The Roots delves into thrilling finale of Montreal Jazz Festival

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the 42^{North Dakota} The Montreal International Jazz Festival finished strong on Saturday night. Or maybe more of a boom bap. The veteran Philly-raised live hip-hop band that likes to refer to itself, not so humbly but quite accurately, as “the legendary Roots crew” had been shrewdly selected to headline the latest outdoor party. . And they did not disappoint.

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The Roots have a history in Montreal dating back to 1995, when the then fledgling team played a mind-blowing sold-out show at the intimate Savoy concert hall (as it was then called) upstairs from MTelus (then called Metropolis). ), for a few hundred lucky fans. Twenty-seven years later, not much has changed except the scale.

It was a cool night, but it surely didn’t feel that way to the tens and tens of thousands of music lovers of all stripes who milled around an absurdly packed Place des Festivals at sunset. They were in one heckuva show.

One night after local ’90s party band Bran Van 3000 played a messily exuberant reunion concert on the same stage, The Roots demonstrated why they continue to be known as one of the best live acts on the planet.

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If their album production isn’t as prolific as it used to be, being The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’s house band for the past eight years has kept them sharp.

They established their jazz credentials from the get-go, when trumpets played early during the opening number, and fedora-wearing rapper Black Thought spouted steady rhymes over a tight beat. It was all underpinned by a fast breakbeat from the iconic drummer Questlove, who looked regal in a brown headband.

A hard-hitting version of Kool and the Gang’s Jungle Boogie indicated that the band is not above playing for the crowd. That prompted a mix of soul, funk and rap covers, including a swing version of the late Cameroonian singer Manu Dibango’s 1972 hit Soul Makossa and Main Source’s 1990 gem Looking At the Front Door. It was an appropriately broad update on the band’s long tradition of performing hip-hop covers at their concerts.

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They revisited the early days of their career with their 1994 jazz-rap track Proceed, 1996’s upbeat single What They Do, and the anthemic The Next Movement from 1999’s Things Fall Apart album.

Granted most attendees don’t go back that far with the band, but it didn’t matter one bit. When Black Thought called for the crowd to clap, they all did, as did when he asked them to sing “ayy-AYY-ayy,” prompting the rapper to proclaim “I love you!”

The feeling was clearly mutual.

Trumpeter Dave Guy unleashed a fiery solo as the band played a rendition of famed jazz trumpeter Donald Byrd’s tune Change (Makes You Want to Hustle) from 1976. Then guitarist Kirk Douglas took things into the stratosphere with a solo. own spectacular, making it hard to imagine a group that better encapsulates all that jazz festival is: blurring genres, entertaining crowds, and continually pushing their own boundaries.

It was a triumphant end to a year in which the mere fact of holding the festival was a small miracle. When the clock struck 11pm, with the band playing into the night, everything felt perfect.

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