Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite

Opening act: Delgres

Four years after the terrific Get Up!, virtuoso guitarist Ben Harper returns to thrill us, once again accompanied by living blues legend harmonica wizard Charlie Musselwhite. The two blues brothers renew their love affair with the Festival armed with the excellent album No Mercy in This Land released this spring, a savvy blend of electric and acoustic blues.

“Charlie Musselwhite is that very rare and hallowed place where blues past, present and future collide,” says Ben about his collaborator and friend. “He transforms notes into emotions that feel both hauntingly familiar and brand new, as if hearing them for the first time every time. He is a living legend whose harmonica playing should be beamed into outer space to search for other life forms.”

“On stage or in the studio – working with Ben Harper holds the same excitement I experienced working with Chicago blues legends back in the day,” says Charlie. “I think it is safe to say that Ben has reinvented the Blues in a great way: playing modern while preserving the feel. I am honored and privileged to be a participant in this project.”

For information and tickets: www.placedesarts.com 514-842-2112 or 1-866-842-2112

Ranked as the world’s largest jazz festival by Guinness World Records, the Festival International de Jazz de Montreal has been synonymous with a passion for music for close to four decades. Every year, the metropolis welcomes global music fans to 10 days of jazz-centric celebration, where fans of all types of jazz-related music rub shoulders with aficionados of the genre in its purest form. The 39th edition of the Festival continues on its mission to offer a vast program with over 500 concerts – 2/3 of them free – presented over 10 days and nights on 20 stages, on a site closed to vehicular traffic. A true haven of happiness and musical pleasure right in the heart of downtown Montreal! From June 28 to July 7, hundreds of thousands of people will cross the threshold of the world’s largest jazz festival to set themselves free to the rhythms and melodies of music. From small intimate salons to immense open-air concerts, from major icons to young prodigies on the rise, artists from the world over to homegrown talents, the Festival assembles and showcases the entire spectrum of possibilities to keep music vibrant and alive!