Terence Blanchard is a fantastic jazz trumpeter who I have been dying to see for years. He actually played the Jazz Winnipeg Festival a couple of times, but I missed both shows. This time, however, I made sure to buy my tickets as soon as they went on sale. I ended up in the sixth row, with a superb view.
Opening the show was the Roy/ Atkinsion Trio, featuring local virtouso guitarist Larry Roy and drummer Alvin Atkinson, Jr. Well-known Montreal bassist Michel Donato completed the trio.
I was absolutely stunned by the drumming wizardry of Alvin Atkinson, Jr. They said he was a local drummer, but I had never heard of him, and yet, here he was, putting on the best display of drumming from a local player that I have ever seen, and second only to Branford Marsalis' drummer, Jeff "Tain" Watts, in terms of all the drummers I've seen. Later on, they mentioned that he has been in town only since last year and is a visiting jazz drum professor at the U of Manitoba. Well, no wonder!
Alvin Atkinson, Jr.
Larry Roy, was the MC, and once again, proved why he is such a huge talent. He has an identifiable sound, which I won't try to describe, but I will say that to have your own sound as an instrumentalist is something very special, indeed. Larry could play anywhere in the world, he is that good. Watching him perform, you see that he is really a conduit for music. Notes fly off his fingers, causing him to contort as he channels a flow of glorious sounds. Michel Donata is one of the top bass players in all of Canada and has been repeatedly recognized as such. Jazz fans know who he is. He looked like he just woke up, with "bed hair", which I thought was a bit amusing. Still, he contributed without being overly flashy.
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