It is Sunday morning and the sounds of the Festival are still ringing in my ears. There was the music in the venues, the music in the free events and there was the crowd noise blended with all of the above. The noisescape shifted as we moved from venue to venue and paused in the midst of it to have a meal or to converse with friends and acquaintances – mostly shouting over the noise or waiting for a break between numbers. 

Last night we only went to two performances, not counting a couple of free stage events on Jazz Street. We joined the mob in Kilbourn Hall to hear Kurt Elling “Super Blue” with Charlie Hunter. This started slowly with some wonderful scat and morphed and grew to a some fine music and interesting sounds, especially when Elling started cupping the microphone with his hand and generating feedback tones which he was able to control for pitch. He ran over a bit and no one seemed to mind.

We decided to get some food and then take our time going to the Theater at innovation Square for Drum Battle: Justin Faulkner vs Joe Farnsworth. This also included Mike Ledonne on piano, a bass player and two trumpet players. The drummers were front and center with the side men providing some great music to support the drums. The “Battle” seemed to be mostly good natured kidding and trading riffs. They built to a climax as time was running out and finished strong just as the hour was up. 

To a standing ovation the lights came up and Faulkner went back to his kit and suggested we give him 5 minutes more. Farnsworth returned to his kit and doffed his suitcoat. They got into it, trading riffs and trying to outdo each other with unique approaches to the drums. At one point Faulkner was shouting into the head of the snare drum and Farnsworth stood drum stick vertically on the drum head and got it vibrating by sliding his hand down the shaft. This duel continued for twenty minutes and the audience was on the edge of its seats through out. 

Carol and I were tired from nine nights and realized that there was no better way to end the 2022 19th Festival then on those drums. We went home.

We attended some or all of 34 performances over the nine nights. This is a low count compared to prior years, but we are older and get tired earlier. We also attended 4 or 5 free stage performances. We were on the Street from 4 to 11, about 7 hours, each night. Of the 38 performances we attended (including the free stage) I think there were 2 or 3 that we didn’t care for at all and maybe another 4 that didn’t hold our attention for the full hour.  That brings to about 30 performances that were engaging and interesting enough to hold us in our seats for most of the hour. This was a GREAT Jazz Festival. We had pined for it for two years and are delighted to have been able to attend this year.

Plans? What Plans? We have none for today other than opening a Family Zoom. There is a calendar full of stuff for the coming weeks, but none of it is Jazz for the moment.