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On July 9th, 2017 I dutifully rode down to the Ottawa Bluesfest to take in a night of free music courtesy of my nearly-complimentary festival pass (sure, I have to learn about a dozen songs and go to a few rehearsals for it, but such is the bane of the amateur musician. Come to think of it, the fact that the pass is part of my gig payment probably pushes me all that much harder to get down to the festival whether there are acts that interest me or not. If shows are my pay, then I would be remiss to miss said shows; skipping a night would be kind of like throwing away money. Kind of).
Upon arrival I picked up the daily schedule and quickly confirmed that there wasn’t a single act on any of the stages that I recognized, so I wandered. I found myself at the River Stage (or whatever it was being called at the time) where I was surprised to discover that a large white wedding-style tent had been erected on the concert field. Inside there was a stage and a short row of bleachers with a large dancefloor/standing area in between*. In the centre of the floor section a small riser was set up, and upon that small riser was a drummer, a bass player, and a guitar player named Yonatan Gat.
I think I had read his blurb (which described Yonatan as an Israeli-born NYC jazz guitar player) and decided to check him out, though I might have just stumbled upon him. Either way, once I stumbled into that tent I didn’t leave until the last note had long faded away.
Gat and his big fat Gretsch guitar were leading the trio through some seriously wonky, frenetically angular modern jazz, and the bass player and drummer were more than keeping up. It’s curious that the three of them forsook the large stage for a single cramped riser that elevated them just a foot off of the ground, but with a tiny crowd of no more than thirty people circled around clearly the guys had made the right choice. This was about as intimate a show as you could get at the Ottawa Bluesfest; heck, it was probably closer than you could get to a band at any major festival.
Anyway, it was fantastic, and the three of them filled me with utter glee. I was still smiling when they finished and started packing up. I spoke to the drummer for a moment and told him that they had just played The Set of the Festival, and I do believe I was correct.
It was certainly much better than the Pat Travers set that followed, but at least I ran into a few fellow guitar-geek friends at the Travers show.
By the time I got home I was already kicking myself for not going to the merch tent to buy a Yonatan Gat record, so I ordered one online.
It’s pretty fantastic.
*I’m pretty sure that this was the first year of the river stage tent, something that they have kept in the ensuing years. I like it, though most people I’ve talked to hate it. To my mind it blocks a bit of the sound bleed from the mainstage, the enclosed space improves the sound, and of course it offers respite on rainy nights. I guess other people hate it partly because there’s no longer a view of the river, but mostly because people like to complain about stuff.
Todd Man Out 