A painful start to a wonderful evening. We started our night’s activities with a 3 PM funeral for a friend of the community as I mentioned in yesterday’s post. Following a very moving series of eulogies we returned to our apartment to change into clothing more suitable for Jazz Street and rushed off to get in line for Joey DeFrancesco Trio in Kilbourn. We arrived in line “only” an hour before the doors were to open somewhere near the entrance to Rochester Club (another venue). We had never been this far back but as the usher came by us with his clicker he announce 185 ahead of us and the hall seats 450 or so plus standing room. We got seats in the same row we have been sitting in when arriving two hours or more before the doors open. . .

This was a phenomenal concert. DeFrancesco on the organ, with the occasional foray into trumpet, sometimes both at once, warmed the house up from the first moments. His guitar and drum sidemen were up to the task of meeting him more than halfway and the hall was shaking throughout the performance. People started to leave after the “last number” but the cries of encore and the continued standing ovation brought them back out and people froze in place finding new seats as the group played one more piece. By now the show was almost 15 minutes overtime and our thoughts of jumping to another show were out of the question.

We stopped on Main Street where the Food Trucks were and I found some almost suitable food at the “Meatball Truck” Carol found nothing and we moved on to Lutheran Church where Anders Hagberg Quartet were playing. True to the Nordic tradition the music was very different from what most people expect. They drew on Sami (Lapland Native) themes and Indian themes among others for their sources and included an African pottery jar drum and a flute modified to give an Indian sound as well as fittings on the piano strings. All in all the music was very interesting and demanded attention. Our interests were slightly different and Carol got hungry so she left to go to Abilene where in addition to VERY different music there are good food choices. It was a bit worrying as just before she left she realized her phone battery was almost dead. We arranged a couple of alternate meeting places just in case I could not find her in Abilene after I left Lutheran Church. Never fear, I got to Abilene in plenty of time having left the Nordic environment before the last number and had no trouble finding her in the crowd. The most I can say for that show is it was loud and still hard to hear over the yammering of the crowd there more to drink than to listen. We moved on.

For the first time we made it to The Little Theater, a venue that was added last year. It is on the eastern edge of the Festival area and maybe a couple of blocks further out than the nearest venue, it is small and tends to fill. We had listened to Hey Mavis, the quartet, online and really wanted to hear them. I guess the best classification of their music I can make is Americana. They are made up of banjo, guitar (with foot pedal bass drum), fiddle and bass (with foot pedal tamborine!). They come from the Cleveland/Akron area and most of the music was there own. Talk about setting the place rocking. The crowd was captivated (there, I found a new description) and there was very little turnover until near the end. They said goodbye and the house lights came up and the crowd kept applauding and mostly didn’t move. They came back on stage and played another number and finally the crowd moved on. We stayed behind and bought a CD (the first time we have succumbed this year). It is their first and the title track is Honey Man which is playing on the laptop as I write.

It was too late to go to any other venue so we decided to head over to the Plaza Hotel for the Jam Session. We eventually got stools against the windows with a decent sight line and we listened to the Jam and the crowd until about 12:20 and we decided enough for the night.

With four more clubs to add to the 28 we had already been to we are now up to 32. The freedom to walk into a club not knowing whether we are interested in the group knowing we can walk out and not have to worry about the admission price ($20 for most clubs, $25 for Kilbourn) is priceless.

Tonight we will start with Bill Frisell’s Guitar in the Space Age. We have friends celebrating a 50th anniversary and will leave to attend that at 8 PM. Not sure how we will fill the 30 minutes or so after Kilbourn nor where we will go when we get back. We will have the list with us and there is always the Jam.

See Ya’ on The Street!