Eleven days long and featuring more than
2,500 of the world's best jazz musicians performing in 500 free and
ticketed concerts, the Montreal International Jazz Festival is the
biggest event of its kind in North America.
Five hotels are
already getting their acts together before the curtain goes up by
offering special festival deals.
The festival, now
in its 28th year, is expected to again attract more than 2 million
free-spending visitors to Montreal.
Last year,
attendees shelled out roughly $137 million during the festivities
and, according to Tourism-Montreal's Marie Jose Pinsonnault, 35% of
the paying customers are expected to follow the sound of music
across the border from the U.S.
"Moreover,
Montreal receives great visibility with the radio and television
productions that are broadcasted throughout the world year-round,"
Pinsonnault added.
The prime lodging
location for any true jazz aficionado during the festival, which
runs from June 28 to July 8, is the Hotel Hyatt Regency at 1255
Jeanne-Mance. The hotel is the official headquarters of the
festival and the place where most, if not all, of the musicians are
put up during their appearances here.
In fact, the
hotel's tight, glass-enclosed elevators are a great place to
literally rub elbows or strike up conversations with the music
stars.
Many of the free
concerts -- there are 350 such walk-up and sit-down events -- are
staged right outside the hotel, while all the other performances
are staged indoors and out well within walking distance.
The Hyatt
Regency, which has 605 rooms and suites, is offering a festival
rate of $164 per room, per night, from Monday to Wednesday, and
$225 Thursday to Sunday. For more information, visit www.montrealregency.hyatt.com.
The Hotel Godin,
which like the Hyatt is a four-star property, is located on the
corner of Sherbrooke Street and St.-Laurent Boulevard. The boutique
property's 136 rooms are distributed throughout a historical
building, Edifice Godin, and a new building.
The Godin, a
member of Preferred Hotels & Resorts, is offering a rate of
$177 (www.hotelgodin.com).
The Hotel XIXe
Siecle, also four stars, is located in the heart of Old Montreal at
62 Saint-Jacques Ouest.
Built in 1870,
the property was originally the Montreal City and District Savings
Bank. During the festival, guests can spend $160 per night for a
room with Louis Philippe furnishings, large windows and high
ceilings (www.hotelxixsiecle.com).
The three-star
Hotel Travelodge, at 50 Rene-Levesque West, is near Old Montreal
and the Old Port, the financial district, the Montreal Convention
Center, Chinatown and the Latin Quarter. It offers a $120 rate (www.travelodgemontreal.ca).
The Quality Hotel
Downtown (www.choicehotels.ca/hotels/home), at 3440 av du Parc,
is in the heart of the Latin Quarter.
A short walk from
the festival site as well as a number of Montreal landmarks, the
Quality Hotel Downtown is offering a rate of $117.
All rates include
continental or buffet-style breakfast, a jazz CD compilation, a $20
gift certificate redeemable at the Casino de Montreal and 25% off
the adult price of admission to the Contemporary Art Museum. Taxes
and service fees are not included in the hotel rates.
The festival
itself has set aside a limited number of show tickets for tourists,
which include performances by the Trio Beyond with Jack DeJohnette,
John Scofield and Larry Goldings; Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln
Center Orchestra; Wayne Shorter; the eclectic selections of Pink
Martini; the Roy Haynes Quartet, featuring the renowned bop
drummer; the Derek Trucks Band; and the Bill Frisell
Trio.
To have priority
access to those shows and the other specially selected
performances, guests must have first purchased a Festival Kit or
made reservations with the festival at www.montrealjazzfest.com/packages or by phone at (514)
523-3378.
The Festival Kit,
which costs about $35, comprises a festival T-shirt, priority
access to tickets for indoor concerts, a ticket for the Jazz d'ici
La Presse series showcasing local musicians, a $20 gift certificate
for the Casino de Montreal, a Friends of the Festival card that
provides access to the Jam Sessions Movado at the Hyatt Regency and
a compilation CD.
To contact reporter Joe Rosen, send e-mail to [email protected].