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The 27th Annual Festival International de Jazz de Montreal's roster has left me with mixed feelings. While there are some performances definitely worth attending, the sum of all in-door concerts at this year's festival does not add up to enough jazz---particularly instrumental jazz. While K-Os, Feist, Daniel Lanois, and Ron Sexsmith are undoubtedly incredible performers in their own unique genres, their music doesn't belong in this particular festival. Furthermore, the jazz content of this year's festival seems to be loaded with older musicians. Although Pat Metheny, Dave Holland, Sonny Rollins, Charlie Hayden, Geri Allen, Toots Thielmans, and Dewey Redman are all jazz masters who produce beautiful music, the over-presence of older musicians at this year's jazz festival has left almost no space for new, up-and-coming performers to feed the public with the fresh sounds of tomorrow's jazz (sorry, but Erik Truffaz's "Saloua" project and Roy Hargrove's RH Factor don't even begin to properly represent the full scope of new jazz). This year's in-door performances will definitely be successful at alienating any festival-goer who is seeking to hear contemporary international musicians playing new jazz, while providing many opportunities for other festival fans to blow their summer's money on vocal fluff like Paul Anka, Michael Buble, and Al Jarreau.
 
 On a positive note, this year's outdoor performances seem very promising. There are many opportunities to support the local jazz scene at the festival, with a noticeably increased focus on young local talent. Be sure to check out the Min Rager Quintet, Sage Reynolds Quartet, Richard White Trio, Michel Heroux Quintette, Odd Jazz Group, Joe Sullivan Big Band, and Vanessa Rodrigues' Soul Project.
 
 Christopher Cargnello