Erykah Badu, Huey Lewis & The News coming to Montreal Jazz Fest 2015
Musical acts also include Oliver Jones, Wayne Shorter and John Scofield
The Montreal International Jazz Festival has unveiled the headliners for its 36th edition, which include Erykah Badu, Huey Lewis & The News and Wayne Shorter.
Jazz heavyweights John Scofield, Joe Lovano, and Ron Carter will also join previously announced acts including The Bad Plus and Snarky Puppy.
More musical acts announced today include Montreal legend Oliver Jones, as well as local musicians such as Jim Doxas, Marianne Trudel, Vic Vogel, and Lorraine Desmarais.
In addition to attracting world-renowned jazz artists, the festival also provides a stage for several young Montreal-based musicians.
"We hope to help them find the freedom to play what they really want to play," said Laurent Saulnier, the festival's vice-president of programming and production.
As in previous years, the festival will also host other genres of music in addition to traditional jazz. A new series called "Nouveau Folk" will present artists such as Will Driving West, Bears of Legend. Also, Toronto-based trio Badbadnotgood will perform with Ghostface Killah of Wu-Tang Clan.
"Jazz influenced a lot of music, and has been influenced by a lot of music also," said Saulnier. "I think it's important to show to a younger audience that without jazz there would be no hip-hop."
This year's festival is expected to pack downtown Montreal with close to two million festivalgoers from June 26 to July 5.
Tickets go on sale on Apr. 23.
The full festival line-up, including the list of artists performing free outdoor concerts, will be announced June 2.