We showed up with our tripod chairs in line for Cecile McLorin Salvant outside Kilbourn Hall at just a bit after 3 PM. The day was cool and the sun was bright and we were 20th or so in line. Just a bit early for doors opening at 5:30. The street seemed empty until we realized that all the food vendors had been moved off Jazz Street on to Main and East leaving more room for people to mill about when they arrived. Still the line at Max, across from us, had only 2 people in it at 4 for doors opening at 5:45. Where is everyone? We asked.  The traffic started building a bit by 3:30 as ticket holders began to arrive for Diana Krall’s 4 PM show. By 4:30 our line began to fill down the alley and around the corner on Swan and out to East Ave, YES! it is Jazz Fest and the people are indeed coming.

From our early start we were able to get prime seating up above the vomitorium (a real word to describe the entry thought the audience) where the leg room is best and the site line to the stage is unobstructed and the sound is wonderful. The aisle seat was already taken by City News critic Ron Netsky, media has its privileges. We had an interesting conversation, check him out at City Newspaper Music Blog. The moment John Nugent’s young daughter came out to introduce the producer, the audience went silent in expectation. Cecile McLorin Salvant and her group took the stage and we were immediately transported by her voice with its great power and range. Read Netsky’s blog for a critic’s view, we agree with him. For all the power she displayed the most powerful and moving number came near the end when she stepped away from the microphone and had all the sound enhancement powered down for a pure acoustic number, Bessie Smith’s “Blue Spirit Blues” She has the power and the hall is very suited to this kind of risk taking.

We stayed on through the last note before taking to the street so I could pick up a sandwich I had preordered at Java Joes and we could eat quickly before heading over to Lutheran Church for Music Music Music. The hall was almost full and the music was very definitely from a different part of the world. We stayed through the performance then threaded our way through the building crowds to Xerox Auditorium for Ranee Lee, another vocalist with a different style and take on the music. She expressed great delight at finally being able to perform at XRIJF and gave a wonderful performance along with a very capable group of musicians. We hoped the guitarist would sit in at the Jam Session later in the night. It was not to be. As that show ended we headed out for Max to hear Kavita Shah without a lot of hope we would be able to get right in.

Once again we had to thread the crowds at the Chestnut Street Stage Where the Mavericks (don’t ask me) were performing and then past the Jazz Street Stage where Sauce Boss was setting up. It is sort of a full body massage to move through the crowds encumbered with our chairs and packs, but everyone is good humored and out to enjoy themselves. To our amazement the door was open when we got to Max and we found seating off to the side for another amazing female vocalist performance. Kavita Shah performs mostly music she has written either original or derivative and sings with an incredible range of voices and styles. I noted click notes and throat vocalizations as well as beautiful pure sound. Wow! and the night was only middle aged.

On to the Rochester Plaza Hotel and Bob Sneider Trio Jam Session. This is the most crowded venue of the festival. It is in the hotel lounge, just off the lobby (there is no wall separating the two) and under normal circumstances it would be crowded with 30 or 40 people. Needless to say there are many more than that in the space and standing room is at a premium. The treat is when performers come in from their stages and decide to sit in with the group just because they want to keep playing. Last night the Dobro player and the pianist from Hillbender, a country group we had missed, sat in for 30 minutes or so. Sneider called a break at 12:30 and we decided to save some energy for Day 2 and called it quits ourselves for the short walk across the pedestrian bridge to our apartment.

Oh yes, Day 2. I fear we will get in line real early again, Hatch only seats 250 and Joey Alexander promises to be a sellout. He just turned 12 and is reputed to be one of the best jazz pianists around. The sound samples I have listened to do nothing to contradict that assessment. So 3 PM for 5:15 doors open for 5:45 show. Next up we will try to get into the Little for Chet Catallo and the Cats. Failing that, there are excellent performers at Christ Church and Lutheran Church which are sort of on the way back, or we might continue on to Squeezers for Honeycutters. In any event we will head for Xerox and Eric Revis Trio at 9 and then once again try our luck at Max at 10 for Dontae Winslow and Winslow Dynasty. I haven’t thought about where we will eat yet.

Quick recap, last night we got to everything as planned and stuck to our plan, almost totally unheard of in all our years of attending the Festival! Our count is 4 concerts going into Day 2.

If you are interested in references to places and groups that I have not fully defined or more biography on the performers there is lots of material at http://www.rochesterjazz.com/