha Music Canada took me to their electrojazz concert with VJ'ing. Steve knows them personally (whom doesn't he know in the jazz biz BTW???). He introduced me to them. Being a bass player myself, I had some good time with Michel talking of... bass. I told Erik about my Arctic thing and Inuit language. He asked me advice on where to get a warm coat. BTW, winter coat in French is 'anorak', which is an Inuktitut word meaning coat.

Chatted with Brad Mehldau

This Montreal jazz fest is unique. Awesome. Great way of meeting artists. I had a chance to see Brad Mehldau Trio perform tonight at Gesu center. I took a chance and waited in front of the stage after the concert. Then came the monsters! The three members of the trio. I asked for a couple of advice. I told Brad I was a bassist and was curious to know what he was expecting from a bassist when he plays, he replied "Play the roots". Larry Grenadier gave me a couple of tricks about rhythm and harmony (I won't tell you, heh heh). And Jorge Rossi is pretty good at classical piano.
Ok, enough said... I have a lot of bass-work for the next 50 years... roots... tricks... interpretation...

I shook hand with Keith Jarrett! Yesssssssssss!

Keith is my favorite musician ever. Period.
All styles. BTW, he doesn't play any specific style. He doesn't play all of'em either. Keith plays Jarrett. I've seen him perform in Paris, San Francisco and Montréal. Every note he plays is unique, so needless to say that each concert is different from any other concert he has made before. I always gather with the other fans at the backdoor. In SF, I got the autograph of all three members of the trio signed on the booklet of their CD. In Montréal, I got Gary's and Jack's, but not Keith's. He offered a handshake instead. I won't complain ;-)
Hard to describe what I felt at this moment. Something very intense yet subtle. This genius I've been listening to for 15 years... Thanks Keith.